When you file for Social Security disability, you must choose the date you believe you first became disabled. This is the date you will ask for your payments to begin (for back pay). It's called the Alleged Onset Date or AOD.
How do you choose the correct date? Here are some guidelines:
Choose the day following the last day you worked IF you had no substantial gainful employment after that date.
Example: You stopped working on 6/27/16 because of your medical condition and have not worked since. 6/28/16 sounds like the correct AOD.
However, if you have worked after 6/27/16, some thought must be given to whether you can qualify for disability benefits that far back.
Another important consideration: is there medical evidence of a disabling condition on 6/28/16? If not, this date may not work. Decision makers will want to see medical evidence of symptoms so severe that you could not perform substantial gainful activity) on your alleged onset date. If the evidence is not there, the AOD won't hold up.
Sometimes the AOD is obvious: there was an accident, a heart attack, stroke, a serious surgery, or some other event that marked the beginning of disability. But in many cases, disability came on more gradually and the AOD is harder to pinpoint.
The alleged onset date may be amended during the life of a disability case. However, it's my opinion that it's always better to start with the correct date, one that we can make stick. When a Social Security decision maker, a judge or a federal court agrees with your alleged onset date, it becomes the established onset date and this is generally the date on which your Social Security disability payments will begin. This largely determines how your back pay will be calculated.
(256)799-0297 in Huntsville for a free disability consult. There are a thousand things to be considered in a Social Security claim to be certain you get the most money you're entitled to. Don't leave money on the table.
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