WHY HELP WITH THE INITIAL FILING IS OFTEN FREE

You can often get an attorney or qualified non-attorney advocate to help you file our initial application for SSDI benefits, and this is often free.  Here is why.  The representative or attorney cannot charge you a fee until the claim is won and back pay has been paid to you.  However, there is a 5 month waiting period on the front end of an SSDI claim.  For example, if you apply August 1 with an alleged onset date of August 1, you will not be eligible for any benefit until January 1.  So there would be no back pay for the period August - December.  Your first benefit payable period would be January 1, but because of the 5-month waiting period, no back pay benefits have accrued; therefore, no representative fee is due.  Yet, there can be a definite advantage in letting a lawyer or non-attorney disability specialist help you with your initial SSDI application.  Not all representatives are willing to help you file the initial application (some only getting involved after a denial) - but many attorneys will do so.

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