GET YOUR APPLICATION RIGHT - GET PAID SSDI B ENEFITS

 Get your Social Security application right - get paid.  

There are hundreds of ways to mess up a Social Security disability application.  One of the most common ways that I see?  Blank lines.  Questions left blank.  One way or another, these questions will get answered before a decision is made on your claim.  They may get answered 6 months later when the Social Security office calls you--but you have just wasted 6 months.  

Worse yet, Social Security may assume that since you didn't answer the questions, all the answers are "no," so nobody bothers to call you. This will lead to a negative action on your claim.  

The complete disability application will consist, not just of the basic application, but several forms.  Many of those forms will be mailed to you AFTER you file the claim.  The following is always required for a complete application:

1. The basic disability application (5 pages)
2.  Disability Report (14 pages)
3. Work History Report (10 pages)

In addition, Social Security may mail you all kinds of questionnaires as they begin investigating your claim.   These may include:

• Drug and alcohol questionnaire
• Headache questionnaire
• Pain questionnaire
• Mental Health questionnaire
  
• Fatigue questionnaire 
• Or any number of other inquiries

Filling out your application forms fully and accurately may also prevent having to attend a consultative examination by a Social Security doctor.   If your application and medical records don't explain all of Social Security's questions, they will set you up an appointment with one of their doctors for a special exam, which is nearly always useless to harmful to your claim.  And it kills more time.

Filing a complete and accurate application takes time and a lot of work.  It also takes some understanding of the disability process under the federal law.  Most claimants get an advocate or attorney to help with the application process. A professional who has handled hundreds (or thousands) of claims will have a much better grasp of what needs to be said in the application forms--and how to say it.

Of course, you can choose to "go it alone" and file your own application and paperwork.  But if you do so, please take a few days to answer every question in the many forms.  A rushed and partially complete application will only bring heartbreak, endless delay and likely denial.  A denial will probably require 18 to 24 months of additional waiting to navigate the long appeals process.