When did your father die or turn age 62 and file a retirement claim or become entitled to SSDI himself? At age 14, a child can get benefits from a parent's record on the basis of AGE alone - if the family max is high enough, the parent is deceased or entitled to Social Security disability or retirement. A 14-17 year old child does not have to have a disabling condition to qualify. If your father is 61 or younger, still breathing and able to work, there is nothing for you to qualify for on your father (or mother if she is still healthy and not retired) Social Security record. And, if you got married, you might not be entitled as an adult. Or if you engaged in Substantial Gainful Activity and it was not an Unsuccessful Work Attempt (and you must have worked a year and a half to get SSDI) you might not be able to get benefits from a parent.

If your brother is disabled and unable to perform Substantial Gainful Activity, he should file his own claim since filing date is a factor in determining payment date. He should contact SSA before the end of December 2009 if he hasn't done so already. 1-800-772-1213.

If your attorney thought you could be entitled to more money by pursuing an earlier onset based on an earlier filing date, the attorney would then be entitled to a higher fee, so I would guess that the attorney is not interested in pursuing this because there is no money in it for anyone.

Go get your own records if you want them, and file a claim on your deceased, disabled or retired father, but it may do absolutely nothing to change your entitlement to Social Security or the amount of your monthly benefits. Help your brother get his own records and help him file a claim. But again, the retroactivity of an SSDI claim is AT MOST 12 months before application (with the 5 month waiting period, 17 months for onset) and for SSI, zero months before application.

Filing a claim and, if denied, filing an appeal is what keeps a claim alive for years and sometimes results in years of retroactive benefits and sometimes nothing.