What to Know When Applying for Disability Benefits in Green Bay
When you’re dealing with pain, limited mobility, or a serious chronic illness, applying for disability benefits is likely the last thing you want to do. It takes patience, but it’s a kind of stick-to-itiveness that Green Bay is known for.
To apply for disability, you must meet two main requirements: Your work history must show you have worked recently and long enough to pay into the Social Security system. You must also prove your condition won’t let you work and is expected to last at least a year.
When you apply, Social Security will want a detailed presentation of your life and medical history. This will require some extensive paper-gathering. Some important documents include:
- A detailed work history: A list of all the jobs you have held in the last 5 years.
- Complete medical records: Including contact information for every doctor, clinic, and hospital where you’ve received care.
- Personal information: Birth certificate, social security number, and other documents that prove who you are.
Social Security wants more than just a diagnosis; they want strong medical evidence that proves your condition limits your ability to perform basic tasks like sitting, standing, lifting or focusing.
This is where mistakes are often made. Social Security’s definition of “disability” only applies to your health’s impact on your ability to participate in “substantial gainful activity.” In other words, to hold a regularly paying job.
The Wisconsin disability attorney team at Geary Disability can make sure your Social Security application is rock solid.
You can get in touch with us at any point in the process, and we will evaluate your case free of charge. In fact, you pay no attorneys’ fees until you win your benefits.
When You Apply for Disability in Green Bay, Be Ready to Wait
As soon as you realize your health problems will keep you out of work long-term, you should apply for disability benefits. The sooner you start, the better, because the Social Security process is anything but fast.
In Green Bay and across northeast Wisconsin, it can easily take over a year for Social Security to decide on your initial application and your first appeal. If you need a hearing with a disability judge, recent numbers suggest a wait time of another nine months to reach your hearing.
You must also plan for Social Security’s built-in “waiting period.” You won’t receive any benefits for the first five months after the date Social Security decides your disability officially began.
But often, you’ve been waiting longer than that already by the time you’re approved for benefits, and you get credit for that time.
If you wait to apply to begin with, though, you only add time to the clock between your last paycheck and your first monthly benefits payment.
So don’t delay, and don’t let the red tape deter you. Give yourself the best chance to win benefits from the start.
The wait is discouraging, but if you win benefits in the end, you’ll be awarded a lump sum of back benefits to cover some of the wait time, and it can be a major financial relief when it comes.
Disability lawyer Tim Geary has helped thousands of people find relief when health problems throw them out of work.
Let us help you find some peace of mind.
