Social Security Brochure

DISABLED

Congress has defined the term "disability" as an inability to engage in any substantial gainful activity by reason of any medically determinable physical or mental impairment which can be expected to result in death or which has lasted or can be expected to last for a continuous period of not less than 12 months.

A determination of disability occurs only if  your physical or mental impairment is of such severity that you are unable to do your previous work and cannot, considering your age, education, and work experience, engage in any other kind of substantial gainful work which exists in the national economy, regardless of whether such work exists in the immediate area in which you  live or whether a specific job vacancy exists for you, or whether you would be hired if you applied for work.

EVALUATION PROCESS

The following must be proven if you are to be found disabled:

1. From your past employment, you have paid in enough socialsecurity taxes to qualify.

2. You are not gainfully employed.

3. You have a severe impairment.

4. Your impairment meets or equals one of the impairments described in
the social security regulations known as the "Listing of Impairments."

5. You are unable to do past relevant work.

6. Other work within your residual functional capacity, considering your age, educational and work experience, does not exist in the economy in significant numbers.

APPLYING FOR SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFITS

You can apply for social security benefits by either  calling the social security office and applying over the telephone or going to the social security office to apply for benefits.

BENEFITS ARE DENIED

After you are denied social security benefits, it is best to contact our office immediately for assistance.

FEES

My attorney fee is 25% of any past benefits I collect for you.  Should you not collect benefits, no fee is charged.   Win or lose, you are responsible for out of pocket expenses associated with your case for copying, postage, securing medical records and reports, etc.

DON'T GET FRUSTRATED

You can ask Social Security to look at your claim again. This is called a request for reconsideration. This request needs to be made in writing within 60 days of your notice of denial.

Don't be surprised if you were turned down on the original application and on the request for reconsideration. You can appeal that decision again. This time it is to a judge who makes a new decision. Again this request must be filed within 60 days of your notice of denial.

It is very important to bring your appeal within 60 days and to appeal until you get a hearing.

National figures show that while only 17% of those who request reconsideration are granted benefits, 68% of those who are denied on reconsideration and take their claim to a hearing are awarded benefits.

WHAT KIND OF BENEFITS YOU ARE ELIGIBLE TO RECEIVE

If Social Security finds that you are disabled, you will receive a monthly cash benefit. The amount of the cash benefit is geared to how long you have been working and the amount of money you made during your work. It can be as low as $100.00 and as high as $1,180.00 per month. An average benefit, nationwide, is about $550.00.

WHAT YOU CAN DO TO INCREASE YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING YOUR DISABILITY CLAIM.

Be honest and complete in giving information to Social Security about what is disabling you. Many claimants, for instance, fail to mention their psychiatric problems to Social Security because they are embarrassed about them. In almost all cases, individuals who were slow learners in school fail to mention this fact to Social Security, even though it can have a good deal to do with whether or not the Social Security disability claim is approved. Beyond being honest and complete with Social Security, the most important thing that you can do is just keep appealing and hire an experienced attorney to represent you. It is important to appeal because most claims are denied at the initial level, but are approved at higher levels of review. It is important to hire an experienced attorney to represent you because you do not understand the way Social Security works. Statistically, claimants who employ an attorney to represent them are much more likely to win than those who go un-represented.