The US Government takes care of veterans by two very important agencies: the Veterans Administration (VA) and the Social Security Administration (SSA).
Some veterans may not know that they are also covered by Social Security disability insurance (SSDI).
I work with hundreds of disabled veterans, helping them get SSDI benefits in addition to their VA benefits.
Social Security may pay up to $2,788 per month in addition to your VA benefit.
You may need help convincing Social Security that you meet the rules for benefits, however. My firm will help with the application, evidence gathering, support--and appeal of any unfavorable decisions.
You never pay us a fee until you win your SSDI benefits and receive back pay or past due benefits. Consultations are free and we will give you a free case evaluation.
My firm is veteran friendly and conveniently located adjacent to Redstone Arsenal in Research Park. Call me for a free consultation today. (256) 799-0297.
P.S. Wounded Warriors may be entitled to expedited processing by Social Security.
Saturday, January 27, 2018
DISABLED BUT STILL WORKING?
Pretty often my phone rings and someone says, "I am disabled but I'm still working because there's no other way to pay my bills."
Legally that's like saying, "The sun is still shining but it's pitch dark outside." Both things can't be legally true at the same time.
Under Social Security regulations, you may not be employed at "significant gainful activity" (SGA) and apply for disability benefits. If you are working, you are not legally disabled.
What is significant gainful activity? In 2018, it means that you have wages of at least $1,180 per month. If that is the case you are gainfully employed and are not entitled to Social Security disability benefits, regardless of your age, medical condition or symptoms.
It is not the income that matters, it is the work that matters. Social Security is not means tested; you do not have to have limited income to get benefits. However, you cannot be working at SGA level. If your income was from something other than work or self-employment it wouldn't matter. For instance, there is no limit on income from investments, rental property, savings accounts, alimony, child support--that type of thing. But working proves that you are able to work. And that is a problem under the law.
So back to that phone call: "I am disabled but still working because I have no other way to pay my bills."
It may take from 5 months to 2 years to get Social Security benefits started, if you ever do. How does one survive that long without working? I have no good answer to that question.
One thing I always ask is, Does your employer have long term disability insurance where you work? If so, this might be an option to explore, since payments from a disability plan do not interfere with Social Security eligibility.
Social Security does not pay any benefit while your application is being considered or appealed. There will be no benefit until your claim is approved. And for Title II claims (the regular disability program), the first 5 months of disability are not covered, even if you are approved right away. So, if you become disabled today, you won't get a check for 6 months because the first 5 months are excluded and Social Security pays one month in the arrears. The best you can hope for is a check 6 months from the date disability began. (The rules under Title XVI, or SSI, are different).
My office will do everything possible to help with a disability claim. We can help you make sense out of Social Security's rules and regulations. We can also help you file a complete, "clean" application that has the best chance of approval without useless delays. Of course, we cannot guarantee what Social Security's decision will be, and we cannot make the US Government work faster than it does. Oh...we only wish...!
SOCIAL SECURITY JUSTICE
Call us (256) 799-0297
Legally that's like saying, "The sun is still shining but it's pitch dark outside." Both things can't be legally true at the same time.
Under Social Security regulations, you may not be employed at "significant gainful activity" (SGA) and apply for disability benefits. If you are working, you are not legally disabled.
What is significant gainful activity? In 2018, it means that you have wages of at least $1,180 per month. If that is the case you are gainfully employed and are not entitled to Social Security disability benefits, regardless of your age, medical condition or symptoms.
It is not the income that matters, it is the work that matters. Social Security is not means tested; you do not have to have limited income to get benefits. However, you cannot be working at SGA level. If your income was from something other than work or self-employment it wouldn't matter. For instance, there is no limit on income from investments, rental property, savings accounts, alimony, child support--that type of thing. But working proves that you are able to work. And that is a problem under the law.
So back to that phone call: "I am disabled but still working because I have no other way to pay my bills."
It may take from 5 months to 2 years to get Social Security benefits started, if you ever do. How does one survive that long without working? I have no good answer to that question.
One thing I always ask is, Does your employer have long term disability insurance where you work? If so, this might be an option to explore, since payments from a disability plan do not interfere with Social Security eligibility.
Social Security does not pay any benefit while your application is being considered or appealed. There will be no benefit until your claim is approved. And for Title II claims (the regular disability program), the first 5 months of disability are not covered, even if you are approved right away. So, if you become disabled today, you won't get a check for 6 months because the first 5 months are excluded and Social Security pays one month in the arrears. The best you can hope for is a check 6 months from the date disability began. (The rules under Title XVI, or SSI, are different).
My office will do everything possible to help with a disability claim. We can help you make sense out of Social Security's rules and regulations. We can also help you file a complete, "clean" application that has the best chance of approval without useless delays. Of course, we cannot guarantee what Social Security's decision will be, and we cannot make the US Government work faster than it does. Oh...we only wish...!
SOCIAL SECURITY JUSTICE
Call us (256) 799-0297
DANGER AT STEP 5 - MISS THIS CURVE AND YOU WILL LOSE YOUR BENEFITS!
Step 5 is the final step in considering whether a claimant meets the requirements to get disability benefits. Step 5 is laden with danger. It's where most claims get denied. Here's why.
Here is the question at Step 5: Do there exist any jobs in the national economy that the claimant might be able to perform--based on his/her age, education, work experience and residual function capacity? If the answer is "yes," you lose.
If you land at Step 5, you have already passed Step 4: Can you perform any of your past relevant work? If the answer had been "Yes," you would have been denied. Since you are here at Step 5, the answer to Step 4 was "No, you cannot perform any of your past work."
The danger at Step 5 is in the phrase "any other work." There are so many unskilled sedentary jobs in the national economy:
Let me say that Social Security has problems with trying to deny claims based on sedentary unskilled work at Step 5--IF the claimant knows how to defend against Step 5 assumptions. If not, the claim may get denied and there will be no benefits.
There may be perfectly good and legal reasons why the claimant cannot do the work of a silverware wrapper, ticket taker or bench assembler. However, the following are NOT legal reasons and will not win your claim:
If you don't know how to do this, take an advocate with you who can. I recommend an advocate who has participated in at least 500 hearings like yours and has enough experience to know what is coming and how to deal with it.
Proving that you have a medical condition is not enough. Proving that there are some jobs you can't do is not enough. Proving that you can no longer perform any of your past jobs is not enough. There is that dangerous, murky Step 5 lurking in the dark out there--and it will cause you to lose your benefits. Be prepared to deal with it!
Social Security Justice: The Forsythe Firm
CALL US: (256) 799-0297
Here is the question at Step 5: Do there exist any jobs in the national economy that the claimant might be able to perform--based on his/her age, education, work experience and residual function capacity? If the answer is "yes," you lose.
If you land at Step 5, you have already passed Step 4: Can you perform any of your past relevant work? If the answer had been "Yes," you would have been denied. Since you are here at Step 5, the answer to Step 4 was "No, you cannot perform any of your past work."
The danger at Step 5 is in the phrase "any other work." There are so many unskilled sedentary jobs in the national economy:
- silverware wrapper
- surveillance system monitor
- ticket taker
- parking garage attendant
- assembler or bench worker
Let me say that Social Security has problems with trying to deny claims based on sedentary unskilled work at Step 5--IF the claimant knows how to defend against Step 5 assumptions. If not, the claim may get denied and there will be no benefits.
There may be perfectly good and legal reasons why the claimant cannot do the work of a silverware wrapper, ticket taker or bench assembler. However, the following are NOT legal reasons and will not win your claim:
- I can't find one of those jobs in my area.
- I can't live on the minimum wage paid by those jobs.
- I don't have transportation to get to work.
- Nobody will hire me for one of those jobs
If you don't know how to do this, take an advocate with you who can. I recommend an advocate who has participated in at least 500 hearings like yours and has enough experience to know what is coming and how to deal with it.
Proving that you have a medical condition is not enough. Proving that there are some jobs you can't do is not enough. Proving that you can no longer perform any of your past jobs is not enough. There is that dangerous, murky Step 5 lurking in the dark out there--and it will cause you to lose your benefits. Be prepared to deal with it!
Social Security Justice: The Forsythe Firm
CALL US: (256) 799-0297
Friday, January 26, 2018
WHAT MAKES YOUR DISABILITY CASE UNIQUE
by Charles W. Forsythe
Your disability case is unique: there is no other case exactly like it.
Sometimes, client's hear about other claimant's success or failure with Social Security and want to compare. This is a mistake. What happened in the other case, good or bad, has absolutely no bearing on your case.
Let's look at some things that make your disability case one-of-a-kind.
All of the above factors, plus many others, will be different in your case. I know it's tempting to look at someone else's disability case and think, "If I could just duplicate her experience, I'd win my case quickly and easily." That simply is not possible and it isn't true. There simply are no duplicates in Social Security disability adjudication. Every hearing is different.
SOCIAL SECURITY JUSTICE - WEBSITE
Your disability case is unique: there is no other case exactly like it.
Sometimes, client's hear about other claimant's success or failure with Social Security and want to compare. This is a mistake. What happened in the other case, good or bad, has absolutely no bearing on your case.
Let's look at some things that make your disability case one-of-a-kind.
- JUDGE: Judges use the same regulations, rules and procedures. However, their rulings are not uniform. I am looking at disability judges in a nearby hearing office as an example. The highest paying judge awards 67% of claimants who come before him. The lowest paying judge in the same office awards only 25%. The average award rate for the 10 judges in this office is 52%. The same claimant can walk into Judge Number 1 and have a 67% chance of being approved. The same claimant can walk into a hearing with Judge Number 2 with only a 25% chance. Some judges are tougher than others--even with the same case.
- Age. Claimants age 55 and older have the best chance of being approved. Next are those in the age 50-54 category. Those under age 50 will, by national statistics, have the hardest time. Age is a major consideration.
- Education. Education of the claimant pays a large part. Those who are illiterate have the best chance. Those with limited educations have the next best chance. Claimants with a high school education or more generally have a poorer chance.
- Work History. Your work history is important, including the types of work you have done--the skill level and exertion level involved, whether there are transferable skills--and whether you have a long history of steady employment.
- Medical Evidence. This is probably the biggest factor. No two sets of medical evidence are alike. Even if you have the same medical condition as another claimant, your doctor's notes will be entirely different. Severity is what matters.
- Meeting a Listing. One claimant may technically meet one of Social Security's published listings. Another claimant may not.
- Medical-Vocational Guideline (Grid Rule). One claimant may meet a medical-vocational guideline or Grid Rule that directs a finding of disabled. Another claimant may not.
- OTHER FACTORS that affect the outcome of a hearing can be: credibility of the claimant's testimony (some claimants testify better than others); alcohol or drug use, criminal history, past employment history, etc. Claimants who have held the same job for 30 years will have more credibility than someone who has drifted from job to job over the years and has a lot of unemployment in his or her background.
All of the above factors, plus many others, will be different in your case. I know it's tempting to look at someone else's disability case and think, "If I could just duplicate her experience, I'd win my case quickly and easily." That simply is not possible and it isn't true. There simply are no duplicates in Social Security disability adjudication. Every hearing is different.
SOCIAL SECURITY JUSTICE - WEBSITE
Monday, January 15, 2018
FREE DISABILITY ADVOCATES - HOW TO GET YOUR BENEFITS
A disability advocate or attorney is "free" until you win your case and collect benefits. At that time Social Security will issue a check to pay your advocate for his or her legal services. The amount paid will be a percentage of your past due award and will be the amount you have previously agreed to pay in writing.
What happens if you don't win or if you don't receive any past due benefits? You will never have to pay a fee.
So, the attorney or representative gets paid only if you do. The fee is contingent upon winning the claim.
The Forsythe Firm works with veterans and non-veterans who have valid disability claims. Our goal is very simple: Get you the maximum benefit in the least amount of time possible.
Call (256) 799-0297 for a free case evaluation, to make an appointment, or to get started with a new disability application.
If your claim was denied with the past 60 days, you must appeal immediately. Call us at (256) 799-0297.
THE FORSYTHE FIRM
7027 Old Madison Pike NW
Huntsville, AL 35806
"Across from Bridge Street"
PHONE (256) 799-0297
SOCIAL SECURITY JUSTICE - WEBSITE
What happens if you don't win or if you don't receive any past due benefits? You will never have to pay a fee.
So, the attorney or representative gets paid only if you do. The fee is contingent upon winning the claim.
The Forsythe Firm works with veterans and non-veterans who have valid disability claims. Our goal is very simple: Get you the maximum benefit in the least amount of time possible.
Call (256) 799-0297 for a free case evaluation, to make an appointment, or to get started with a new disability application.
If your claim was denied with the past 60 days, you must appeal immediately. Call us at (256) 799-0297.
THE FORSYTHE FIRM
7027 Old Madison Pike NW
Huntsville, AL 35806
"Across from Bridge Street"
PHONE (256) 799-0297
SOCIAL SECURITY JUSTICE - WEBSITE
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