What to Expect When You Call Geary Disability Law for Help with Social Security Disability

When you call Geary Disability Law for help getting Social Security Disability, you can expect us to ask a series of questions to determine what you need.

Social Security Disability is a crucial financial lifeline when you can’t work because of a hit to your health, so don’t take chances with your claim. Get the below information ready, so we can support you quickly and effectively.

These questions come in a certain order, because we may need to address some issues right away.

FIRST: Do You Face Any Upcoming Deadlines?

If you’ve been denied your Social Security Disability benefits, you have a strict deadline to file an appeal and get another chance.

You typically have 65 days (60 days plus five days for mailing) to file an appeal.

Appealing may be your best opportunity to win benefits and reach better financial stability. Most people are denied at first, but during an appeal you can strengthen your case.

So when you call our Wisconsin disability law firm, we’ll need to know if you have already applied for disability and have a claim pending.

If so, we’ll need to know if Social Security has given you any deadlines.

Deadlines to appeal a denial may be the most urgent, but even if you haven’t just been denied, you could also have deadlines to turn in forms Social Security asked for, and deadlines to reopen an old claim or file a new one. (I will discuss the rules for reopening claims in my next blog entry.)

Now, when you first call us, we’re not your disability lawyer yet, so we might need you contact Social Security to check on your claim because we can’t do it on your behalf.

That can seem like a hassle, but it’s of utmost importance for us to know whether you are subject to any pending deadlines.

Our disability law team is most concerned about situations where someone calls on the day of a deadline.

If we follow our usual process and schedule an initial telephone or in-person meeting with you to begin your case on a later day, you’ll miss your deadline and risk losing out on benefits.

But if we learn of the deadline on that first telephone call, we can tell you to immediately get to the local Social Security office to file an appeal or ask for more time.

SECOND: What Is Your Non-Medical Eligibility?

Your Social Security Disability claim centers on the physical or mental conditions that prevent you from working.

But before Social Security gets into your medical situation, it first determines if you meet non-medical standards to be covered for disability benefits in the first place.

For Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), a key non-medical standard is having a history of working and paying enough Social Security taxes into the system.

You can’t still be working more than a limited amount, or Social Security will find that you must not have a qualifying disability.

Social Security will also look at your age, marital status and citizenship status.

When you contact our office, after we determine that you don’t have any pending deadlines we need to address immediately, we’ll next seek to make sure that you meet the non-medical eligibility standards.

THIRD: What Are Your Medical Conditions?

After we determine that you don’t have any pressing deadlines and that you meet the non-medical eligibility standards for disability benefits, we’ll evaluate your medical conditions to assess your case.

To qualify for disability benefits, your health problems must be severe enough that you can’t work.

You’ll have to prove that by submitting medical evidence from your doctors and other health care providers.

Your Wisconsin Social Security Disability lawyer from Geary Disability Law knows what types of evidence you need and can lighten the burden on you of gathering and organizing everything.

Our initial assessment of your case and what it will take for you to win is always free. And you don’t pay a fee to a disability attorney until you win benefits.

If you need Social Security Disability benefits, you know what to do. Give us a call and tell us where you stand.

Written by Tim Geary.

Disclaimer: Blog entries are not intended to be a substitute for actual legal advice. It is important for a representative to understand the specific facts and circumstances of your case before they can provide you actual legal advice. If you have questions about your Social Security Disability benefits, please contact a qualified representative to discuss your case.