GETTING DOWN TO BASICS: HOW TO GET BENEFITS

I've been reading my website and lots of other Social Security disability blogs.  They all have lots of details about SSDI.  It suddenly dawns on me, the average disabled person really needs to know some very basic things.  Here, I will try to give you the basics, based on my years as a successfully disability advocate.

1.  You have to know what the law requires, then you have to do it.  Otherwise, you will never get paid.
a)  You must not now be working at any kind of substantial gainful job.
b)  You must have a medically provable impairment that has lasted for at least 12 consecutive months, is expected to last that long, OR is expected to result in death.

This impairment must be severe enough that it absolutely prevents your ABILITY to perform basic work activities.  If you are under age 50, you must be unable to perform ANY kind of work, even sedentary (easy), unskilled work.  Over age 50, you must be unable to perform all of your past work (during the past 15-year period).

2)  You must file a complete and meticulous application, and this must include all of the attending forms, questionnaires and documents that Social Security will send you in the mail--even after your claim has been filed.  Failing to properly complete these forms (and complete them fully) will get you denied.  It just will.

3)  After you file your application, Social Security will obtain all of your medical records IF (and only IF) you have supplied them with all of the doctors, clinics, hospitals, counselors, practitioners, etc. that have treated you.  You must provide them with names, addresses, phone numbers and estimated dates of service for each medical provider.  If you don't, your records won't get reviewed, and you will be denied for lack of evidence.  Guaranteed.

An attorney or advocate may help you file a stronger application because they know what Social Security needs.

4)  Expect to get denied and appeal your claim.  Almost 70 percent of applications receive a denial.  If it isn't a perfect claim (all the boxes don't check), it will be denied and an administrative law judge will have to sort it out later in a hearing.  Hearings are where most claims get approved.

5)  When you get to the hearing level, things get really complicated, very technical and awfully complex.  This is when you should have a legal representative to work with you and attend the hearing with you. 

Probably the best 15 minutes you ever spent will be to call an experienced attorney or disability advocate and get some advice about your claim.  Every case is different.  Do not depend on what a relative, friend or co-worker tells you.  They all have stories.  None of them probably apply to your particular scenario.  Get a free case evaluation by someone who sits in front of an administrative law judge several times a week, and who knows how to apply the law to your individual set of facts.  It doesn't matter what happened to Uncle Albert. I guarantee you there was something about Uncle Albert's case that is different from your case:  age, education, work experience, medical records, treatment, date last insured, residual function capacity, onset date, grid rules....  You get the idea.  Get YOUR case analyzed based on YOUR set of facts.

Here's the best part.  There is no cost for doing this.  Any attorney/advocate who practices in the area of Social Security disability will provide you with a free consultation, a free case evaluation, and free advice.  If the advocate is hired and does a lot of work on your case, of course he or she deserves to be paid.  But they only get paid if you (a) win your case, and (b) receive past due payments as a lump sum of money, and (c) Social Security approves of the fee payment.

At the Forsythe Firm, we evaluate cases and advise claimants everyday.  In some cases, we take a case to trial (hearing) and get paid for it.  But in dozens of other cases, we provide free consultations and free advice for which we receive no pay at all.  In other cases, we file an application which gets approved right away, the claimant gets a monthly benefit and we do not qualify for any fee at all.  

Social Security disability is complicated.  Get the help and give yourself the advantage.  (256) 799-0297. 

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