How To Fight a Disability Overpayment Lien

Fighting a State or federal court judgment lien arising due the Social Security administration against you for overpayment of benefits would be next to impossible.  Get ready to pay up.  The main thing to understand about Social Security benefit overpayment situations is that the disabled beneficiary must address the overpayment situation way before it get to a federal or state court judgment lien stage.   There are many ways to resolve a Social Security benefit overpayment way before it hits a court in a lawsuit demanding payment and even if it does become a lawsuit a settlement agreement can be reached way before judgment lien stage. There is also a lower court judgment appeal process available if the disabled person genuinely believes that he never received a benefits overage payment or that he is not responsible for repayment of the overage for some reason. 

Requesting a Waiver of the Overpayment

In many ways recovering an overpayment from a disabled person that spent the money for expenses in connection with the disability benefits program defeats the purpose of the program.  If the disabled person has received a Notice of Overpayment from the Social Security program that is paying him benefits he could request a waiver of any repayment of the overage in view of his financial circumstances.  He would need to show the program that he needs all of his financial resources to live on and pay medical expenses arising due the medical condition. 

Social Security will allow a waiver of the overage amounts if the disabled person needs all of his income including Social Security benefits to meet ordinary and necessary living expenses.

Adjusted disability benefit amount due to overage repayments would reduce total assets to:

• Below $3,000 if he has no dependants
• Below $5,000 if he has one dependant and add $600.00 for each additional dependant

Appealing the Notice of Overpayment

You would have the right to appeal the payment of overage determinations stated in the Notice of Overpayment letter that would have been sent by the Social Security administration concerning a claim of incorrect payments made.  The appeal of that decision must be requested in writing within sixty days of the date on the Notice of Overages letter and the usual process of requesting an appeal is applicable to this situation. 

Getting Legal Help

The best solution can be reached with the help of a disability lawyer.  The experience and guidance he can bring to the table can help to resolve this problem with an appropriate view to the financial responsibilities of the disabled Social Security client.