How Much Does a Social Security Disability Lawyer Cost?

Unlike many attorneys, Social Security disability lawyers don't charge up-front attorneys' fees or require a "retainer" to work on a disability case. Most disability attorneys and nonlawyer representatives will be paid a fee only if they win your case (this is called a contingency fee).

How much does a disability lawyer cost? Typically, disability applicants who win benefits pay about $3,000 to $4,000 to their lawyers or representatives, and the fee comes out of the applicant's "back pay" (past due amounts). Fees are normally capped at $9,200, or 25% of the backpay, whichever is less.

But the answer in your situation depends on how long your case takes and how much you receive in disability benefits and back pay. Here's what you need to know about Social Security disability lawyers' fees, and how much you might have to pay.

What's in a Disability Lawyer's Fee Agreement?

When you first hire a disability attorney or nonlawyer advocate, you typically sign a fee agreement (whether you're filing for SSDI or SSI). The agreement puts a cap on the legal representative's fee and allows the Social Security Administration (SSA) to pay your representative directly if your claim is approved.

Social Security will review the agreement to check if it meets the fee agreement guidelines, to make sure your representative receives a fair amount, but no more. Fee agreements must be on a contingency basis (meaning the attorney or advocate will only be paid if you win your disability claim).

How Much Do Disability Lawyers Charge?

Disability attorney fees are usually a few thousand dollars, and can't be more than $9,200 in 2025. (The fee cap goes up each year.)

When you sign a fee agreement with an SSDI attorney or a nonlawyer advocate, the fee is limited to 25% of the past-due benefits, or back pay, you're awarded. (Some fee agreements do allow a separate fee to be charged if you appeal to federal district court, but most cases end at the Social Security hearing stage or before. More on these "two-tier agreements" below.)

Your representative will be paid only out of your back pay. No disability lawyer or advocate can take a percentage of your ongoing monthly benefits going forward. If Social Security doesn't award you back-dated benefits, your representative won't receive a fee. But in this situation and a few others, the representative is allowed to submit a "fee petition" to Social Security to request a fee (more on fee petitions below).

Several years ago, we surveyed readers of this site who had won their disability claim and asked them how much back pay their disability representatives took. The majority of claimants in our survey paid their disability representatives less than $4,000. (For the details, see our survey statistics on the average fees paid to Social Security disability lawyers, both when a lawyer represented a disability applicant at a hearing and when the applicant won benefits at the initial application stage.)

How Much of Your Disability Back Pay Will You Lose?

The maximum a disability attorney or nonattorney advocate can charge is 25% of your back pay, up to a maximum of $9,200. For example, if your back-dated benefits are calculated to be $10,000, your representative will be paid $2,500 and you'll receive $7,500. If your back pay is $20,000, your representative will be paid $5,000 and you'll receive $15,000. But not all attorneys will charge the full 25%. Even when a fee agreement asks for 25% of your past due benefits, Social Security may approve less than 25%, depending on the amount of work your lawyer did.

Once you're approved for benefits, Social Security will calculate the amount of back pay you're owed. For SSDI, your back pay will include the retroactive benefits you're owed from the date you were approved for benefits back to the date that Social Security determines your disability began (for a maximum of 12 months before the date of your application). For SSI, your benefits are calculated from the date you're approved for benefits back to the month after you applied for benefits. (For more information, see our article on disability back pay.)

Will I Have to Pay Other Costs?

During the time a disability firm represents you, your SSDI attorney or advocate, or their staff, usually has to request your medical records, employment records, and sometimes school records. Your representative might even send you for a medical or psychological examination; these out-of-pocket costs can be expensive. Other costs can include charges for copying and postage.

Most, but not all, representatives require their clients to pay these costs separately from the fee they receive out of their back pay. But it's unusual for these costs to exceed $200 per case, and usually, the out-of-pocket costs are much lower.

Two-Tier Fee Agreements for Disability Lawyers

Many disability lawyers set up all their fee agreements with two "tiers," in case your case goes beyond the ordinary timeline. A "two-tier fee agreement" allows the attorney to submit a fee petition if the claim is denied at the disability appeal hearing and the case is appealed to Social Security's Appeals Council, federal district court, or both.

A two-tier agreement will generally call for the lawyer to be paid the usual maximum fee of 25% of your backpay, capped at $9,200, if you're approved at the initial application, reconsideration, or ALJ hearing stage. But it will allow the attorney to "petition" the SSA for fees beyond the $9,200 cap if the case goes further.

What to Know About Social Security Fee Petitions

Some cases take years and go through extra levels of appeals, which requires more work for the lawyers. If you lose your disability appeal hearing and your lawyer appeals the case to Social Security's Appeals Council, federal district court, or both, your lawyer will end up spending more time on your case than usual. In this situation, your lawyer is usually allowed to submit a "fee petition" to the SSA. A fee petition can ask for the SSA's permission to charge you more than the usual maximum fee of 25% of your back pay, or $9,200.

In addition, there are several situations where a lawyer can file a fee petition to avoid not being paid at all.

When Can Lawyers Use Fee Petitions?

Lawyers use fee petitions in the following situations to be able to collect payment.

• Your attorney helps you appeal to the Appeals Council or federal court, after you receive a denial from an administrative law judge (ALJ).
• Your attorney withdrew from your case before the SSA decided the claim.
• You fired your attorney before the SSA decided the claim.
• You and the attorney had no written fee agreement.
• The SSA didn't approve your fee agreement.
• You aren't owed any past-due benefits, perhaps because the SSA processed your claim quickly and your date of disability onset was fairly recent.

Here are some special circumstances where attorneys can and can't use fee petitions.

More than one attorney worked on your case. If multiple attorneys from different law firms have been involved in your case, each attorney who wants to charge and collect a fee must file a separate fee petition, unless the first attorney has agreed not to collect a fee. When two lawyers have worked on the case, the current lawyer should file a fee petition agreeing that the fee can be split between the two lawyers. If both lawyers did a significant amount of work, Social Security could approve a fee higher than $9,200.

Your case was denied. In some cases, attorneys aren't prevented from requesting a fee under the fee petition process even if your disability claim is ultimately denied. However, if you and your attorney signed a contingency fee contract where the attorney agreed to charge and collect a fee only if the SSA awarded you benefits, and your claim is denied, the attorney can't collect a fee under the fee petition process. The attorney can only submit a fee petition to the SSA after a fee agreement is denied if you won your disability claim.

Your attorney received a fee under your fee agreement. If Social Security approved a fee agreement that your lawyer filed and authorized a fee under that agreement, your lawyer can't then file a fee petition for services for your claim.

How Social Security Evaluates a Fee Petition

Unlike fee agreements, attorneys file fee petitions after their services in the case have ended. In fee petitions, attorneys must describe the specific services that they've provided. Your attorney must send a copy of the fee petition and any attachments to the SSA and to you. If you disagree with something in the fee petition, you can object to it by writing to the SSA.

There's no express limit on the amount of an attorney's fee requested under a fee petition, but Social Security ultimately decides the amount of the fee that an attorney receives. Sometimes Social Security will deny a fee petition if the fee is unreasonable or doesn't reflect the amount of time spent on the case.

To determine how much a reasonable fee would be in a particular case, the SSA will look at the following factors:

• the extent and type of services the lawyer provided
• the complexity of the case
• the level of skill and competence required in providing the services
• the actual amount of time spent on the case
• the results the attorney achieved
• the level of appeal the claim went up to and the level at which the attorney began to represent you, and
• the amount the attorney requested for their services, not including expenses.

How Are Attorneys' Fees Under a Fee Petition Paid?

Payments under a fee petition can be paid directly by Social Security. The SSA will withhold part of your past-due benefits for payment of the authorized fee.

If the SSA withholds attorneys' fees from your benefits, the SSA will collect a service charge from the attorney. This service charge is 6.3% of the fee amount paid. The attorney can't ask you to pay for this service charge.

If you aren't entitled to past-due benefits, but you owe your lawyer a fee because the SSA approved a fee petition, you must pay the attorney fee out of your savings or your current monthly disability benefits. The SSA will not be involved in paying this fee directly.

Reviewing Your Agreement With Your Attorney

You should feel comfortable asking your lawyer to go over the fee agreement with you before you sign it. Most fee agreements contain what attorneys call "boilerplate," meaning standard provisions that don't need to be changed for each new client, and they can be confusing. Some of the boilerplate might say there's no guarantee you'll win your claim, and that you promise to return your lawyer's calls and update your contact information if you move.

FAQ About the Cost of Disability Lawyers

Here are some other questions you may have about how much disability lawyers charge.

When Do You Have to Pay the Attorney's Fee?

It doesn't usually cost you anything up front to hire a legal representative; their fee will be paid out of the disability award you eventually receive. Some disability lawyers, however, will ask you to pay a nominal amount for costs (see below) at the beginning of your case.

When do you have to pay the representative's fee? Usually, you don't. Social Security takes the entire representative's fee (up to $9,200) from your award of back pay, before the agency sends the money to you.

What Out-of-Pocket Expenses Can Attorneys Charge for?

Attorneys can bill you for the cost of making copies, postage, travel, and obtaining your medical records or birth certificate. But they can't charge for the cost of paralegal or secretarial services, in-house experts, review of fees, or any share of the attorney's overhead or utility costs. These costs must be paid by the attorney out of the attorney's fee.

If it appears to the SSA that an attorney is attempting to skip the fee petition process by designating some services as out-of-pocket expenses instead of filing a fee petition, or if the expenses appear unreasonable, the SSA can require the attorney to provide proof of the actual out-of-pocket expenses.

When Will I Have to Reimburse the Out-of-Pocket Costs?

Sometimes a disability lawyer will ask for money in advance to pay for the out-of-pocket costs. Social Security does allow this, as long as the representative holds the money "in trust" until it's needed. But most attorneys and advocates "front" these costs for their clients. Then, once the case has closed, regardless of whether you win or lose, the attorney will send you a bill requesting reimbursement for any funds fronted on your behalf for out-of-pocket costs.

Before hiring a disability lawyer or nonlawyer advocate, you should ask whether you will be charged for out-of-pocket expenses in addition to the lawyer's fee or advocate's fee, and what types of expenses might be included.

Can I Negotiate a Lower Fee With the Lawyer?

You can try to negotiate the fee, but it's unlikely to change things. Most attorneys will stick to 25% of your back pay, capped at $9,200. Some attorneys will waive the fees for people in really dire financial situations.

What your lawyer might be willing to negotiate is whether you have to pay for the out-of-pocket costs up front. You might be able to get your lawyer to agree to front the costs and wait to collect reimbursement from your award of back pay.

Some attorneys may even agree to pay some of the out-of-pocket costs for you, without getting reimbursed when the case is over. Make sure you get this agreement in writing, as part of your fee agreement.

Finding a Disability Lawyer

When you're looking for a disability lawyer, you may have no idea where to start. You could start with two sites that are part of the Nolo family, Lawyers.com and Avvo.com, which provide free lawyer directories. You can visit www.lawyers.com/find-a-lawyer or www.avvo.com/find-a-lawyer to find out more.

When you find a few candidates and have an initial "intake" or free consultation, ask questions so that you end up with a representative who you can work well with. Read our article on how to find a good disability lawyer (and how to screen a lawyer before you hire one).