HA 01120.025 Fee Agreement Approval or Disapproval

A. Receipt of a Fee Agreement

When the Office of Hearings Operations (OHO) or the Office of Appellate Operations (OAO) receives a fee agreement, designated support staff will date document the agreement and ensure the claim(s) file contains a Form SSA-1696 (Claimant's Appointment of Representative). For more information about representative appointments, see Hearings, Appeals, and Litigation Law (HALLEX) manual HA 01110.011.

NOTE 1:

A fee agreement alone does not constitute a valid appointment of representation. Representatives must use the current version of a Form SSA-1696 to accept an appointment. If the representative was appointed prior to December 9, 2024, when the mandate to use the Form SSA-1696 became effective, they may use another written statement to document the appointment. See HALLEX HA 01110.011 A.

NOTE 2:

If the claim(s) file does not contain a valid Form SSA-1696, support staff will contact the individual(s) who signed the fee agreement as the representative to address the issue. Because the individual is not appointed without a valid Form SSA-1696, staff will not disclose any information about the claimant or claim(s) beyond what was previously supplied to the Social Security Administration (SSA) by the individual (e.g. the date they signed the fee agreement and the name of the claimant appearing on the fee agreement).

If the representative has been properly appointed, support staff will ensure the fee agreement has been signed by both the claimant and representative and take all necessary actions to ensure the document is associated with the claim(s) file. OHO and OAO staff will then ensure all necessary entries regarding representation and the fee agreement are made in the Registration, Appointment, and Services for Representatives (RASR) application and the Hearings and Appeals Case Processing System (HACPS), the Appeals Review Processing System (ARPS), and/or the Office of Appellate Operations Case Processing System (OAOCPS), as appropriate. At the hearing level, support staff will also follow the OHO Standard Hearings Operations Procedure (SHOP) sections 1.2 and 1.3 for electronic and paper/Electronic Non-Medical (ENM) claims. For paper claim(s) files only, OAO staff will annotate the form SSA-1128 (Representative Involved) with pertinent information and associate it with the claim(s) file.

B. When to Take Action on a Fee Agreement

1. Action on a Fee Agreement

A hearing or Appeals Council (AC) level adjudicator acts on a fee agreement when issuing a fully or partially favorable decision. See HALLEX HA 01120.006 B or HA 01120.006 C.1. The adjudicator will approve or disapprove the fee agreement using the statutory conditions and exceptions to the fee agreement process set forth in HALLEX HA 01120.012, sending notice of the action to the claimant and representative as explained in HALLEX HA 01120.017.

NOTE 1:

At the AC level, only the A member administrative appeals judge (AAJ) acts on the fee agreement. See HALLEX HA 01120.006 C.1.

Typically, the adjudicator will send notice of the action on the fee agreement with the decision on the claim(s). However, if the adjudicator has already released the decision before the fee order is processed, support staff will mail the fee order to the claimant and representative separately, forwarding a copy to the effectuating component. Support staff will also ensure a copy of the fee order is associated with the claim(s) file. If a representative validly assigned direct payment of their fee to an entity as described in Program Operation Manual System (POMS) GN 03920.021, do not send a copy of either notice to the entity's point of contact (POC).

NOTE 2:

Before closing the case, support staff will make all appropriate HACPS, CPMS, ARPS, and/or OAOCPS entries regarding the fee agreement.

2. No Action Required on a Fee Agreement

In certain circumstances, a fee agreement and a fee waiver will be in the claim(s) file, but the adjudicator will not be required to approve or disapprove the fee agreement. For example, if an appointed representative submits a fee agreement, and later waives the right to charge and collect a fee, the adjudicator will leave the fee agreement in the claim(s) file and will not approve or disapprove the fee agreement.

NOTE:

An appointed representative who has validly assigned direct payment of their fee may waive charging and collecting a fee only after first timely rescinding the assignment. Refer to POMS GN 03920.020 for additional information about fee waivers and GN 03920.021 for information about assigning direct payment of fees to an entity. Moreover, an appointed representative may charge and collect a fee from a third-party entity without the Social Security Administration's (SSA) authorization, when the regulatory requirements are met. The representative, however, must waive the right to charge and collect a fee from the claimant or any auxiliary beneficiaries or another individual, and the claimant or any auxiliary beneficiaries must not be liable to pay a fee to the representative or anyone else. See 20 CFR 404.1720(e)(1) and 416.1520(e)(1); HALLEX HA 01120.005 and POMS GN 03920.010 B.2. If a representative submits a fee agreement but later waives the right to charge and collect a fee from the claimant or any auxiliary beneficiary, and there are no other appointed representatives who signed the agreement, the adjudicator will leave the fee agreement in the claim(s) file and not act, despite issuing a favorable or partially favorable decision, because of the waiver.

In addition, an adjudicator is not required to authorize a fee, when a court authorizes a representative's fee based on their actions as the claimant's legal guardian or court-appointed representative. See 20 CFR 404.1720(e)(2) and 416.1520(e)(2).

C. Adjudicator Requests Review

An adjudicator may request review of the fee amount authorized under the fee agreement if they approve the fee agreement but disagree with the amount authorized after receiving a copy of the effectuating component's notice.

NOTE:

At the AC level, the B member AAJ may also request review of the authorized fee amount, even though they did not approve the fee agreement.

See HALLEX HA 01120.044 and HA 01120.045 for more information about the procedures for administrative review of the fee authorized under the fee agreement process.

D. Representative or Claimant Does Not Receive Fee Order

If the adjudicator issued a fee order approving or disapproving the fee agreement, but a representative or claimant indicates they did not receive a copy, support staff will send the representative and claimant another copy of the order. Support staff will also confirm with the effectuating component that it received a copy or electronic alert of the fee order. After completing these actions, staff will generally document the actions taken in a Remark in HACPS, CPMS (as needed), ARPS, and/or OACPS.

If the adjudicator did not issue a fee order approving or disapproving the fee agreement and there is a fee agreement in the claim(s) file, the adjudicator will evaluate whether the representative timely filed the fee agreement:

•
If the representative filed the fee agreement with SSA before the date of the first favorable decision the representative worked toward achieving, the fee agreement is timely filed, and the adjudicator must approve or disapprove the fee agreement after considering the other statutory conditions and exceptions to the fee agreement process (see HALLEX HA 01120.012), unless a situation described in HALLEX HA 01120.025 B.2., above, applies.
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If the representative filed the fee agreement after the date of the first favorable decision the representative worked toward achieving, the statutory conditions for approval are not met (see HALLEX HA 01120.012), and the adjudicator must disapprove the fee agreement.

If the adjudicator did not issue a fee order because there is not a fee agreement in the file, support staff can ask the representative to submit a copy of the fee agreement with any documentation showing when it was submitted.

•
If the representative submits a fee agreement and shows it was timely submitted, the adjudicator must approve or disapprove the fee agreement after considering the other statutory conditions and exceptions to the fee agreement process (see HALLEX HA 01120.012).
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If the representative submits a fee agreement but is unable to show the fee agreement was timely submitted, the adjudicator will disapprove the fee agreement.
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If the representative does not submit a fee agreement, support staff will inform the representative that they must file a fee petition if they want to request a fee.

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HA 01120.025 - Fee Agreement Approval or Disapproval (I-1-2-25) - 12/09/2024
Batch run: 04/20/2025
Rev:12/09/2024

Program Operations Manual System (POMS)