Social Security Disability Resource

Below I have created a cartoon which shows a hypothetical claimant who hires a SSDI lawyer to represent him/her in his/her Social Security disability hearing. This cartoon depicts a claimant who hires a disability attorney and wins his hearing but this is not meant to show that every claimant that hires a lawyer wins their SSD or SSI hearing. If you have not hired a lawyer yet and you want a Social Security disability attorney call us at 1-877-527-5529 for a free consultation.

In the cartoon above you will see that our claimant has called a disability lawyer. This is the first step in getting help with your SSDI or SSI hearing. Consultations with me as well as most lawyers are free. Our cartoon claimant after speaking with the attorney decides to hire the lawyer to represent him. The lawyer then gets the claimant's Social Security file and decides what is needed to improve the claim for benefits. Lawyers do many things at this stage to prepare your case for the hearing. They may send for additional medical evidence or opinion evidence from your doctors that support your disability. The lawyer will also come up with the theory of your case. This means they will put together the arguments as to why you are disabled based on the medical evidence and other evidence in the file. If the evidence is particularly strong, I like to submit a request for an on the record fully favorable decision. I do this, because if the evidence is strong and the brief is convincing it is possible to get a favorable decision without having to go to hearing. This is particularly important since the wait time for hearing can be anywhere from one to three years depending on the caseload of the hearing office where your hearing is to be held. In our cartoon our hypothetical claimant is now at his hearing and meets the ALJ.

Above you will see the lawyer presenting his case for his claimant before the ALJ. Both the ALJ and the lawyer may ask the claimant questions. If there are experts at the hearing the ALJ will ask the experts questions and the attorney will have an opportunity to cross examine those experts. Depending on the case and circumstances the lawyer may provide a closing statement. In our cartoon the claimant wins his case. It normally takes about two months to get a decision. After the decision, if it is favorable as in the case of our cartoon character, he receives his money for his past due benefits and will start receiving his monthly checks usually within a month or two. The last picture in the cartoon is the lawyer receiving his fee paid to him by Social Security from our cartoon characters past due benefits. The attorney receives 25% of the past due benefits or $6000 whichever of the two is less.