If you have a disability claim pending with the Social Security Administration, please make the following New Year's resolution:
I will appeal my claim immediately if it is denied.
Although you have 60 days to appeal a denied claim, there is no reason to wait. I speak with people almost every week who did
Our offices will be closed for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, and for New Year's Day.
The Social Security Disability Lawyer blog will maintain a holiday schedule as well: no disability blog roundup on Christmas or New Year's Day. The Roundup will return on the following Friday, January 8th.
Best wishes for the holiday season!
It is always a pleasure to call a client with the news that his or her Social Security disability claim has been granted at the hearing level with an on the record (OTR) decision.
With the claim granted, there is no further wait for a hearing, and the inevitable stress from worrying about the outcome of
Social Security has an odd, two-tiered system for disability claims. The initial and reconsideration claims are decided by Disability Determination Services (DDS), a state agency. For denied claims that are appealed to the hearing level (and you should always appeal your denial), the claim goes to a Social Security hearing office, which is
Here is the Friday roundup of recent posts from the Social Security disability blogs:
Many people who become disabled at or near the age of 62 choose to file a claim for early retirement benefits instead of Social Security disability benefits. This is a usually a mistake, since the Social Security system penalizes people who retire early, at age 62. If you receive Social Security disability benefits instead, you avoid those
are links to scanned pdf copies of the out-of-print Dictionary of Occupational Titles and the hard-to-find Selected Characteristics of Occupations. They are available as free downloads.
These are the books you need in front of you when in the trenches with a recalcitrant vocational expert. Now, instead of lugging the volumes around just in
Here's a sampling of what's new this week from the disability blogs:
The challenge with claims involving Ruling 96-8p, where the issue is the claimant's ability to maintain a full-time schedule, is that Social Security's forms – such as the Medical Source Statement of Ability to do Work-Related Activities (Physical) – have no spot for a doctor's opinion regarding a patient's ability to maintain a regular work schedule.
There are some new faces and some old hands for this week’s Roundup: