The Law Offices of Will Snyder, PLLC

06/01/2026

We join the Forsyth County Bar Association in requesting that the Chief Resident Superior Court Judge and the Chief District Court Judge reconsider their decision to ban non-lawyers and non-court personnel from bringing electronic devices, including cell phones, into the Forsyth County Courthouse. As a lawyer, I see serious denial of due process of law and the N.C. constitutional right to access to the courts with an absolute ban on bringing electronic devices into the courthouse. Judges have the duty to maintain order in their courtrooms when court is in session, and limitations on non-court-related cell phone use in courtrooms themselves are absolutely necessary and appropriate. It is inherently inequitable to require visitors to the courthouse to use a pay-by-cell-phone-for-parking app to pay for parking but then to prohibit visitors from bringing their cell phones into the courthouse to manage their parking time. The burden on courthouse visitors who walk or take public transportation to the courthouse, and particularly those who do not frequent the courthouse & are unaware of the ban, is much more profound since they currently are denied secure storage facilities for their cell phones upon arriving at the courthouse. Not even banks of pay-per-use lockers are available for members of the public to use to secure their electronic devices while transacting business in the courthouse.

A total ban on bringing electronic devices into the courthouse is a blunt instrument that addresses frustrations of the judiciary with cell phones ringing, people talking on cell phones while in court, and noisy game playing & doomscrolling during court, but it does so at a disproportionate deprivation of the rights of courthouse visitors to the right of due process of law and access to the courts in today's world in which cell phone and electronic devices, even those without access to the cell phone network, are ubiquitous and relied upon members of the general public for storage and access to data as well as necessary communications.

05/01/2026

Meeting the non-medical requirements to qualify for Title XVI Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits is already extremely difficult. A disabled individual cannot have more than $2,000.00 of countable resources, and a married couple cannot have more than $3,000.00 in countable resources, or they are ineligible to receive SSI. Also, an SSI beneficiary's unearned income plus 1/2 half of the beneficiary's earned income is subtracted from the maximum SSI benefits for the year to determine the amount of SSI that is payable to the beneficiary that month.

The resource caps have not been adjusted for inflation since ca. 1972. A few years ago, the previous administration implemented changes that allowed SSI beneficiaries living in households that qualified for SNAP benefits from consideration of their SNAP benefits as unearned income. It now appears that the current administration wants to roll back that change.

The current administration also wants treat the FMV of the bedrooms of adult children 18 years of age and older who are not paying rent to their parents as unearned income and deduct the FMV from their monthly SSI benefits. The justification that the administration is citing as justifying these changes is "program integrity," which is a code word for fraud and the disdain of the current administration for severely disabled individuals who, as members of the current administration might say, still "walk & talk."

It is HARD, but not impossible with compelling evidence of seriously debilitating medical conditions and expert legal representation, for younger individuals to be found to be "disabled" within the meaning of the Social Security Act. These proposed changes, if the current administration adopts them, stand to increase the suffering and quality of life of profoundly disabled younger individuals.

A rule change pushed by White House officials would slash benefits or end support for as many as 400,000 Supplemental Security Income recipients with Down syndrome, dementia and other disabilities whose parents or relatives receive SNAP benefits.

03/23/2026

The Social Security Administration announced earlier this month that SSI beneficiaries are eligible for modest discounts on their Internet service through Lifeline Program, which is sponsored by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC).

Dear Colleague, As more services move online, we recognize that accessing these services can sometimes be challenging for your clients. We want to share …

10/28/2025

Putting the federal government shutdown aside for a moment, here are the ways that we recommend that persons who are interested in applying for Social Security disability benefits submit applications for benefits.

Regarding ALL applications for benefits, we recommend that you FIRST apply for Title XVI Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits even if you believe that your income and resources exceed the statutory maximum limits for each. The reason for this is that the SSA regards an application for SSI benefits as an application for any Title II Old-Age, Survivors, & Disability Insurance (OASDI) benefits for which the applicant may be eligible. However, an application for Title II OASDI benefits is NOT automatically accepted as an application for SSI benefits.

1. If you have an Internet-capable device, access to the Internet, and feel comfortable using computers and online web-based resources, we recommend that you sign up for a MySS account at the SSA's website (https://www.ssa.gov/myaccount/), if you have not already done so, and that you then submit an application for Title II for SSI and for any Title II disability benefits for which you may be eligible. The SSA will accept your completed application immediately once you apply your digital signature to the application per the instructions. If you need to stop and return to finish & submit your application later, you can save your progress on the application and return later to finish and submit it.

2. If you do not have access to an Internet-capable device, you do not have access to the Internet at all, or you do not feel comfortable using Internet-based resources & tools, then we recommend that you call the SSA's National Call Center at (800) 772-1213, waiting on hold as long as it takes to speak to a live representative, and asking to make a telephone appointment to submit an application(s) for disability benefits. The customer service agent will report in the SSA's system that you contacted the SSA to inquire about submitting applications for benefits, which establishes what is called "protective filing date," and that you want a telephone appointment to submit an application for Title XVI SSI or Title II SS disability benefits. You will receive a letter advising you of the date & time of your telephone appointment and the time window during which you should be expecting the SSA's phone call.

3. As an absolute LAST resort, you may complete and mail to the SSA Field Office that services your ZIP code a paper application for benefits. The most common two forms for this purpose are Form SSA-8000-BK (https://www.ssa.gov/forms/ssa-8000-bk.pdf) for Title XVI SSI benefits and Form SSA-16 (https://www.ssa.gov/forms/ssa-16-bk.pdf) for Title II Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits. Application forms for other Title II disability benefit programs that the SSA administers are Form SSA-10 (https://www.ssa.gov/forms/ssa-10.pdf) for Disabled Widow's/Widower's Benefits (DWB), Form SSA-4-BK (https://www.ssa.gov/forms/ssa-4-bk.pdf) for Childhood Disability Benefits (CDB).

SSA Field Offices can make in-person appointments at SSA Field Offices for persons to apply for benefits and may also accept applications for needs-based benefit programs on the spot if someone presents to a SSA Field Office who is in demonstrably dire circumstances. However, you are likely to be able to obtain a telephone appointment that will take place much sooner than an appointment in a SSA Field Office will take place depending upon how busy the SSA Field Office is and how many people the SSA Field Offices services. You can call the SSA Field office that serves your ZIP code by visiting https://www.ssa.gov/locator and entering your ZIP code, which will display the contact information for your SSA Field Office. You can also call the SSA's National Call Center at (800) 772-1213 and request to schedule an in-person appointment at your local SSA Field Office. The SSA has not yet made available a means by which persons wanting to apply for benefits under the SSA's disability benefit programs can schedule appointments online.

Looking for a local office? Use one of our online services and save yourself a trip!

10/28/2025

The Social Security Administration (SSA) has announced that the COLA for recipients of Social Security benefits will be 2.8% of their 2025 maximum monthly benefit amounts.

Social Security benefits and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payments for 75 million Americans will increase 2.8 percent in 2026. On average, Social Security retirement benefits will increase by…

08/22/2025

07/22/2025

RIP Fergie

The North Carolina Advocates for Justice mourns the loss of James “Fergie” Ferguson, a legendary trial attorney and former president of NCAJ, who died on Monday at age 82.

04/25/2025

We are very pleased to announce that Will Snyder has been re-certified as a Board Certified Specialist in Social Security Disability Law by the North Carolina State Bar for another term of five years! Will is also a Board Certified Specialist in Workers' Compensation Law by the North Carolina State Bar, and Will is believed to be the only lawyer admitted to the practice of law in North Carolina presently to hold both of these Board Certifications. Board Certification is a rigorous process that requires, among other things, proof of years of experience in the specialty, attestation of colleagues regarding the candidate's qualifications and experience to be a Board Certified Specialist, and passing of a written examination on the law of the specialty.

Please contact our office at (336) 725-1000 if you would like to schedule a free consultation with Will regarding your potential Social Security disability or workers' compensation case.

03/26/2025

GOOD NEWS for those needing to apply for Title II SSDI or Title XVI SSI benefits who cannot or do not want to establish and use a My Social Security account:

"Under the updated policy beginning April 14, 2025, individuals applying for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), Medicare, or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) who cannot use a personal my Social Security account can complete their claim entirely over the telephone without the need to come into an office."

2025 Press Releases

03/20/2025

Starting March 15, 2025, the SSA will no longer allow those doing business with the SSA, including applicants for Social Security disability benefits, to authenticate their identities over the telephone. The SSA will allow customers to authenticate their identities using one of only two ways. 1. via the customer's My Social Security account, which has an online identity verification process, and 2. Physically traveling to a SSA Field Office, the number of which is decreasing due to field office closures, and presenting documentation that the SSA accepts as sufficient verification of the customer's identity. The SSA will discontinue its "Attestation" identity verification procedure under which a SSA Field Office CSR who receives a document from a customer that normally requires a "wet" pen-and-ink signature but instead bears an alternative signature calls the claimant to ask the claimant whether the claimant authorized the non-pen-and-ink signature.

The combined effect of the reduction of the number and distribution of SSA Field Offices, the SSA's intent to reduce its number of employees by 7,000 down to 50,000, the elimination of walk-in service at SSA Field Offices & requiring everyone needing to transact business with the SSA to make appointments, and the SSA's requirement that those who are unable or unwilling to establish My Social Security accounts visit field offices to verify their identities can be expected to clog lines at SSA Field Offices and require even more direct public contact by CSRs.

If you want to apply for Social Security disability benefits and would like to have our assistance in submitting your application, please contact our office for an appoint so that we determine if we may be able to assist you.

Significant changes will be coming for Social Security recipients. Millions will no longer be able to verify their identity over the phone, creating a challenge for older Americans and those with disabilities. Advocates are raising concerns about the burden this could place on an already vulnerable....