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DO YOU NEED A LAWYER FOR SSDI BENEFITS? WHY?

Here are the reasons you need a lawyer for Social Security Disability benefits (SSDI):

1.    Only an experienced lawyer knows the judges, people, laws and procedures involved in an SSDI claim.  If you try to do it alone, you will be involved in your FIRST case and won't know where to begin.  Would you hire a representative who has never tried a case before?  Of course not, so why try it yourself for the first time?

2.  Only lawyers will know the technical terms and expressions used by Social Security judges and decision makers:  Date Last Insured (DLI), Alleged Onset Date (AOD), SVP (Specific Vocational Preparation), Primary Insurance Amount (PIA), etc.  As one judge told a claimant, "Come back with someone who speaks my language."

3.  Only lawyers know how to provide the evidence it takes to win your claim.  They assist in gathering, evaluating and submitted this evidence.

4.  Lawyers know the legal arguments to make (and not to make).  Judges need certain facts to approve a case.  Your lawyer will write a brief which outlines why your case meets the complicated Social Security requirements.

5. A lawyer will get you through the hearing without serious mistakes than can get you denied.  The judge depends on your lawyer to protect you from mistakes during hearings. Your lawyer is your ONLY advocate in the process.

6.  Your lawyer is able to explain countless questions and provide advice on numerous issues that will arise.

7.  Your lawyer can get more than just medical records to support your claim.  For example, he/she may obtain Residual Functional Capacity opinions which Social Security can use to determine what type of work you can and cannot perform.

8.  Your lawyer may be able to get you a lot more back pay than you would get on your own, even if you win.  Back pay (past due  benefits) is not always a cut-and-dried issue.  You often must fight for these benefits.

9.  Your lawyer can cross examine or question Social Security's expert witnesses effectively.  There will nearly always be a vocational expert (VE) present at hearings, and often Social Security will bring in a medical expert (VE), a doctor, to testify.  These experts often hurt your case and may cause a potential denial of benefits.  Will you know what questions to ask these experts?  Your lawyer will.

10.  Claimants with lawyers win 60 percent of their disability cases.  Claimants without lawyers only win 30 percent.  (Source:  Study by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), 2017.

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The Forsythe Firm, Huntsville, AL (256) 799-0297.

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