Disability Application: Hire an Attorney Early

Typically Social Security Disability claimants who are not immediately approved see three steps of the Disability or SSDI process.

Steps to Disability Approval

Step 1: Initial Disability Application

First you go to your local Social Security office or schedule a phone appointment to apply.  This is called the Initial Application. You fill out all sorts of paperwork and start the waiting game.  Your file goes to an agency run by your state (usually called DDS or DDB).  There, an examiner looks at your file and makes a determination.  If you aren't approved, you are given the option to appeal.

Step 2: Disability Appeal: Reconsideration

Second The first appeal is called Reconsideration.  At Reconsideration, another person with a little more experience looks at your file and almost always makes the same decision.  The Reconsideration process usually takes about the same amount of time as your initial application.  Assuming you are again denied, you know have the option to request a hearing in front of a Social Security judge, called an ALJ.

Step 3: Disability Hearing Before a Social Security Judge

It is at the hearing that your lawyer is most likely to get you approved. The wait for a hearing is long.  In some places the wait is over two years.

Because many people know that the hearing is when a lawyer can help the most, they wait until the hearing is coming up to hire an attorney.  This is not the best way to do it.  Your lawyer will charge the same regardless of when you hire him.  Right now, all Disability lawyers charge 25% of your back benefits, up to a limit of $6000 (until recently it was $5300).

Hire a Disability Lawyer Early

Hiring a lawyer early helps in many ways.  It helps your lawyer have time to prepare for the judges questions, to read you medical records thoroughly and spot new issues.  It allows time to convince your doctors to help.  Your lawyer might even be able to speed up the process!  Disability lawyers do not work by the hour, so it is best to hire early.

• This article is provided for informational purposes only. If you need help with a disability coverage question, click here to consult with Greg Beckwith or a Disability Lawyer in your area.