Social Security Disability

I am preparing for a social security hearing this afternoon and thought I would share the following.  This is one of those areas where my family law and personal injury practices often merge.  I have been on both sides of a party seeking child support and the party paying child support where their only income is social security disability.  Mississippi Code Annotated Section 93-11-71(6) was amended a few years ago that allows someone who receives disability to use the lump sum payments due to a child to satisfy outstanding arrearages.  Attorneys for some reason often forget that when a parent is receiving social security disability, the minor child of the parties also receives a check each month.  The check the child receives each month allows a noncustodial parent to be entitled to a credit up to the amount of his support obligation for money paid to the child.  Mooneyham v. Mooneyham, 420 So.2d 1072, 1074 (Miss. 1982).  From a practical standpoint, with the amount the child receives the noncustodial parents usually ends up paying no child support due to the amount the child receives each month.

The following website is helpful too if you are representing claimants.  I have been told it is often used by social security employees in making disability determinations.  It has all the regulations in one place, a copy of the infamous grid for making disability determinations, and a whole host of answers to social security questions. 

www.severe.net