Hey guys and gals. I have read many different posts on here and thought I would jump in and say hi, and tell my story. Sooo.
I got a fully favorable decision on March 31, 2011. The "official" date is April 7, 2011. Was told I would receive benefits for 21 months (back-pay) YAY!! I had applied for SSI and SSDI at same time. Everything seemed to happen very fast in the first month after approval. SSI was knocked out quickly. Was approved for it for the whole 21 months, but the SSDI cancelled it out because the amount was higher and I wouldn't be receiving any SSI from here on out. Although they did send me one month of back-pay for SSI about 2 weeks after I received my first regular payment for SSDI. I received my first SSDI payment on May 3 which I was happy to get so quickly. So in less than a month I was receiving benefits. I have gotten several letters from them telling me how much they were taking out to pay arrears in child support, the exact amount they are holding for my lawyer, and all they had to do now is figure how much I was owed. Which I figured it out in less than a minute. LOL I have gotten my second month of pay, minus the child support just like the first one. I then receive a letter saying they would also be withholding $115 for medicare each month. (I will be applying for medicaid to stop that) All that is left is to get my back-pay.
I call them once a week to check the status of my back-pay and they always tell me something different, but most say it is in Baltimore for processing. I called the local office 2 days ago and finally get someone who seems to know what is going on. She says that my case isn't going to hit a desk in processing til June 23rd and if I hear nothing within 45 days of that to call her back. The very next day they called me (BLEW MY MIND). Apparently the judge said I needed someone to help manage my funds and pay my bills. After talking to the lady and her calling my dad, she calls me back and says she sees no reason that I would need someone to be my trustee or whatever it is called and that she was going to send it on through. I asked her if this is what has been holding up my back-pay and she said yes. Why didn't they call me sooner and get this straightened out? She said it should be soon that I get my back-pay once she sends that stuff through. Should I put any stock in what she said?

Yes you should.

Well they have been wrong all the times before. They didn't even know they were the ones holding it up. But I will try to have faith this time. I just hope it is soon, because the stress the wait is causing me, is really messing with my sleep more than usual.

Sounds to me like you just answered your own question. I hope you get your backpay soon.

I don't understand the child support. Why don't your children get a monthly benefit from SSDI and wouldn't that cover the child support?

My son will receive monthly benefits through me from now on, and that will cover support til he is 18, but I owe back child support. He has been drawing benefits on himself for autism spectrum disorder for the past 5 years, which the amount she got for him depended on her household income. But there will be no backpay paid to him because of that.

After being told for over a month that my back pay was at the payment center, I get a phone call from my lawyer today saying it reached the payment center on June 28, 2011. My lawyer also said that if I have gotten no monies by July 12th, to call her and she will call the manger at local office and they will do a manager to manager call, or something, to expedite the matter. So hopefully they know what they are talking about this time, because every time I have called, they didn't have a clue and gave me different responses.

Sounds like what my wife went through. It took her 7 months to get her retro check. But, once the lawyer got involved her check came overnight.

My lawyer was suppose to get involved on June 7, and today is the first I have heard from her since then. lol I am glad to hear your wife got hers that quick once the lawyer got involved. Too bad Monday is a holiday. Maybe all will go well and Tuesday I will have the pay. If not, at least I have an idea of when it will happen. Just 11 days to wait I guess. lol

Well, tomorrow is the 12th and still no money in my account. I called the national toll free number today to see if there had been a release date set and the lady there told me it hasn't been released because of needing a rep payee. This was taken care of 3 weeks ago, yet they say it still needs to be done. Are they that disorganized that the story changes from one minute to the next? I probably could have called them right back, got a different person and be told a different story. I don't understand what is so hard about looking at a PC monitor and seeing exactly what needs to be done. Maybe they need to update their software so it highlights things that are wrong, or need to be done. Either that or re-educate the employees. Because it seems like none of them knows what they are doing. I don't mean to sound harsh, but this is what it seems like to me. They spend the first 10 minutes of the call reading the monitor and when they are done, they don't seem to have a clue. This truly is aggravating.