Applying For Social Security Disability Benefits

10/05/08

Social Security taxes are typically deducted from you with every paycheck that you receive from your employer. Most people utilize Social Security for retirement benefits that they can take advantage of when they reach retirement age. Many people are not aware however that part of the Social Security tax can be used in the form of a disability plan. Even if you are not quite at the retirement age yet, there is a clause in the Federal law that allows you to claim some Social Security benefits if you suffer from an injury or any other type of illness or disease that will prevent you from working. These benefits can be used to provide you with an income source in the event that you are not able to work.

The Social Security Act defines disability as either a physical or mental condition that prevents the sufferer from engaging in any activity that generates income, and that can either result in his or her death or last for 12 months or more. For many people, the confusion stems from not knowing when they can apply for Social Security benefits and when they can start collecting payments. The fact is that you should apply for disability as soon as possible, even on the first day of your disability if you can manage to do so. The act of processing your claim can take much longer than expected and if you wait too long before doing so, you may miss out on some benefits, as well as run the risk of delaying the process even more. Even if you hire the services of a Social Security lawyer, the entire claim process can still last a lot longer than you anticipated. In addition, you will also have to be unable to work for at least 5 full months before you can begin receiving disability benefits.

Some people have also wondered why the entire process takes so long, in some cases lasting for more than a year. Even enlisting the help of a Social Security lawyer does not necessarily speed up the time to see a judge. While it is understandably quite frustrating to be out of work and at the same time unable to claim any benefits, the huge backlog of Social Security cases results in this inordinate delay. Since Social Security cases are processed in the order in which they come in, there is little that you can do but wait. In extreme situations, the claims process can take as long as eighteen months and even up to two years.

Even though a Social Security Disability attorney cannot get you to a hearing before an administrative law judge quicker, a good attorney will win your case before you are even scheduled for a hearing. A Social Security Disability attorney will know what evidence is needed to win your case and know how to take advantage of opportunities to win your claim before the hearing—as in winning the claim before the Office of Disability Determinations or writing an On the Record opinion for the judge so that she does not even have to conduct the hearing in your case. In any case, there are a number of obstacles that you have to deal with when filing for Social Security Benefits. But with an attorney your claim is more likely to be resolved in a matter of months, whereas going through the process by yourself your claim could take years.

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