WANT SOCIAL SECURITY DISABIITY? WHY REPRESENTATION IS IMPORTANT

SOCIAL SECURITY WEBSITE "GET SOME HELP"If you have a legitimate disability you may feel that you don't need a lawyer to help you.  The US Government will do the right thing and pay you.  After wasting about two years of your time and fighting the most frustrating battle of your life, you find that they will not pay you.  Your claim is denied over and over because "You are not disabled  according to our rules."

While this battle is playing out, some clients lose their homes, their cars, their independence--and some even die.

HERE IS WHY UNREPRESENTED CLAIMANTS HAVE A HARD TIME WITH SOCIAL SECURITY:

1.  You don't know the laws, rules and regulations of the Social Security Administration.  You have to prove your disability based on their criteria.  And the criteria are very strict and demanding.

2.  The system is not set up to approve claims.  The application process is set up to deny claims.  This is proven by the fact that about 75 percent of all applications are denied, not approved.

3.  An appeal is usually necessary to get benefits approved.  This involves appearing before a judge and offering evidence acceptable to the government to prove that you meet their rules and regulations.  There is a mandatory 5-step process that will be followed and you can lose at any step along the way.  Most claimants don't even know what the 5 steps are, much less how to prevail at each step.  Your lawyer or advocate knows.

4.  Social Security won't take unrepresented claimants seriously, especially at the appeal level. I hear comments like this every day at the hearing offices:  "The next claimant is unrepped and he may not even show up."  Social Security personnel may assume that if a claimant doesn't have a lawyer that (a) the case was so weak that no lawyer would take it, or (b) the claimant may not bother to show up for their hearing, or (c) the case will need to be postponed until a lawyer can be obtained.

5.  At your appeal hearing, the claimant will be the only person in the room who is not an expert on Social Security disability.  The judge will be an expert.  The vocational witness will be an expert.  If a medical expert is present, he or she will be an expert.  Throw the poor claimant against these experts unrepresented and there is very little chance of success.  (A lamb in the midst of wolves)!

6.  It isn't enough just to convince Social Security that you are disabled.  You have to meet all of their rules.

a)  You must have insured status to be covered under the program.
b)  You must not be working at substantial gainful activity.
c)  Your "residual functional capacity" must be defined. 
d)  You must be medically unable to perform any past relevant work.
e)  You must be medically unable to perform any other work which exists in the US economy, in most cases.
f)  You need to establish whether or not you meet a Social Security listing.
g)  You need to know if you can qualify under a Medical-Vocational Guideline or "grid rule."
h)  You must present acceptable objective evidence of your disability from a source that Social Security approves.
I)  You must prove that you became disabled on or before your "alleged onset date."
j)  You may have to object to Social Security changing your onset date to decrease your back pay.
k)  If the vocational witness testifies that there are jobs in the US economy that you can still perform (and she will), you must be prepared to refute this testimony or lose your case.

Even if a claimant reports for a hearing unrepresented, the presiding judge will advise the claimant that he or she needs professional representation.  The case will usually be postponed until representation can be obtained, resulting in another delay of 3 or 4 additional months before the hearing can take place.

One judge recently told an unrepresented claimant:  "You need to find an attorney who speaks my language."  

The bottom line is that you could lose your case with or without an attorney.  However, having adequate legal representation greatly increases your odds of winning.  And if you don't win, your attorney/advocate cannot charge you a cent.
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THE FORSYTHE FIRM
HUNTSVILLE, AL 35806
CALL US:  (256) 799-0297