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    • It looks like the new Social Security Commissioner, Martin O’Malley, is really taking charge. A number of changes have been implemented in the several weeks Commissioner O’Malley has been on the job. Among the most meaningful is decreasing the default overpayment withholding rate to 10% (or $10, whichever is greater) from 100%. This will significantly…

      a week+ ago
    • Social Security uses what is called the “fee agreement process” to pay representatives who help Claimants. For those signing an appropriate fee agreement Social Security will approve the agreement and pay the representative up to 25% of a retroactive fee. Since November 2022 that retroactive fee could not exceed $7,200. Sometime this fall the cap…

      2+ weeks ago

    News

    • Summer 2021 Newsletter STILL STANDING…AND PRACTICING I published the first issue of Social Security & You in Spring of 1993.  Some years I’ve published more issues than others.  The most recent issue was dated Spring 2019: over 2 years ago.  The world was a much different place then.  Especially for me.  Read the full newsletter…

      2+ years ago
    • Spring 2019 Newsletter An Opioid Story I’ve changed his name. Let’s call him Gerald. He was a laborer. And by that I don’t mean that he just did physical work. He was a card-carrying member the Labor’s Union local. And that meant a lot to him. I represented him for Social Security disability and Michigan…

      4+ years ago

    PARTIAL GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN CREATES BACKLOG

    The 16 day partial government shutdown has created a backlog and the decision writing stage of the hearing process at the ODAR level. During the shutdown hearings continued to be held. This is because the ALJs have a union and the hearing monitors and vocational experts are contract workers: not government employees.

    So, over 2 weeks of hearings were held without any decisions being written. It is normally 4-6 weeks on average from the time the hearing is held until the decision is received. I would expect that 6-8 weeks is probably the waiting time now and, of course, we are going to run into Thanksgiving and Christmas. As a result, the decisions on hearings held in October my not be received until the new year.

     

    Call today if you have questions about the Michigan Social Security Disability Attorney and Lawyer Services provided by William Crawforth.

    To schedule an appointment call 800-864-1244 or fill out the contact form at the top of this page.

    • State Bar of Michigan
    • Washtenaw County Bar Association
    • National Organization of Social Security Claimants' Representatives

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