SUCCESS STORY

James, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia, has been receiving Social Security benefits since 1972. Now 51 years old, he started working part-time but did not understand Social Security’s complicated rules for part-time workers. The agency also did not explain the rules to him. As a result, when James was overpaid by Social Security by $35,000, the agency demanded full repayment, which James did not have. What could James do to resolve this matter?

How Legal Aid Helped
As part of our Clients’ Rights Advocate program, James was referred to Legal Aid by a community organization. Legal Aid appointed an attorney to handle James’ case.

• The attorney appealed James’ case to a Social Security administrative law judge.

• At James’ hearing, the attorney successfully argued on James’ behalf that it was not James’ fault that he was overpaid. Instead, it was the local Social Security office that had failed to ensure that individuals with disabilities understood its regulations.

• The judge decided that James was not at fault and ruled that he did not have to return the overpayment.

After the hearing, the judge thanked Legal Aid for the organization’s work. He noted that many similar cases did not have successful outcomes because defendants did not have an advocate who understood the intricacies of Social Security.

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