DISABILITY BENEFIT RECOVERY

"MARVIN AND THE $20,000 SOCIAL SECURITY DISABILITY MISTAKE" Posted on 2012-05-28 18:12:03   Click  HERE  for my website concerning Social Security disability help. Marvin is a 44 year-old construction worker who has herniated cervical and lumbar discs and recently underwent a cervical fusion surgery, which will not eliminate all his pain and symptoms. He applied for Social Security disability in late 2010 and was denied in April of 2011. Social Security agreed that Marvin* could not do construction work but stated that he "could perform other work." Marvin believed them. He looked for other work but couldn't find anything that he could do. In September of 2011, Marvin came to my office looking for help. Here is how I figure it: Marvin is indeed disabled, in spite of what Social Security said in their letter. Marvin almost certainly could've won his claim with back benefits if he had appealed. His 60 days for appeal had expired back in Jul...

Do you qualify for Social Security Disability? Click here. In Alabama, slightly less than 30 percent of Social Security disability claims are approved at the first try--the application level. The other 70 percent get denial letters. Many of those denial letters will state something like this: "We realize that you cannot perform any of your past work. However, there is other work that you can do." Social Security must first determine whether an applicant can perform any of his or her past relevant work. They look at work experience for the past 15 years. If they conclude that you cannot do any of your past work, they must ask the question: "Is there any other work that he/she can do, based on his or her residual functional capacity, age, education and work experience?" If there is "other work," then the claimant will be found NOT DISABLED. Many of my clients find that humerous (and tragic at the same time). They say there is work I can do but I...

Get help with Social Security disability here - private and confidential You file for Social Security disability and get denied.  Do you ask for a Reconsideration or for a Hearing?  That depends on where you live. In 40 states, the law requires that you have a Reconsideration before  you can ask for a hearing.  These 40 states are called non-prototype states. A Reconsideration means that the same state agency that denied your claim must review its decision.  A new examiner will be assigned to look at the evidence and re-examine the case.  In all probability they will deny your claim again.  When they do, you may then ask for a hearing before an administrative law judge. The other 10 states are prototype states.  When your case is first denied, you may skip the Reconsideration and ask for a hearing.  This usually cuts your waiting time by 3 to 6 months. Alabama is a prototype state.  You are not required to fool around with R...

The latest Social Security report for fiscal year 2012 (10/01/2011 - 03/30/2012) ranks the 165 ODAR hearing offices by the average number of days required to get a final disposition of a hearing request.  Unfortunately, the hearing offices in Birmingham and Nashville were near the bottom of the list.  Here are the rank of some regional hearing offices where I practice, followed by the average number of days for processing times. 151  Montgomery, AL  420 days 153  Florence, AL  426 days 154, Nashville  435 days 157 Birmingham, 441 days The Franklin, TN. office, however, came in at place 122, with 386 days. Here are the top 3 (fastest) hearing offices, in case you're wondering: # 1  Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, 174 days # 2  Shreveport, LA, 182 days and # 3  Rio Grande Valley, TX, with 188 days Need help with a Social Security disability claim? Click here for FREE info. Never a fee unless you win.

Most Social Security disability claims  wind up in a hearing.  It's just the way it is.  70 percent of applications get sacked for heaven knows why.  Your representative, understanding that your denied claim still has life in it, will pick it up and file and appeal (within 60 days of denial).  That's why your claim winds up before a Social Security Judge. The judge sometimes issues a decision prior to your hearing.  You or your representative may request an "On the Record (OTR)" decision prior to the hearing date.  You are asking the judge or a senior attorney who works for the judge to review your file and issue a favorable decision based on what is in the record.  A decision will only be made if it is "fully favorable" to you.  (Your request should state that you do not waive your right to appear at the hearing if a fully favorable decision is not granted). If you must attend a hearing, and your judge believes that the medical a...

There's a story in May 12 edition of  the Virginia Lawyers' Weekly  that is enough to make the disabled of the land weep.  It's about an administrative law judge who denies 79 percent of the disability cases that come before him.  And last year he issued more than 1,100 decisions.  Of the few  awards he did make, only 6 percent of them were fully favorable (meaning that he granted all the back pay provided by law). I have appeared before ALJs who seemed to only be interested in finding a way to deny a claim.  They had little time to hear about the claimant's disability or suffering and little time to discuss evidence.  Fortunately, most of the administrative law judges that I work with are not so one-sided.  Most of them try to be fair while examining the merits of the claim, which is their job. But heaven help the disabled persons who appear before the judge who is the subject of this article. I fear that because of the poor economy, bud...

A few days before one of my clients is scheduled to appear at a disability hearing, I make an appointment with them to prepare them for the hearing.  I go over the latest medical evidence that we have and try to make sure everything is included.  Is the list of medications up to date?  Are your symptoms worse, better or the same?   One of the first questions that the claimant asks me is, "What do you think my odds are at the hearing?"  It's a perfectly natural questions and one that I would also ask were I in the claimant's shoes. One way to answer is give a rather meaningless statistic, such as, "The national average is about 60 percent in favor of an award."  That's like saying, "The odds of getting a toothache this year are about 15 percent."  If you are not one of the individuals who get a toothache, the statistic is totally meaningless for you.  If you are unfortunate enough to get a bad toothache, then you couldn't care less about...

Step 5 refers to the final step in the sequential process for determining disability.  A claimant reaches step 5 if he is not engaged in significant gainful activity (working), has a severe impairment, does not meet one of the Social Security listings, and is found unable to perform any of his past relevant work.  The final question becomes:  can the claimant do any work available in significant numbers in the national, regional or local economy?  That's the test of Step 5.  And that's where many Social Security disability claims run aground.  Social Security generally has a vocational expert to help the judge sort out how many jobs are available that the claimant could perform, even with his restrictions.  Vocational experts can be very resourceful when it comes to "finding jobs" that claimants "could perform." Step 5 must be determined using the same Residual Function Capacity (RFC) that was used in Step 4 (Can the claimant perform past relevant wo...

According to the latest statistics, the waiting time for a disability hearing with Social Security is decreasing slightly.   The national average is 11.4 months.   In Tennessee, there is remarkable improvement with an average waiting time of 10.7 months. Nashville still has one of the longest waiting times in Tennessee at 15.0 months.  The ODAR office in Franklin, TN is now down to 11.0 months. In Alabama, claimants will wait an average of 14 months for a disability hearing.  Here are a couple of examples of Alabama ODAR offices: Florence 14.0 months Birmingham 15.0 months The use of video conferencing also seems to be increasing as a means of scheduling hearings sooner. I see no evidence that using an attorney or non-attorney advocate reduces the waiting time for the average case. There are exceptions for unusual cases, however.  I had a case this year where the original decision maker had obviously made an error in denying the case.  ...

Being able to accurately foretell the future would be a great benefit in some ways.  We could make perfect investments, buy all the right stocks, avoid all of our mistakes.... Younger Social Security claimant's representatives sometimes ask, "Can you tell if a case is going to be a winner - even before you agree to represent it?"  The truthful answer is, no, you can't always know.  Usually I have an early feeling about a case. That feeling is based on meeting with the claimant, looking at the nature of impairment and type of medical treatment being received.  But at that moment I still do not know if the case can be won; I know that there is a possibility that the case can be won. Usually, what I call the "confirmation" that this case is a winner comes much later.  After I have reviewed all the medical evidence, studied the claimant's work history and researched the limitations that are typically imposed on individuals with similar impairments -- at ...

Disability benefits and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits are both handled by the US Social Security Administration.  Therefore, the two programs are often confused.  They are actually quite different in many ways. First, Social Security disability is covered under Title 2 of the Act.  It requires a sufficient number of "quarters of coverage" earned by employment and payment of FICA taxes.  A rule of thumb says you need to have worked 5 years out of the most recent 10 years to be covered.  Awards under Title 2 are paid from the Social Security Trust Fund.  The amount of monthly benefit is determined by average earnings. SSI is referred to as "Title XVI (16)."  SSI requires no work credits to be covered.  So, individuals who have never worked may be eligible for SSI.  Unlike Title 2, SSI is for persons who are disabled and blind AND have very limited income and personal assets.  Generally, an individual must have less than ...

I think the public is generally misinformed about what services are performed by Social Security advocates or claimant's representatives.  I have friends who are still convinced that the only service I perform is showing up at the hearing and "coaching" my client to victory.  If only it were that simple! Here is a bird's eye view of a good claimant's representative will provide. Research .  He will get to know as much as possible about your disability, particularly the limiting effects it generates by typical symptoms.  I once represented a claimant with asthma and allergies caused by environmental inhalants.  Learning about the hundreds of chemicals that can trigger an attack was quite an education for me.  And it was certainly useful--I'd say, absolutely vital, in the hearing. Case Development.   That's a very general phrase that could encompass everything the representative does.  I use the term to refer to finding medical evidence, sorti...

Probably two out of three telephone calls that my office receives involves claimants inquiring about benefits for some type of mental impairment.  The most common question is, "Can I qualify for Social Security disability based on [bipolar, panic attacks, depression....]?" The answer is, Yes - if the condition is severe enough to prevent you from working for a period of at least 12 months.  Social Security law recognizes mental impairments just the same as they do physical impairments - and based on the same general principles: The illness must be medically determinable - that is, doctors or psychologists must be able to identify your disorder by accepted methods and state that your symptoms could reasonably be produced by the disorder(s) that you have. That the disorder has lasted or is expected to last for 12 continuous months or more. The symptoms produced by your disorder(s) causes severe limitations on your ability to do work-like activities. Psychological i...