must i give my personal injury award back to social security?

[newsposter]

What is the name of your state? PA

Been getting SS disability for 5 years. The amount of my personal injury award likely will be less than the amount of SS I have received. My lawyer says he needs to notify SS and negotiate with them and they get part of my award. I think this is BS. The award is for pain and suffering and i dont think that's the reason SS is giving me money right? He said the reason why he needs to negotiate is because otherwise people would never settle their personal injury cases because they wouldn't get anything and SS would take the whole thing. (he'd never get his fee either)

so i feel he's not exactly telling me the 100% truth. It seems wrong that they can take away the lump sum I've 'earned.' I've searched the SSA site and found NO mention of recovering personal injury payments, but tons of stuff on workers comp etc. certainly i'm not the only one in the world that has this situation.

Also when i called the toll free SSA number, they said i don't have to pay them back. so i asked for that in writing. doubt i'll ever receive it though.

 

[teflon_jones]

SS is entitled to recover anything you receive for lost wages. What's the breakdown of your settlement? How much for lost wages, P&S, etc?

 

[newsposter]

SS is entitled to recover anything you receive for lost wages. What's the breakdown of your settlement? How much for lost wages, P&S, etc?

well i got a look at one release and it just said generally to close the case. there was no breakdown, so if it's a general release do i still owe? or must this release be written up in a specific language to protect the money?

 

[teflon_jones]

well i got a look at one release and it just said generally to close the case. there was no breakdown, so if it's a general release do i still owe? or must this release be written up in a specific language to protect the money?

It needs to be written up specifically. Also, was your suit state that you were intending to recover lost wages? Or only P&S?

 

[newsposter]

It needs to be written up specifically. Also, was your suit state that you were intending to recover lost wages? Or only P&S?

to be honest i never saw what the lawyer filed except that i know it stopped the 2 year clock here in PA. so i dont know what he asked for but can guess he threw in the kitchen sink. but knowing what you have told me, i assume it's in my best interest to have it written up for pain and suffering. but then again, without admitting liability, how can they really write up something so specific? hmmm. i guess i need to have a talk with him

so are you saying if it is general that it's fair game for SSA?

 

[newsposter]

Amazingly my atty called me. I guess last night's voicemail demanding proof SSA is entitled to money hit a nerve. So here is the story now (he never told me 90% of this stuff before today)

He said that he will wait a week to see if I get a letter from SSA specifically saying for my specific case we owe nothing from the PI recovery. His thought on the SSA call I made is that the guy didn't realize the disability is directly from this accident.

He also said that he will write to SSA BEFORE he makes a demand to the defendant. I had origianally thought we would get an offer then have to split it with SSA. So the order of things was not made clear to me. But he assured me that he will know the exact amount, be it 100% or 50% recovery, that SSA wants from us. Then he said, once SSA tells him that amount, he will take my lost earnings for the rest of her life etc and make a demand to the defendant. He has never ever told me this plan of his.

He was adamant about protecting the fed. govts right to this money. He does know other than SS disability, we have never used medicare or SSI. he said the govt always has an absolute right to this money if it's related to recovery from this accident. But of course not if we win 100000 in the lottery or have another accident, for example.

So what do you think about all this now? i guess it's more plausible that SSA does have a right to this money? I can't figure out why he's so scared and wont tell me numbers. he told me he has done lots of these cases yet refuses to give me even a range of numbers that SSA has negotiated with him in the past. This upsets me greatly and kills credibility as far as I'm concerned. it's driving me more nuts not knowing than just giving me a silly range of numbers from his past experience.

PS also i forgot to mention that atty told me the defendant's ins. will ask to see the release from SSA before they give me any money. and also he will not try to spilt hairs and write it up for pain/suffering instead of lost wages to protect the money. he said he'd be thrown in jail for fraud.

does this clearance from SSA sound like something you have seen before?

 

[newsposter]

I finally got an answer. My lawyer finally decided to get up off his ass and do research. Turns out we do NOT own social security a dime. I then went to another atty who confirmed this for me

Our guy is a real knucklehead. He should have known or researched all these years but only did so after I threatened just to walk away and not settle.