CLAIMS PROCESS DOESN'T MAKE SENSE TO MOST PEOPLE

The Social Security disability claims process doesn't make sense to many claimants.  They don't understand why there are a hundred pages of forms to be completed.  They don't see why it takes 4 to 6 months to get a decision.  Most people really don't know about the complex set of rules and federal regulations that govern who can get disability benefits and who can't.

On top of that, most people have heard stories from friends, relatives or neighbors that contradict their own experience with Social Security. 

The truth is, everything in the disability process is done for rhyme and reason.  Everything has a purpose.  An attorney experienced in dealing with Social Security knows exactly how each part of the system works, and what to expect.  Your lawyer sees the system from the inside.  The claimant, on the other hand, stands outside looking in--and you get only a brief, casual view of the process.

Let me give you an example or two of why Social Security does certain things:

1.  Why does Social Security want so much information about jobs you've done in the past?

Answer:  This will be used at Step 4 of the sequential decision-making process.  If you are found able to perform any one of your past relevant jobs, you will probably not qualify for any disability benefit.  So, Social Security needs to know about your past jobs in great detail.  It is to your advantage to explain your past work in great detail.  However, I usually find that claimants either don't explain their past work at all or they skip over the Work History Report, leaving most of the questions blank.  This hurts the claim and often prevents it from being approved. If I help you file a claim, we will spend a lot of time getting the Work History Report right!

2.  Why does Social Security ask me so many questions about my daily activities:  Do I cook, drive, take care of pets, handle my own finances, or do I have hobbies, etc.?

Answer:  Social Security is getting a picture of how robust or limited your daily activities are, what you are able to do on your own and what you need help with.  They will use this to help decide if you are able to work some kind of job or not.  A person who is very independent in activities of daily living may be thought capable of doing some kind of work that exists in the national economy.  If so, that person is not legally disabled according to Social Security law.  That's why I cringe when I read a Function Report that gives little or no detail about the claimant's struggles to perform routine, daily activities.  Often I see questions checked simply "Yes" or "No" with absolutely no details given.  This, also, fails to help your claim.

3.  My attorney has my medical records.  Why does she bother my doctor about filling out additional complicated forms?  Aren't medical records enough?

Answer:  Medical records may not be enough to get you approved. Medical records talk about your complaints, what illness or condition the doctor has diagnosed, and what treatments have been tried.  They do not address vocational issues or how your illness affects your ability to perform specific work related activities.  Medical records almost never say how long you can sit, stand, or walk or how much you can lift on a repeated basis.  They do not tell us if you would have problems with reaching, handling, stooping, kneeling, crouching or crawling.  And these are the very things Social Security will use to decide if you can work.  So, we want to get a Medical Source Statement from your doctor to tell us what your exact functional limitations are.

4.  OK, got it.  My doctor doesn't like the 6-page forms that attorneys use.  My doctor says she will just give me a letter that says I am disabled and not able to work.  Won't that be just as good as the long, troublesome form?

Answer:  No, it won't.  Doctors are not permitted to say who is disabled and who is not.  By law, that decision is reserved to the Commissioner of Social Security.  What we need from the doctor is an opinion about each of your limitations of function:  sitting, standing, walking, stooping, crouching, crawling, lifting, etc.  Our forms ask all the right questions, so your doctor can give specific answers.  Letters never do that. Letters always leave out important detail that we might use to get your case approved.

Trust your attorney or advocate to know what to do.  He or she has seen hundreds (maybe thousands) of disability cases and knows exactly what it takes to get approved.  If this is your first or second time around the block, you can't be expected to know how everything works.  That's why the services of a seasoned disability attorney or advocate are so important.

You can afford representation because you won't be charged any money until you win your case and Social Security pays you back pay.  Then, the pre-arranged attorney's fee will be deducted from your past due payment and paid.  If you do not collect past due money from Social Security, you do not owe an attorney's fee.  So, consultations are free and you pay only if you win, and only if you collect past due benefits from the government.  The attorney's fee, by the way, comes only from a portion of your past due benefit.  You always keep 100 percent of your monthly disability benefits.
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Charles W. Forsythe
Practice Limited to Social Security Disability
The Forsythe Firm
7027 Old Madison Pike - Suite 108
Huntsville, AL 35806

CALL US:  (256) 799-0297

E-mail us:  forsythefirm@gmail.com

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