Karla A. Roche, ADR

Changes in my office

After 24 years of representing individuals before the Social Security Administration, I have decided to discontinue representing claimants for Social Security disability. Beginning June 1, 2017, I began working with Karen Jernigan, a Social Security Disability attorney, at East TN Disability, Inc.

Applying for Social Security disability can be a very confusing and a long drawn out process. When a person is sick and unable to work it can be extremely overwhelming. Completing appeal forms and requesting medical records is the last thing that a person would want to do. Having a representative can relieve this burden.

A representative’s responsibilities include:

• Completing appeal forms
• Consulting with Social Security concerning status of case
• Requesting and reviewing medical records
• Research of Social Security disability problems
• Representing claimants at the hearing before an administrative law judge

Working with Karen will not change my responsibilities very much. I will still work with each client on their case by completing the appeals forms, consulting with Social Security, requesting and reviewing medical records, and submitting medical records to the Office of Hearings Operations. Karen will be representing claimants at the hearing before an Administrative Law Judge

Representation Fee

The amount of the fee charged each claimant is no different with an attorney. By law a representative can charge 25% of an individual’s total past due benefits with a maximum of $6,000.00. If the claim is not approved then the representative cannot charge a fee.