Originally Posted by soccertese

hi, would greatly appreciate any opinions about the law firm i hired to do my application.

i'm a 59 year old male, had a 1 person company for 20years where i installed pharmacy computer systems into retail pharmacies, did everything from installing, maintaining computers and writing the software.
was diagnosed in 2001 with parkinson's. stopped working in 2011 and applied for SSDI Nov1, 2013 and got a rejection on DEC 4th.
SS stated "The objective medical evidence prior to the date you were last insured for SS disability benefits on DEC 31,2012 is not sufficient to fully assess your potential work related limitations and abilitites. Therefore, a period of disability cannot be determined.

I can understand why SS determined this based on my application. I rarely see my neuro, exams are just a short visit and no formal testing, just a formality to get my RX refills authorized. When medicated, to the untrained eye I don't appear to have pd, medication works well. Unmedicated I have major pd symptoms, freezing so I take baby steps and halt, fatique, stuttering, disabled to the point that I just lay or sit down.

Anyway, I thought I might have a difficult time proving disability because I didn't have a clear record of progression on my medical records because my neuro always saw me medicated, my customers rarely saw me, I didn't allow friends to see me unmedicated and I live alone. Thus I hired a law firm to do the application and brought these issues up and they really didn't give me any odds on whether I'd get SSDI but I hired them anyway because they were recommended and I knew I couldn't do this application on my own. I went to their offices, brought them a detailed writeup of my history and concerns, medical records proving I was diagnosed 12 years ago. I had also visited my neuro and GP just prior to hiring the law firm to let them know i was filing for SSDI and they both said they would try to help the best they could. At the visit the paralegal asked me if i wanted to file right now and we did over the internet. She didn't care to see what my full medical records looked like or talk to my doctors to see what they had written, I assume she expected my initial application to be rejected so why work that hard?

So anyway, the law firm is filing an appeal. They sent me a list of questions to answer which I had already answered. It seems obvious to me I need to be examined more fully and unmedicated and have brought this up with the paralegal, will SSDI have me independently examined and she says she can't guarantee this. I'm getting a little worried here about how blase this legal firm is, maybe they don't get serious until there is a trial? Maybe they want to drag this out and get a bigger fee? I'm afraid to start complaining but I'm feeling like a number with these guys, any advice? I would think it would be hard to fire them but something seems weird here, so far they've filed the initial application, took about an hour in their officer to file on line while i was there and they emailed me a list of questions to answer after the rejection. i have sent them 2 emails subsequently asking questions about their questions and no response days later.

I'm thinking they just don't think I'll get approved until I go to trial so why put in that much effort until then or maybe they are just increasing their fee, i can understand that. But I also can't believe SSDI wouldn't approve someone who is clearly unable to work when unmedicated and 12 years after a pd diagnosis, who in the world would hire me at almost 60?

Any advice on dealing with this large local firm, dont want to alienate them and whether I should take the bull by the horns and schedule my own evaluation with another neurological organization that would do a more comprehensive evaluation?

Originally Posted by Janke

Your biggest problem is your date last insured for SSDI. Since it is 12/31/12, that means that between 1/1/03 and 12/31/12, you only have 20 credits out of a possible 40 which means you have years of no work or years of work with no profit. So the first question is how did you work for 20 years in your own business and not have significant profit in at more than 5 years of the last 10? Did you not filing tax returns when you should have? Did your condition reduce your hours? I am also curious about why you waited two years before filing your claim?

Getting a thorough examination in 2014 will not help prove that you were disabled enough by 12/31/12. It is the medical evidence from 2012 or earlier (which you say is minimal) that is important. If your attorney is not addressing this issue (whether now or at the hearing level), then you have no chance of qualifying for SSDI and the only disability program is available would be SSI, the low income program. SSI would use current medical evidence but you don't mention filing an SSI claim or what your current income is.

In my opinion, your attorney's office should be discussing your medical evidence from 2012 and earlier and asking the questions about why your date last insured (12/31/12) is in the past.

If SSA decides that you are disabled but not before 12/31/12, it is like having a car accident after your insurance lapsed - nothing will be paid from SSDI. This should all be addressed NOW and if your attorney won't do it, you need another.

Originally Posted by Hopeless

Dear Soccertese,

About your TAX returns. There is a statute of limitations on getting any refunds due you and it is 3 years. However, if you OWE, there is no limit of time. You would be required to pay any and all taxes for any and all years late. Even if you did not owe FEDERAL INCOME TAX, if you earned a net of over $400 in self-employment, you would still owe Social Security and Medicare tax on it.

Are you saying that you had less than $400 net income from your self-employment during the years that you were late filing your returns?

It is very surprising for a disability law firm to accept any claimant that did not meet the eligibility requirements of being insured under the Social Security system.

It is situations where DLI (Date last insured) and Date of Onset create problems with qualifying for eligibility and some decisions must be made as to which dates to use as the date of onset.

As far as "accepting" your tax return information. If you PAID Social Security taxes, it is my belief that the returns MUST be accepted if filed. Your payments may not simply be ignored. As far as the IRS, they do not have to provide any "refunds" on returns filed beyond 3 years after they are due.

Hopeless

Originally Posted by soccertese

all my income was via a sole proprietor business and on a SE form. btw, thanks for your responses, always amazed at the kindness of strangers on these boards!
i didn't file 2008,2009,2010,2011 returns until 2013 but actually overpaid my estimated taxes in each year they were due which was all 4 years so there was no penalty, SOCIAL SECURITY still wouldn't accept the wages i earned in any of those years except 2011. I had filed late returns before, always paid enough taxes but they were all within 3 years so i guess having filed late returns before made me think it was no big deal since i had paid the taxes on time.
as an aside, i found out from IRS that it takes 12 months now to get their numbers over to SS if you file a late return. dealing with the IRS over these late returns was a nightmare, admittedly my fault for filing so late. they sent me a letter stating i owed quite a bit of money based on stock sales from my 1099'S. Since i hadn't filed a SCHEDULE-D stating the cost basis of my stocks, they assumed 100% profit on each trade. This got my attention to say the least. To make a long story short, i had a deadline to get my returns to them which turned out to be 30 days. I sent my returns to them certified mail and go proof of receipt. called them a week later, they had no record of receiving the returns. called 2 weeks, no returns, was told it could take 6 weeks to register them, past the 30days. i was told not to worry, as long as they received them on time i had nothing to worry about. talk about something to worry about. i actually took copies down to the local IRS office and asked them to stamp one to send to their FRESNO office and stamp one for me to keep so i could prove they got them within 30 days. so they got them in time. you never talk to the same person twice and get different answers. lesson here is get your returns in on time.