How A Lawyer Can Help With Social Security Disability Cases
Brian O Sutter
Social Security Disability
Social Security Disability is part of the federal “safety net,” social programs that give people money, subsidized housing, medical treatments, and more to the people who most need it. Social Security Disability lets people access their Social Security benefits early after they suffer a permanent or long-term disability that makes it impossible to work.Unfortunately, while Social Security Disability benefits might have been easier to get back in the day, at this point the welfare office is very strict about who qualifies for benefits. If you have any way to make ends meet or if your disability doesn’t keep you from working for a year or longer, the government can deny your application. But on the bright side, you can hire a lawyer to help you through the red tape every step of the way.
Step 1: Writing The Application
A lawyer can help you, starting from the day you decide to apply for SSD benefits. An experienced Social Security lawyer will have plenty of experience working with the paperwork and forms used in the application process, and so you’ll get important advice about which medical records the office will want, which of their recognized disabilities best applies to your condition, and how best to describe your situation.
Hiring a lawyer just to write your application may sound needlessly expensive, but the thing is that Social Security lawyer fees are federally regulated and can’t go above 25 percent of your Social Security back payments. Back payments are at their lowest when you’re still applying for coverage, and so bringing in a lawyer to make that first application successful can be a real bargain. It’s true that plenty of people get approved on their first try without a lawyer, but low-cost legal advice can be a big help to others.
Step 2: Appealing A Negative Decision
If you do get rejected, and that happens to all too many applicants who deserve full Social Security Disability coverage, then a lawyer can help you through the appeals process. For the most part, this involves collecting even more medical information and interviewing medical professionals, including your primary physician.
Organizing and submitting all this information can take a lot of your time and money, and if you’re disabled enough to qualify for SSD coverage then you probably have trouble even with simple tasks like paperwork. But a Social Security lawyer acting on your behalf can get a lot done, giving you more time to rest and concentrate on less stressful things.
Step 3: Taking The Appeal To Court
Most Social Security Disability cases don’t make it to this point, either because the applicant gets approved or the government provides a solid reason why they can’t offer coverage. But sometimes the SSD office is just plain wrong, and if that means going to open court to prove them wrong it definitely helps to make sure your lawyer has the resources it takes to see the case through to the very last appeal. The lawyer’s fee goes up as time passes thanks to the commission, but remember neither you nor your lawyer get a cent unless you succeed.
So hiring a lawyer right away can help you write a better application for a reasonable price, and after, that they can handle the legal side of the increasingly complicated appeals process. Hiring a lawyer when you need Social Security Disability makes sense at every point of the process, but the earlier you look for help the better your chances are of getting approved with less of a hassle.