Social Security Administrative Appeal Process Lawyer Manual

Sometimes SSI/SSDI issues an overpayment. A common scenario that may result in an overpayment is when the beneficiary A person that gets property or money from someone when they die has returned to work. To advocate on behalf of a client appealing a work-related overpayment, it is important to understand SSA's administrative appeal A request to change a court's decision process, SSA's rules for calculating income for SSDI and SSI beneficiaries, and arguments for how SSA's calculation of your client's income and the resulting overpayment are incorrect.
 

SSA's Appeal Process

Overpayments may be appealed using the Social Security administrative appeal process. 20 C.F.R. §§ 404.902(j ), (k) and 404.905; 416.1402(c) and 416.1405.

What to Appeal

The administrative appeal process applies to most determinations, e.g., decisions about disability A substantial impairment that functionally limits a person in carrying out major life activities, such as walking, lifting, seeing, or learning. , benefit amounts, overpayments, etc. 20 C.F.R. §§ 404.900 (SSDI) and 416.1400 (SSI).

Levels of Appeal 

When advocating on behalf of your client, it is important to know the different levels of SSA's administrative appeal process, how and when to file an appeal, the decision-maker, the standard of review, and if new evidence Anything used to show that something is true will be accepted.
SSA's administrative appeal process includes three levels of review: Reconsideration, Administrative Law Judge Hearing When the parties in a case present their sides of a case to a judge or other officer ; and Appeals Council. The decision of the Appeals Council is considered SSA's final administrative decision. Once the claimant A person who uses a court to demand something from another person exhausts SSA's administrative appeal process, the claimant may seek review by filing a complaint A written statement to start a lawsuit that says what the defendant did in federal district court. 42 U.S.C. 405(g), 42 U.S.C. 1383(c)(3).