Beyond the claimant's legal representative, who may the claimant appoint to act as representative in an administrative appeal?
General information · Not legal advice
Material to check
In a practice file we read the administrative appeal application to see who is named as representative and in what capacity, the family register or marriage certificate showing a blood relationship no further removed than a cousin, the employment papers where a corporation's officer or employee is named, the attorney's bar registration, or the committee's permission where the last item is relied on.
These are types of material to look for, not evidence already verified by PRO SE.
Where readings differ
One reading takes the list as the set of permitted routes: besides the legal representative, the claimant may appoint the claimant's spouse or a blood relative of the claimant or the spouse no further removed than a cousin; where the claimant is a corporation, or an unincorporated association or foundation with claimant capacity under another provision, one of its officers or employees; an attorney; a person able to represent the appeal under another law; or any other person the committee permits.
Another reading stresses that the items differ in what they require: the family-based item turns on the relationship itself, while the officer-or-employee item is available only where the claimant is a corporation or an association or foundation with claimant capacity under the named provision, and the final item is expressed as appointment subject to the committee's permission, so this provision leaves open what showing supports that permission.
Your judgment
If a person with no kinship, employment, attorney status or statutory basis has been acting as representative, what in the file would show the committee gave its permission?
PRO SE does not make this decision or keep a case record on this public site.When to reconsider
We look at this again if the provision is amended to change which relatives, officers, employees or other persons may be appointed, or if a committee decision or court ruling explains what the permission under the final item requires.