It is tax time, and each year I hear from clients who won their cases the previous year and are wondering about the tax consequences of their disability benefits. This topic is particularly important for those who received a significant payment of past-due benefits.

The answer is part of your disability benefits may be taxable.…

I get calls and emails from people who are still working, but are struggling, and are considering Social Security disability.

Depending upon a person’s individual circumstances, this is typically what I say to those who are currently working, but are exploring the disability process:

It is hard to plan for disability. First, there is no…

Trial work is a concept that applies to people already entitled to Title II disability benefits. Sometimes Title II recipients will attempt to return to work to see how it goes. Social Security encourages this, and allows a 9-month period for a person to still receive disability benefits while testing his or her ability to…

Each year, the Social Security Administration releases statistics about the disability and SSI programs in an easy-to-understand format, the “waterfall” chart. The chart shows what claimants can expect, statistically, for their claim for Social Security disability benefits.

The latest chart, for FY 2014, shows an ALJ allowance rate of 45% for claims at the hearing…

Working on initial disability claims, from the application itself through the DDS review process, is one of the most enjoyable parts of my job as a Social Security disability lawyer.

Most of my practice involves preparing disability claims for hearings before administrative law judges, but a certain percentage of my cases are initial claims or…

Having a claim for Social Security disability benefits means being out of work (or at the very least, living on a limited income). That often means that a person can no longer afford to live where they were living before, because there is insufficient money to pay the rent or the mortgage.

Some claimants…

Columbus Day is one of those stealth federal holidays that does not get the attention of Memorial Day or Labor Day. It is relevant for those of us practicing Social Security disability law in the Region 1 (the New England states), because we have a 5-day rule for new evidence.

The 5 days excludes weekends…

Social Security recently changed its rules regarding videoteleconferencing (VTC), and is now sending notices regarding VTC at an early stage of the hearing level. The new notice requires a decision within 30 whether or not to object to a video hearing. Previously, the objection to VTC was not made until the time a hearing was…