How Long Can I Get Disability Benefits?

There are a few things that any experienced SSI/SSDI attorney will say to you. First, most claimants who get approved are able to keep their benefits after each sequent review of their claim. Second, it's more difficult to ascertain that someone has had medical improvement if he or she was approved for disability benefits through an administrative law judge (ALJ) hearing as opposed to being approved at the initial claim or reconsideration appeal levels.

There's a reason for this: ALJs have more flexibility in formulating their decisions than disability benefits examiners, which means that many individuals who received their disability approvals at the ALJ hearing may not really have been awarded disability under the rules and guidelines used to make decisions at the state disability agency (DDS, or Disability Determination Services). Even though a claims examiner might not agree that a recipient is disabled, unless there's proof of medical improvement in the medical record, disability benefits cannot be continued -- except in specific exceptions.

Other Reasons Benefits May Be Discontinued

There are other reasons you might lose your disability benefits, dependent on whether you have SSDI or SSI. While nobody is assured a lifetime of disability benefits, in all likelihood, once a person has been awarded disability benefits, they will continue to get disability benefits until the age of retirement, at which point their benefits will change from the disability category to the retirement category. That said, if you try to keep your benefits by not informing Social Security whenever your condition has improved or when you begin earning an income, you may be accountable for repaying disability overpayments.

For a complete examination of your case, whether you could lose your payments, or if you need to report a change in income or condition, contact Kassin and Carrow and get the answers that you need!