DISABILITY SURVIVAL GUIDE: NORTH ALABAMA EDITION

Can Social Security Disability (SSDI) benefits ever end?  If so, what are some things that may stop your disability benefits?   Yes.  SSDI benefits may end.  A number of things can stop disability benefits.  Here are some of the common things that can cause your benefits to stop: 1.  You go back to work.  In 2023, a job in which you earn at least $1,470 per month (gross) will make you ineligible for SSDI benefits, regardless of your medical condition.  Self employment has the same rule. 2.  A Continuing Disability Review (CDR) may end your benefits.  Social Security will conduct a review of most claimants about every 3 years.  If they find substantial medical improvement, your benefit can be discontinued.  This decision is subject to appeal, however. 3.  Incarceration for longer than 30 days will end your disability benefits. 4.  Reaching full retirement age technically ends disability benefits; however, the benefit s...

If you try to attend a disability hearing without representation, the judge's attitude is going to be:  "Go find someone who speaks my language and come back for your hearing."  In other words, Go get a lawyer and come back in a few months. Judges want you to have a lawyer at the hearing for several reasons:  it makes the hearing go smoother and faster.  It helps the judge to know that your rights are protected.  It relieves the judge from explaining every unusual term used in the hearing, and it allows the judge to discuss the case and any settlement with someone who understands the proposal.   Here are some of the things your attorney will do for you in a disability hearing.   1.     Protect your best interests:  Get the earliest onset date possible for the most back pay. 2.     Help get your past work properly classified. 3.     Ask the judge to consider grid rules or Medical-Vocational Rules. 4. ...

It's a fact:  Most disability cases are won in the appeals, not in the earlier application stage. Call us for help. (256) 799-0297. A client came to me in 2021 after he had been denied three times!  He had been denied in 2019, filed an appeal and was denied again.  In early 2022, this man filed a new claim, which was denied.  I filed an appeal for him in March of 2022.  It was denied.  The claimant was ready to give up and quit. At that point, I asked for a hearing before a federal administrative law judge (ALJ)--the next allowable step in the appeal process. At the hearing in early 2023, the judge listened to the evidence and issued a new decision:  The ALJ found that my client had been disabled ever since 2021and issued back pay all the way back to February, 2021.  The point is this:  Social Security will often resist paying legitimate claims and you must persist through the entire process to win and get paid! ----- A military veteran came ...

What a Client Told Me About Her Experience with TV Lawyers   I am addicted to late night TV, so I sit up and watch reruns on HGTV or the Super Station.  That's where I saw the TV lawyer. A congenial man in his early fifties with slightly graying hair, a pleasant smile and convincing voice.  He told me that if I needed disability benefits, he could help me get them.  In 30 seconds he had me convinced that he would be working just for me.   It never occurred to me that he wasn't a lawyer at all; he was an actor who played a lawyer on TV commercials.  But he plastered an 800 telephone number on the screen and was so warm and convincing that I wrote down the number.  Next day I gave him a call. A woman answered in a call center.  I could hear several other operators carrying on conversations with other callers.  She took my number and promised that someone would call me back the same day.  I wasn't really expecting the TV l...

If you are age 50 or over, and unable to work because of a long term physical illness or impairment, you may consider Social Security disability (SSDI). SSDI can pay up to $3,058 per month to individuals who are unable to work.  You paid into the SSDI program during all your working years.  It is a type of government insurance.  Now, you may be able to file a claim and get a cash benefit. The Forsythe Firm in Huntsville, AL specializes in helping disabled persons age 50 to 65 who are not yet receiving Social Security. Often, our skilled attorneys and advocates can use the Medical-Vocational Guidelines to get a claim approved. Our consultation and evaluation is free and you never pay a fee until after you win your claim and collect your past due benefits.  If you don't win, you never pay a fee -- ever. How to contract the Forsythe Firm in Huntsville? Call (256) 799-0297. The call is free and so is the consultation.  

  The Social Security Administration (SSA) defines a disability as “the inability to engage in any substantial gainful activity by reason of any medically determinable physical or mental impairment which can be expected to result in death or has lasted or can be expected to last for a continuous period of not less than 12 months.” In order to qualify for SSDI benefits, an individual must prove that the impairments that prevent them from working were not caused by their own drug or alcohol abuse. In short, you must have a total disability that makes you unable to work at any full-time job for a period of at least 12 straight months. Here is the checklist that I use: ___1.     Severe disability making you unable to work ___ 2.     Disability will last 12 months or longer. ___ 3.     Not directly related to drug or alcohol abuse. ___ 4.     You paid into Social Security recently enough for coverage. ___ 5.   ...

You may have heard the term "fighting for my disability benefits."  Perhaps you thought, that's a very strong term. Actually, the phrase fighting for Social Security disability accurately describes most experiences.   It's a legal fight where you, the claimant, goes up against the US government.  You want and need benefits because you aren't able to work.  The government is skeptical and demands an almost impossible burden of proof.  On top of that, they have a long record of denying about 73 percent of new claims for disability benefits.   Most claimants will literally have a legal fight, goin g through 3 different processes before they get paid. The fight may last from 12 to 36 months. As in any legal fight, your best chance to prevail is by getting an experienced and well trained advocate to lead your fight.  Social Security is going to throw things your way that you can't possibly understand because you are new to this fracas.   So, where is...