In order to qualify for a Disabled Adult Child (DAC) claim, you must to have had your disability onset prior to the age of 22 and you must have a parent who is either: deceased and had worked long enough under SSA’s rules, collecting Social Security Retirement, or Disability benefits. SSA will use the same… Read more »
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Vocational Experts, the DOT and the SCO
As you prepare for your hearing, you may be told that a vocational expert will be in the room with you. A vocational expert is a consultant hired by the Social Security Administration to give their opinion on whether or not jobs exist in the national economy for an individual with specific limitations. Questions to… Read more »
The Technical Rules of Social Security Disability
It is unfortunate, but a common scenario with many Social Security disability applicants is that they find out that they are ineligible to receive Disability Insurance Benefits (DIB) before a claim really gets going, no matter why types of potential disabilities an applicant has. Before an applicant can even get the Social Security Administration to… Read more »
Disabled Adult Child Benefits
One of the lesser known Social Security disability benefit programs is the Disabled Adult Child benefits (DAC) program. There are special rules to be eligible for DAC benefits, mainly that you must prove to Social Security that you became disabled prior to age 22 and have a parent who is collecting Social Security disability or… Read more »
Administrative Law Judge Qualifications
The majority of applicants who apply for Social Security disability benefits and who continue to appeal decisions by the agency to deny claims will eventually end up at a hearing before an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ). Most everyone knows what a judge is and what their functions are, but typically when we think of a… Read more »
Surviving Financially Until the ALJ Hearing
Among the questions asked to Greeman Toomey attorneys and staff, the most frequent one is “how am I supposed to survive until my hearing?” Unfortunately the average wait time for a hearing before an Administrative Law Judge is 12-15 months from the date of your appeal. If a claimant receives unfavorable decisions at the Initial… Read more »
How will becoming incarcerated effect my benefits?
Incarceration may impact your eligibility for benefits from the Social Security Administration (SSA). This depends on how long you are incarcerated for and what type of benefits you receive. If you are receiving Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payments and you are in jail or prison, your payments will be suspended after you have been incarcerated… Read more »
Timeliness and Quality of the Disability Process
Social Security has an $800 billion annual budget, and is one of the government’s largest expenses. Best known for sending monthly payments to retired Americans, SSA also pays disability claims for 18 million people each year, with numbers increasing due to the recession. The Social Security Administration currently faces one of the largest backlogs in the… Read more »
Hearing Wait Times Vary Depending on Hearings Office
For those who do not know, the Social Security disability process is a long, winding road that can take many applicants the better part of two years to navigate until a final decision is reached. There are a variety of reasons for this, but probably the biggest reason is it takes, on average, 12-15 months,… Read more »
What Are the Social Security Listing of Impairments?
Social Security disability attorneys and representatives are very familiar with the Listing of Impairments, which is the basis for disability evaluations under the Social Security Administration. The Listing of Impairments describes, for each major body system, impairments considered severe enough to prevent an individual from doing any gainful activity. This is a bit different for… Read more »
