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WHY A LAWYER FOR SOCIAL SECURITY DISABILITY?

WHY A LAWYER FOR SOCIAL SECURITY DISABILITY?

By Charles W. Forsythe @ The Forsythe Firm

If you are not required to have a lawyer to deal with Social Security disability, why get one?  Here are 10 reasons why most disability claimant's use lawyers.

1.    The process is tough.  Trying to get Social Security disability is complex, confusing and laden with dozens of technical rules and regulations.

2.  While Social Security personnel will give you forms and offer limited advice, they will actually not work for you to help get you approved.  The work is up to you or your lawyer, if you have one.

3.  Most claims get denied.  In the initial application process, which can take up to 12 months, around 75 percent of claims are denied.  Here's where the process gets even more complicated, as the case moves into appeals.

4.  You are almost 3 times more likely to be approved when using a lawyer or qualified professional representative, according to the US  Government Accountability Office (a division of the US Congress). *

4.    Most claims these days go before a federal Administrative Law Judge before being approved.  You don't want to go there without a lawyer.

6.  Approval for SSDI requires admissible evidence.  You have to track down medical evidence proving the severity of your medical or mental condition.  You have to show that the evidence satisfies the rules and regulations of the Social Security Administration. https://www.gao.gov/about/what-gao-does

7.      You need help dealing with Social Security's experts.  You will likely encounter a vocational expert, and in some cases--a medical expert--that you are not trained to deal with.

8.      You don't just want to be approved, you want past due benefits.  Some claimants have received $100,000 or more in "back pay." I had a client just last week who received past due benefits of over $62,000 in one lump.  We go after the maximum amount of money you are entitled to get.

9..  There is no financial risk in having a lawyer.  Under the rules of the 
Social Security Administration a lawyer cannot charge a fee unless your claim is approved AND back pay is recovered.  If you are not approved with back pay you never pay a fee.

10.  Having a lawyer takes a massive load of work off your shoulders.

* https://www.gao.gov/about/what-gao-does

__________________________

Charles W. Forsythe practices Social Security law (and nothing else) in several states, including Alabama, Tennessee, Mississippi, Kentucky and Texas.  He is headquartered in Huntsville, Alabama.  (256) 799-0297.

 

 

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