Just wanted to say I'm sorry for what you are going through with SS Disability. I never dreamed at 51 I would be filing for SSDI. I'm in GA and was initially denied....I'm now in the reconsideration stage....if I'm denied this time it goes to a hearing in front of a judge. I have done the reconsideration on my own with advise from an advocate.

If I'm denied this time I will have to hire a law firm. Scares me to death to even think about trying to find one that will actually do what is needed for the hearing.

I'm guessing you can change lawyers if you want....might be a good idea to call around to different ones and just feel them out.

I wish you much luck in this journey. The disability world will drive a sane person absolutely crazy !

Debi from Georgia

The attys are working for YOU. You are not working for them! Their fee will be part of your SSD settlement if you win.
If you are not comfortable with them, discuss this w/them and/or fire them & hire another firm that YOU feel comfortable with.
Yes, if the law firm feels there is a chance of winning. It is recommended that you find a firm that handles only SSD cases.
In a way yes. You should request copies of all your medical records including dr notes. Keep copies for yourself and provide copies to your atty. Make sure you keep your atty updated on your disability and dr visits.
Read the stickies at the top of this website.
In a way you are. Remember, you are NOT their only client. Especially if the law firm is a large one and/or the ones you see on the tv commercials.
If you have the funds, you can privately hire a SSD atty on a retainer. This way, the atty will only rep you as you will be his/her only client.


GOOD LUCK!

SSI/SSDI attorneys can't legally charge fees for their services upfront, other than for expenses. http://www.nolo.com/legal-encycloped...wyer-cost.html So, hiring an attorney on a retainer in this case is not an option.

OP--

Attorneys for SSI/SSDI cases can only be paid out of a portion of your backpay. They have little incentive to put in much work until you've racked up some significant backpay. What you're experiencing is not unusual. I generally think it's a bad idea to hire one this early on. A compromise is to go with a non-attorney rep--they are often former SS employees. Allsup is an example ofsuch a company.

If you choose to fire them, they can still request part of the eventual % of attorney fees. It would be best to get them to release you by being a PITA... A new attorney or service will not want to have to split their fee.

You can ammend you Alleged Onset Date of disability. If you can prove a major reduction of monthly billings, so long the billings were below the SGA level for that year, that would be a date to choose. If you have any communications in writing with clients that you recommend they make other arrangements due to your failing health, that might help.

Did you stop driving or hire someone to clean your home, run errands, etc. during any period? Did your meds increase? Did you discontinue any activities from a decline in health?

The issue with back payments came up a few years back in a thread and I believe it was compared at the time as getting the opportunity to pay an insurance policy years later after when a health problem pops up. Is it unfortunate in your case, especially since you've been ill such a long time? Yes. But I don't believe exceptions are made.

Regarding age issues, once you are over 55 you qualify in the "advanced age" category for the grid rules: http://www.ultimatedisabilityguide.com/grid_rules.html

thank you so much, you have put things in perspective.

Have you read this yet?

http://www.ssa.gov/OP_Home/ssact/title02/0205.htm

You want to pay attention to Section 205(c)(5).

Hi Soccertese,

I just wanted to explain a little more here about the info and links LL provided incase you aren't aware of how the system works. An SSDI lawyer or lawfirm gets paid by the SSA, out of your first backpay check, only if you are found to be totally disabled.

The lawyer gets 25% of your earned backpay up to a cap of $6000 (to the best of my knowledge, unless that amount was increased recently). In many cases, the date of disability is recognized as the date of the SSDI/SSI application. Of course, your case is different from most in that regard. SSDI also doesn't pay for the first 5 months of disability. If a lawyer is working for you and you are found to be totally disabled and qualified for SSDI fairly quickly, say with only 2 months of backpay owed on a $1000 a month SSDI case, that lawyer would be paid $500 (25% of the total $2000 backpay amount) and you would get $1500. We have to assume that most lawyers would prefer a $6000 payday per case over a $500 payday. It would take an evil person to deliberately sabotage a case at the early stages, but you can see how a lawyer has no financial incentive to try to push a case through quickly. Combine that with the long waits and frequent backlogs at the SSA and it definitely feels like we, the applicants, are the only ones trying to get a quick resolution to our applications.

I honestly couldn't say whether your law firm is practicing shoddily, with poor attention to detail, or if they only seem lacksadaisical while they are really just waiting for all of the facts to come in to see how this plays out so that they can focus on your best approach.

The thing is, whether or not any of us has confidence in your law firm doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things. It sounds like YOU are unhappy with them.

I believe this whole process is so stressful it puts our already compromised bodies into an even more precarious situation. My issues are mostly pain related and added stress makes everything soooooo much worse. Stress doesn't help Parkinson's either.

I think it's critically important to try to relieve as much stress as possible. You can't MAKE the SSA decide things any quicker. You can require that your chosen lawyer not make this process even more difficult. If you KNOW that you just don't trust them, or have confidence in them, move on......try to find another lawyer. Interview them first and explain what concerned you about this firm and look for assurances that they would do things differently. If you are still on the fence about this firm, ask for a meeting to discuss your concerns. Maybe the paralegal doesn't know the rules about the SSA limits on when income was reported, but she was instructed to get your claim started during her meeting with you if you were "hiring" that firm. Maybe she made notes including that info, the lawyer read it, knows the rules, and is working on another angle, and you just don't know about it yet. I would call them and discuss my concerns. If you've already "had it" with them, then just move on.

If you call new lawyers to discuss switching, one of the first things you'll want to ask about is how payment is managed if you started with another lawyer. I heard something before about multiple firms being involved and that meant splitting the fee. I what the details were on that, if it matters how far the first lawyer got, if it's a 50/50 split, or any of that. Some of the more knowledgeable posters on SSDI rules and regs might be able to give some info on that.

thanks again, this firm is highly recommended, just not having the experience that i expected, kind of wanted to get a perspective on how SS firms work before i started a expressing my concerns to them. i'm not stupid and of course my mind is racing over all the things that could go wrong. not to beat a dead horse but to say the least i made this a much more difficult case because i didn't do my research, everyone with pd knows they'll eventually be disabled, i didn't do the basic research that ssdi is an insurance policy and if you don't pay enough premiums in last 5 years doesn't matter, or at least it seems, how disabled you are. would have been very easy to submit my 1040 minus schedule D just to get my SSA taxes recorded.
anyway, have the confidence and guidance i need to talk to my law firm, seems i need to make every effort to verify my disability in 2012, ball is in my court. i am a little surprised they haven't emphasized i start that asap since my pd is progressing and it's going to be harder to get that info as time goes on. the other thing i think i need to do is get a much more detailed medical evaluation myself asap and not leave it to chance that SSA will order one. It takes awhile to get an appt with the better NEUROS. It may be a waste of time if i they ignore my current condition, that's the type of question the paralegal just doesn't really know how to answer and maybe i need to ask to speak to the attorney. would be nice to hear if they have won a case for someone like me in recent history.
thanks again!!

Hi Soccertese,

First of all, I am the last person that would step up to defend attys, due to some very bad experiences I have personally had with them on the few occasions I have had the need for their services.

THAT being said, sometimes our expectations and inadequate communications are a source of discord between client and atty.

Law firms that deal almost exclusively with disability cases have a set course of action and procedures that they follow. Is it what we expect? Probably not. Through much research and my own experience, I have learned these firms generally ALL operate in a similar manner.

Some do not take a disability case until your denial of initial application, others may take a case from the onset.

There is an initial interview process, at which time generally, a determination of any possible viability of claim is assessed. They do not want to accept a claim that has NO merit and can NOT be won for whatever reason that may be.

The next step is getting a fee agreement signed by you and accepted by SSA. They are not going to go further without that agreement. Once you have signed that agreement, in order to change to another firm, it is my belief that you would need a release from the agreement you signed, otherwise, you may be held contractually for payment to the first firm. I do not think you can just walk away and hire someone else. My thinking here is, the NEW firm would need a signed agreement from you that would again need to be approved by SSA, and then you have two agreements in front of SSA. Would SSA approve the 2nd one? I don't know but I think they would want a release on the first one before approving a second one. Again, this is my opinion, I do not know the regs on this.

Sticking with the same firm to continue the step process of attys.

After an appeal is filed, assuming the initial application has been denied, the atty will gather information for your claim. This includes medical records, medical source statements from your treating physicians, and any other information the atty feels will be necessary for your claim. Your attorney will have access to your social security earnings record and your claim file.

When your hearing date nears and is close in time, your atty (having all infomation at hand, including the most recent) will review your entire record and lay out the strategy for the hearing and may meet with you in preparation for the hearing. Some may NOT meet with you before the hearing but some do.

As I mentioned in a prior post to your situation, you need to be proactive with your atty if you have expectations that are not being met. We all have preconceived ideas of what the atty is doing or should be doing and that may not be consistent with the manner and procedures they actually follow.

Keep in mind, since they do this day in and day out, for many years, they do have a "system" and procedures in place and follow them. We, as the client, do not know their "system" and have our own thoughts and expectations.

Ask questions, express yourself and your concerns, express your expectations. Neither of you, the atty or the client, are mind readers. There must be communication and a thorough understanding of the communication.

Be sure you understand the terminology that the atty uses. I had a lengthy discussion over the phone with my atty due to a mis-understanding on a term used.

As you have seen in the various posts to your threads, there is much confusion, especially when abbreviations and acronyms are used and are frequently used incorrectly.

This post has nothing to do with the rules and regulations concerning SSA and disability. I am only addressing working with a law firm.

If you change to another firm, I am afraid you will find it very similar. The big firms that deal exclusively with disability claims generally use the same procedures and systems that have been developed by them over the many years they have been in practice.

Research the financial aspects of changing firms before you take that step.

There were times my atty did not meet MY expectations but I took steps to address my needs.

In a big firm, you will be a "number" to them, but you are not looking for someone to be your pal, you want someone to be your advocate. That is what they do.

I think Hopeless gave you a fairly good synopsis of how many of the larger law firms work. They have a protocol and since lawyers really like talking to lawyers, they tend to do their best work and are most successful when presenting the case to another lawyer, the ALJ. So they play the numbers. Put in little effort at the beginning levels and wait for the hearing, if it gets that far. And since they are working for a percentage of retroactive benefits, it would always be in their financial best interest that this process last long enough for them to max out their fee. However, that doesn't mean that all attorneys 'drag their feet'. Attorneys also make money from volume of approvals.

You can 'fire' your current rep and hire another. Then when there are two attorneys, the both petition for their fee and split it.

IMO, your issue with insured status and the date last insured in the past should have been addressed by your attorney at the beginning, but if you are only dealing with the support staff, they might not have the expertise to identify this issue and recognize its importance to you.

SSDI requires a certain minimum number of credits in a certain time period and if you are not found disabled as of your date last insured, you are out of luck, no matter how ill or injured you are.

SSI is the low income program that pays benefits up to a flat amount of money to disabled individuals with limited amount of assets/resources. In effect, it is a welfare program designed to keep the disabled from being homeless and hungry. Ginnie is right that it is not designed as a program that helps you get ahead.

Now would be the time to start interviewing other representatives if you are going to jump ship, and personally, I would start with a local, smaller firm if you are looking for personalized service. And make sure they understand the issue about date last insured. Now perhaps if you tell your current rep that you are dissatisfied and seriously considering changing reps, you may get them to pay more attention to you, but I also don't think you should do that without a backup plan.