HOW BACK PAY HAPPENS IN AN SSDI CLAIM

You often hear people speak about getting "back pay" or "past due benefits" in Social Security disability claims.  How does this happen?  Actually, it is very common and happens in two ways, which I will explain:

First, you can often be paid all the way back to the date on which you first became disabled.  This date is called the "established onset date."  You may "back date" your claim up to 1 year prior to the application date.  For example, if you file your application on 10/1/16, you may claim disability back to 10/1/15 if you were disabled that far back.  You can also recover your waiting period, which is 5 additional months.  So that makes 17 months possible as retroactive pay, covering a period BEFORE you filed.

Second, you can recover payments for waiting in line while Social Security decides your case.  This is payment for months of disability AFTER you filed the application.  For example, if you filed your application on 10/1/16 but it took 24 months for Social Security to make a decision and settle, then you have 24 months of back pay due.  Back pay accumulates, for example, while you are waiting for a hearing or other appeal.  If you eventually win the case, back pay is due.  (It is now taking about 15 months to get a hearing.  You an be paid for those 15 months).

So, it isn't enough just to prove that you are disabled.  The bigger question is, When did you become disabled?  You want them to pay all the way back to that onset date.

One of the things a representative, advocate or attorney will do for you is to figure out how far back your pay should start.  The onset date determines back pay.  The earlier the onset date, the more back pay.  

Social Security is prone to move the onset date forward, thereby reducing the back pay.  For example, if you really became disabled on 10/1/14 but Social Security claims you were not disabled until 6/1/15, you have just lost 8 months of pay.  That can be a lot of money.  If your monthly benefit is, say, $1,500, you just lot $12,000.

It is important to prove your onset date to protect your back pay.  
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 Contact the Forsythe Firm in Huntsville at (256) 799-0297 for help with a Social Security claim.  We help to protect your back pay and get you the maximum benefits.

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