It All Starts With Social Security
Bring Social Security Expertise Into Your Legal Practice
Social Security decisions often happen alongside important conversations about estate planning, family, assets, and long-term care.
Adding Social Security expertise to your practice gives your firm another way to start those conversations, identify related legal needs, and connect clients with services they may already need.
Build Social Security Expertise With the RSSA® Program
The RSSA® Program gives legal professionals the education and tools to understand Social Security claiming decisions and better recognize how they fit within a client’s broader planning needs.
Education & Training
Complete a flexible online program covering Social Security rules, claiming strategies, family benefits, case studies, and the use of RSSA Roadmap® software.
RSSA® Designation
Eligible professionals who complete the education requirements and pass the final exam can earn the Registered Social Security Analyst® designation.
Software & Support
RSSA® membership includes access to RSSA Roadmap®, continuing education opportunities, software support, case support, and additional professional resources.
Social Security Belongs in the Bigger Planning Conversation
Your clients already trust your firm to help them navigate some of life’s most important decisions.
But when questions about Social Security arise, do they have to go somewhere else for answers?
An RSSA® credential can help your firm make Social Security part of the broader planning conversation alongside estate planning, wills and trusts, probate, elder law, retirement income, and long-term financial goals.
Instead of treating Social Security as a separate decision, your firm can help clients understand how it fits into the larger picture.
The result is a more coordinated client experience that keeps your firm at the center of the relationship.
Turn Social Security Planning Into New Opportunities
A Social Security conversation can uncover planning needs that might otherwise come up much later. Clients may need help with:
- Wills and trusts
- Estate planning
- Medicaid planning
- Powers of attorney
- Asset protection
- Guardianship
- Probate and estate administration
- Special needs planning
- Survivor and family planning
Having someone in the firm who understands Social Security makes it easier to recognize when these broader conversations should happen and connect clients with the appropriate legal services.
A poorly timed Social Security claiming decision can cost your clients up to $139,000 in lifetime benefits.
Understanding how legal and financial decisions affect those benefits gives attorneys the opportunity to help clients protect more of their retirement income.
Create New Referral Opportunities With Other Professionals
CPAs and accounting professionals, financial advisors, insurance professionals, bankers, and trust officers may encounter clients with Social Security questions as part of a larger retirement or legacy-planning conversation.
Having RSSA® expertise within your firm gives you another way to build relationships with these professionals and position your practice as a resource when Social Security questions arise.
And that Social Security conversation can be the beginning of something much larger.
One Credential. A More Comprehensive Practice.
Bring Social Security expertise in-house and position your firm as a trusted resource for Social Security guidance as part of a more holistic approach to elder care, retirement, and estate planning.
Elder Law and Elder Care Attorneys
Your elder law clients are already asking when to claim, how a spouse's benefit factors in, and what happens if long-term care changes the picture. An RSSA® on staff means those questions get answered in the same meeting, by the same trusted advisor, instead of sending the client elsewhere. It's a natural extension of the planning conversations you're already having.
- Retirement and survivor benefits
- Coordination with Medicare, Medicaid, and long-term care planning
- Powers of attorney, guardianship, and incapacity planning
- Representative payee considerations
Estate Planning, Wills and Trusts
Clients don't separate their Social Security decisions from their estate plan, even if the paperwork does. When your firm holds the RSSA® designation, survivor income, trust planning for a dependent beneficiary, and coordination with other assets all become part of one conversation, with your firm at the center of it.
- Survivor income following the death of a spouse
- Trust planning for dependent or disabled beneficiaries
- Coordination with retirement accounts and other assets
- Powers of attorney and incapacity planning
Probate and Estate Administration
The death of a spouse or parent can raise immediate Social Security questions alongside the legal and financial matters involved in settling an estate.
- Widow and widower benefits
- Divorced-survivor benefits
- Benefits for minor or dependent children
- Timing considerations for surviving spouses
Special Needs Planning
Families planning for an individual with a disability may need to coordinate legal arrangements, family resources, and Social Security or other public benefits.
- SSDI and SSI distinctions
- Disabled adult child benefit considerations
- Special needs trusts
- Coordination with Medicaid and other public benefits
Medicaid Planning
Social Security income and other retirement benefits are often part of the broader financial picture families are reviewing when planning for Medicaid or long-term care. Understanding how those benefits factor in gives your firm another way to support clients through the planning process.
- Impact of Social Security income on Medicaid eligibility
- Coordination with long-term care planning
- Spousal and household income considerations
- Planning around asset and income limits
Guardianship
Social Security benefits are often part of the picture when families are planning for the financial needs of an aging parent, a disabled family member, or another individual who requires additional support.
- Benefits for aging parents or family members needing support
- Representative payee considerations
- Coordination with disability and dependent benefits
- Financial planning for incapacitated individuals
Bring RSSA® Training to Your Whole Firm
NARSSA offers group enrollment and education opportunities for law firms, bar associations, estate-planning councils, elder law organizations, and other professional groups. Group options can make it easier to bring Social Security knowledge to multiple attorneys or professionals within the same organization.
Discuss a Firm or Group EnrollmentMake Complex Social Security Decisions Easier to Understand
RSSA Roadmap® gives your firm's RSSA the tools to analyze Social Security claiming options and explain the results in a way clients can easily understand. From comparing claiming ages to exploring benefits available to spouses, survivors, and other family members, the software helps identify options that clients may not have considered.
- Import earnings and benefit information from SSA.gov
- Evaluate spousal, survivor, and divorced-spouse benefits
- Explore benefits available to dependent children and other family members
- Compare claiming ages and potential lifetime benefit outcomes
- Generate easy-to-understand reports in English or Spanish
Bring Social Security Expertise Into Your Practice
The RSSA® Program is completed online and is designed to fit around an existing professional schedule. Eligible participants complete the education requirements, learn to use RSSA Roadmap®, and take a proctored final exam before earning the designation.
Attorney Eligibility
A Juris Doctor or attorney credential satisfies the RSSA® program's professional eligibility requirement.
Flexible Online Self-Study
The five-module program is self-paced. Most participants complete it in approximately 20–35 hours.
Proctored Final Exam
Administered and proctored online by the College for Financial Planning® — a Kaplan Company.
Hear What RSSAs® Are Saying About the Program
“Becoming a Registered Social Security Analyst® has opened doors to multiple clients and referrals. When I tell them I’m an RSSA®, they want to know more.”
Frank Garcia
“After completing the RSSA® program, I was immediately able to apply my Social Security knowledge to help a client make informed decisions about their benefits.”
Jeanine Kinzie
“Being able to help people get into a better position is so important, and I can do that because of the knowledge that being an RSSA® provides.”
Erin Fountain
“Having the RSSA® designation gives me more credibility and trust with clients. It’s not just about being a financial advisor—this shows I truly understand Social Security.”
Catherine Allen-Carlozo
Frequently Asked Questions
Why Should a Legal Practice Add Social Security Expertise?
Social Security questions often arise alongside the retirement, estate, and elder law issues clients are already discussing with their attorneys. Bringing RSSA® expertise in-house allows your practice to make Social Security part of that broader planning conversation rather than routinely sending clients elsewhere for answers.
What Can an RSSA® Provide to Our Clients?
An RSSA® can provide specialized Social Security knowledge and customized, software-backed Social Security optimization reports to help clients better understand their claiming options.
How Does Social Security Complement Estate and Elder Law Planning?
Social Security is one part of a client’s broader financial picture. Understanding Social Security benefits alongside retirement assets, estate plans, trusts, wills, long-term care considerations, and legacy goals can help create a more coordinated approach to planning.
Can Social Security Help Our Firm Attract New Clients?
Social Security can provide an earlier reason to begin the client relationship. A conversation that begins with Social Security questions can give your firm an opportunity to establish trust, demonstrate expertise, and identify additional needs involving estate planning, probate, trusts, elder law, and other services your practice provides.
Retirement planning often starts with Social Security — a question about when to file can lead naturally into a conversation about whether a client has a will in place, or when it was last updated.
How Can Having an RSSA® Create Opportunities for Professional Referrals?
RSSA® expertise can give CPAs, financial advisors, insurance professionals, bankers, trust officers, and other professionals another reason to view your firm as a resource when their clients have Social Security questions. Those referrals can also open the door to broader conversations about the client’s legal, retirement, estate, and legacy-planning needs.
Who in Our Firm Can Become an RSSA®?
Social Security expertise does not necessarily have to reside solely with an attorney. Depending on the structure of your practice, the RSSA® credential may be a valuable addition for team members whose roles intersect with client planning and retirement conversations, such as paralegals or legal secretaries.
Ready to Bring Social Security Expertise to Your Firm?
Recognize important issues earlier, ask more informed questions, and provide a more complete client experience during estate planning, aging, divorce, widowhood, disability, and other major life transitions.
*Minimum 12 Month Commitment Required
Speak with our team about individual enrollment, law firm education, association partnerships, and enterprise opportunities.
Schedule a Call
Have Questions or want to see how the RSSA® Program fits into your practice?
Schedule a quick call with our team to walk through the program, software capabilities, and how other legal professionals are successfully implementing it into their practices.
Choose a TimeJD/Attorney Eligibility · Proctored by College for Financial Planning® — a Kaplan Company · Listed in the FINRA Professional Designations Database · SOC 2 Type 2 Compliant