WHEN CAN A DISABILITY DECISION BE EXPEDITED?

Many people who apply for Social Security disability are in desperate financial straights.  A majority do not have any other source of income.  And it is well known that a decision can take anywhere from about 4 months (if you are lucky) to twenty-four months, or even longer if you have to appeal.  

So, the question arises:  Is there any way to hurry up a decision?

In most cases there is not.  A few extremely special circumstances may qualify for a faster processing time.  These include:

  1. You qualify for a Compassionate Allowance.  There are now over 200 catastrophic, incurable diseases that qualify for a compassionate allowance.  Check the list at https://www.ssa.gov/compassionateallowances 
  2. You have an end-stage condition which is expected to end in death .
  3. You qualify for a dire need.  The rules for dire need are very strict.  An example would be that you have been evicted, are homeless and have no way to provide shelter for you or your family.
  4. You are a disabled veteran and have a 100 percent total, permanent disability rating from the US Veterans Administration.  You still must meet the rules for approval but it may not take as long to process your application.  It doesn't matter whether your condition is connected to your military service as long as you are not able to work and you were in the military when you became disabled.
Hiring an attorney or representative will not expedite your application or hearing, unfortunately, unless you meet one of the above criteria.  While an attorney may provide many valuable services, he or she usually cannot speed up how long it takes Social Security to process applications or appeals.

At the Forsythe Firm, we always look for every opportunity to expedite our clients' cases.  If you meet one of the criteria for an expedited case, we will act to protect your interests and get a settlement as quickly as possible.  Other ethical representatives will do the same.
 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

GETTING MONEY FROM SSDI

SSDI stands for Social Security Disability Insurance .  When you first began working, the Government deducted a percentage of your wages, called a FICA tax.  This continued as long as you worked, in most cases.  This money was matched by your employer and set aside in a government trust fund to help you if you later became disabled and could not work. SSDI is a type of government sponsored insurance program, usually called "Social Security disability insurance."  To get benefits out of SSDI, you must prove  that you have a medical disability so severe that you cannot work any full-time job; that this disability has lasted, or is expected to last, for at least 12 consecutive months. That sounds simple but Social Security has made it rather difficult to prove that you are disabled.  One reason is that their definition of 'disability' is so strict.  You usually must prove that you cannot perform even simple, unskilled work at the sed...
Read more

POST HEARING EVIDENCE

Many people assume that a Social Security disability case is over when the hearing has been held.  This isn't always the case.  Often there is post hearing work that should be done to achieve the best chance of a favorable decision. Everyone at a disability hearing works under pressure.  This includes the claimant, the representative, the vocational expert and even the administrative law judge.  Hearings are generally limited to less than one hour.  The judge will ask questions that place the claimant under stress to answer correctly.  The representative or attorney will be asked to respond to procedural issues or points of law that place him or her under pressure.  The judge must constantly conduct the hearing so that it follows Social Security laws, rules and regulations.  Further, the judge must form accurate hypothetical questions for the vocational expert based on the medical and vocational evidence in the file and upon the claimant's testi...
Read more

CAN YOU GET DISABILITY FOR SLEEP DISORDERS? HOW?

Many of my clients who file for Social Security disability have severe sleep disorders.  The question is, do these sleep problems equate to disability? The answer is, how do the sleep problems restrict the ability to perform full-time work?  What are the symptoms?  How frequent and how severe are the symptoms. Symptoms of insomnia, obstructive sleep apnea, narcolepsy or other sleep disorders often include: excessive daytime sleepiness fatigue loss of memory lack of concentration, persistence and pace irritability - unable to get along with supervisors, co-workers or customers at work If the medical record indicates treatment for these symptoms which has failed, then a finding of disability may be appropriate.  For example, if a person has obstructive sleep apnea which can be corrected by using a CPAP machine, then it is not disabling.  If a CPAP has been tried and failed to fix the problem, then we have valid medical problems that may hel...
Read more