Although you are not expected to have an attorney at a Social Security Disability hearing, if you do, the chances of winning will increase. You are not obligated to employ an attorney to support you in your hearing; however, an skilled attorney with disabilities would significantly increase the odds of winning the lawsuit. Ask the Right Questions
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· Social Security does not require you to have an attorney, and you might feel comfortable requesting your own medical records and representing yourself at your hearing. However, considering that Social Security disability attorneys work on a contingency basis and do not get paid unless you win your claim, it may be in your best interest to at least consult …
Social Security does not require a lawyer for a disability hearing. But there are several reasons why having assistance will be helpful, or even vital to winning a case at the hearing level, starting with knowledge of how decisions are made and what a specific needs to win before a judge.
· If you don't want to wait upwards of two years for a hearing date, you might try to hire an attorney for help with the initial application. One thing to keep in mind: if a lawyer only helps you with your initial application (and you get approved without having to go to a hearing), the fee you have to pay a lawyer will be fairly low.
· It's not unusual for SSDI attorneys and advocates to wait until a month before a disability hearing to first speak to a client. Up to that point, your only contact with the law firm may be with paralegals or staff members. Nonattorney staff members are generally responsible for: making sure "request for hearing" deadlines are met
Unfortunately, your odds are even lower for getting your benefits approved on the first appeal—about 12%. If you move on to the next level of appeal, which involves a hearing before an administrative law judge (ALJ), your chances for approval increase significantly—more than 55%.
Once you have been through a Social Security Disability hearing with an Administrative Law Judge, you need to wait for your decision to come in the mail. Six weeks to 3 months is the usual time that should be expected.
The Post-Hearing Review all the evidence that had been submitted prior to the hearing. the testimony from the claimant. the arguments made by the claimant's advocate. testimony from other witnesses at the hearing.
1. Retroactive SSI benefits. Retroactive SSI benefits — which include any federally administered State supplementation — are SSI benefits issued in any month after the calendar month for which they are paid. Thus, benefits for January that are issued in February are retroactive.
When You'll Receive Your Back Pay. You should receive your SSDI or SSI back pay in a separate check or direct deposit one or two months following your approval. You may receive it before or after you receive your first monthly payment.
Back pay is received as a lump sum, while future benefits are paid monthly. Since 2011, the SSA has required that all disability recipients have a bank account to receive payments via direct deposit.
The judge will make a decision after hearing both sides and considering the evidence. The judge may make the decision right away or may take a recess to give the decision. The recess may be only for a few hours or it may take days or weeks to give the final decision. If your case is for a restraining order.
Once the ALJ has made a decision, staff decision writers at the disability hearing office will actually write the decision, and the judge will review it. When the judge is ready to issue the decision, your disability file will be sent to your Social Security office.
The Administrative Law Judge may ask other witnesses, such as a doctor or vocational expert, to come to the hearing. You and the witnesses answer questions under oath.
If you do not have it when you request a hearing, send it to the Administrative Law Judge as soon as you can, but no later than five business days before the hearing date. At the hearing:
During the non-medical hearing process, the ALJ will focus on the reason you requested a hearing and request evidence specifically related to that issue. Examples of non-medical hearing request reasons include eligibility for SSA benefits, or issues that may have caused an overpayment. Click here to learn more about SSI Overpayments
You can send us documents by mail, or by fax. Sending documents to us by fax is secure and efficient. To submit documents by fax, simply use the toll-free fax number with area code “833” assigned to the hearing office handling your case. You can find the telephone and fax numbers for the hearing office handling your case at the top of each notice we send.
Generally, you have 60 days after you receive the notice of our decision to ask for any type of appeal. In counting the 60 days, we presume that you receive the notice five days after we mail it unless you can show that you received it later. If you do not file an appeal timely, the ALJ may dismiss your appeal.
If you miss the deadline for requesting a hearing and do not have a good reason for missing the deadline, the ALJ may dismiss your appeal. Dismissal means that you may not be eligible for the next step in the appeal process and that you may also lose your right to any further review.
The next step in the appeals process is a hearing before an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ). You or your representative may request a hearing by an Administrative Law Judge.
And if you don't want to wait upwards of two years for a hearing date, you might try to hire an attorney for help with the initial application.
The only real con of hiring a lawyer is that, if you win your claim, the lawyer will receive part of your back payments from Social Security. The lawyer can take up to 25% of your backpay, up to a maximum cap of $6,000 (but the fee has to be based on the amount of time the lawyer spends on your case). When we surveyed readers, we found that the average fee collected by Social Security lawyers was $3,750, much lower than the maximum (and even lower in SSI cases: $2,900).
Is hiring a lawyer for your hearing worth the money? In the survey of readers we did, the average attorneys' fee for those who hired a lawyer for the hearing was $4,600 (though more than half paid the maximum fee of $6,000). But the hearing is the last good chance you have of getting approved for benefits, so you may decide it's worth part of your backpay to hire the lawyer (and you don't have to pay if you don't win).
If you're denied at the application level, it becomes more important to hire a lawyer. Disability lawyers know how to prepare a disability case for a hearing and they have the necessary expertise with Social Security rules and regulations to win at the hearing. Your lawyer may want to practice asking you questions that the judge might ask so that you aren't nervous at the hearing and so that you can testify (honestly) in a way that's helpful to your case.
If you don't want to wait upwards of two years for a hearing date, you might try to hire an attorney for help with the initial application.
If your medical records are insufficient, your lawyer could also help you arrange for a breathing test or ejection fraction test before you apply, so that you have a better chance of winning disability at the initial application stage. If necessary, a disability attorney can request that Social Security schedule (and pay for) an exam with a doctor or psychologist.
In your case, your lawyer would assess whether you could meet the COPD listing or the CHF listing. If your medical records show that you have poor breathing test results or poor ejection fraction measurements (gauging the blood flow through the heart ), your lawyer should be able to tell you if you have a good chance of meeting the requirements of one or both listings.
It is not unusual for attorneys to wait until a month before a disability hearing to first speak to a client. Up to that point, your only contact with the law firm may be with paralegals or staff members. Nonattorney staff members are generally responsible for making sure request for hearing deadlines are met and medical records are requested and received, and for communication with clients about pre-hearing matters.
There are three main possible "theories" an attorney can use to do this. Your lawyer can: prove that your condition meets a disability "listing". prove that you "grid" out of all work (including not being able to do your past work) prove that your non-exertional limitations prevent you from working, or.
At the disability hearing, your lawyer will ask you ask you a series of questions called "hypotheticals." These hypotheticals are designed to rule out the possibility that you can work any type of job due to the limitations imposed by your condition. For more information, see our article on how an attorney uses hypotheticals at a disability hearing. (Also, you may want to learn more in general about what to expect at your disability hearing .)
If your attorney thinks additional testing is needed to meet the listing, he or she may request that an SSA doctor examine you or that you schedule the necessary tests with your physician. If your condition does not seem likely to meet the listing, the attorney will look to other possible theories.
To prove you are not capable of sedentary work, your attorney will use the documented symptoms of your illness, the opinions of your treating doctors, your testimony, and any other objective medical evidence in your file to show why you can't do various sit-down jobs. For example, if your doctor has said that you can't lift more than 10 pounds or sit more than two hours per day, this will help prove that you are capable of "less than sedentary work," meaning that Social Security will have to find you disabled. (For more information, see our article on "less than sedentary" status.
First, your lawyer will review your denial letter from Social Security to get the agency's reasons it denied your claim so that these issues can be resolved in your favor. (For more information, see our article on denial notices .)
Because Social Security frequently dictates the type of exam needed to win a claim for disability, a legal professional will review your medical records to determine whether you need to undergo additional testing. The legal professional may ask the SSA to schedule a consultative examination (CE) with one of their doctors or ask that you get the required testing done on your own, if need be.
In the vast majority of cases, representatives (whether they are attorneys or, like Citizens Disability, specialized advocates) will receive 25% of any back due benefits you may be entitled to, up to $6,000. Even if 25% of your back due benefits equals more ...
Disability advocates (and attorneys who provide this service ) perform a wide range of responsibilities at all stages of the application process, including helping to file your application, ensuring appeal deadlines are met, collecting evidence, and most critically, developing the strategies and arguments that will help ensure a successful outcome.
Since 2010, Citizens Disability has been America’s premier Social Security Disability institution. Our services include helping people in applying for SSDI benefits, managing the process through Reconsideration, and representing people in person at their Hearing, and if necessary, bringing their case to the Appeals Council. Our mission is to give a voice to the millions of Americans who are disabled and unable to work, helping them receive the Social Security Disability benefits to which they may be entitled. Learn more about us and disability benefits like SSDI & SSI or give us a call (800)492-3260.
Almost all disability advocates (including Citizens Disability) work on “contingency,” meaning they don’t collect a fee unless you win your claim. If you are found to be not disabled, you don’t have to pay anything to your representative. Representative fees in disability claims are determined by the Social Security Act.
In fact, approximately thirty percent of claimants who file for disability will be approved on their initial claim ...
The exams are scheduled because SSA actually requires that recent, or current, medical evidence be available in the claimant’s file before they can be determined disabled and awarded disability benefits .
At a social security hearing, on the other hand, a disability judge, or ALJ (administrative law judge) will be much more likely to take the doctor’s qualified opinion into account and let it influence the outcome of the case.
Note: Consultative exams are generally scheduled by a disability examiner when a claimant has not been seen by a doctor for more than three months. The exams are scheduled because SSA actually requires that recent, or current, medical evidence be available in the claimant�s file before they can be determined disabled and awarded disability benefits .
In fact, approximately thirty percent of claimants who file for disability will be approved on their initial claim and will never see a hearing office or an administrative law judge. The flip side of this, of course, is that most claimants will need to go to a hearing, and will increase the chances of winning with good disability attorney ...
Generally, these short examinations do not lead to an approval for disability except in disability cases that involve the most severe conditions. The importance of describing your work history properly. You should also describe your past jobs thoroughly.
Social Security guidelines require disability examiners to give heavy weight to the opinions of treating physicians if their opinion is substantiated by objective medical evidence. However, having said this, and speaking as a former disability examiner, I should point out that disability examiners often disregard the opinion of a claimant�s treating physician. Which is unfortunate, but often the case.
To act as a nonlawyer disability advocate and get paid from a client's Social Security backpay benefits, an individual must either have gone to college or have training and work experience that's considered equivalent, passed a written exam given by Social Security on Social Security procedures, and passed a criminal background check. Social Security calls advocates who have passed the exam and become eligible to get paid directly from Social Security "eligible for direct payment non-attorney representatives" (EDPNAs).
If you decide to hire someone to help you apply for disability benefits or represent you at your Social Security hearing, you can choose either a disability attorney advocate or a nonattorney advocate.
Whether they are lawyers or nonlawyers, advocates can charge only 25% of the backpay award you receive (the lump sum of monthly benefits going back to when you first became disabled or applied for benefits), up to a maximum of $6,000. Even disability advocates who work for legal aid agencies almost always charge 25% of disability backpay for their services.
They are also bound by professional conduct rules requiring them to competently represent their clients, charge only reasonable out-of-pocket costs, return phone calls within a reasonable time period (or otherwise respond to your requests for information), and keep you up to date on the status of your claim. If you feel your attorney is violating these rules, you can file a grievance with their state bar. There are no parallel or similar rules or requirements for nonlawyer advocates.
A disability advocate who's an attorney has gone to college, graduated from three years of law school, and passed the state's bar exam to be admitted to the state's bar association of attorneys. In law school, the advocate learned how to spot legal issues and develop legal theories, glean the law from reading prior cases, cross-examine witnesses, ...
An advocate is simply someone who supports you and fights for your cause; in the world of Social Security disability, this means an advocate answers your questions, works with your doctors to get the proper records, represents you at hearings, and generally helps you win disability benefits.
Both lawyer advocates and nonlawyer advocates are regulated by Social Security in the fees they charge, and they generally charge the same fees. Both types of Social Security disability advocates are required to work on "contingency," meaning they get paid only if you win your case.
However, it's important to remember that a lawyer's attempts to expedite a case are often unsuccessful, and that most claimants, including those represented by legal counsel, must wait many months or even years for their case to be resolved.
When you think you won't be able to work for a long time, have a free consultation with a disability lawyer. If you're thinking about hiring a disability attorney to help with your Social Security case, you should first understand the costs and benefits of having a lawyer on your side.
The benefits of hiring a disability lawyer are many, and worth going over in some detail. It's also important to consider at what stage of the process an attorney should get involved.