Finding A Social Security Lawyer: Four Things to Consider

Choosing a representative for a Social Security case is a challenging and important decision. Representatives like those with Kassin and Carrow in Metro East St. Louis can talk to Social Security on behalf of their clients, do research on Social Security law and policy, represent their clients at hearings before Social Security Administrative Law Judges, and provide advice. Here are some things to consider when choosing to hire a representative:

Exactly what are your goals?

A typical reason individuals hire representatives is to assist with an application for Social Security disability benefits. Every case differs, but these cases will often involve a lot of medical records and can take a number of years for Social Security to decide. Some representatives only work on this kind of case. Other representatives deal with a broader range of Social Security matters: issues applying for retirement or survivors’ benefits, for instance, or issues people encounter once they are already getting benefits. Some representatives assist with issues beyond Social Security, such as workers’ compensation, estate planning, setting up special needs trusts, or getting insurers to pay for medical or other expenditures. It makes sense to speak to a potential representative what experience they have with the type of issue you are suffering from.

Is the representative a lawyer?

Some professional representatives are attorneys like those with Kassin and Carrow in St. Louis and some are not. Non-lawyers can handle some Social Security problems, but they are unable to represent clients in federal court. Prior to hiring a representative, it can be useful to talk about their training—about the law in general, and about Social Security law and policy specifically.

How does the representative get paid?

The most widespread situation in which somebody hires a representative is to assist with a claim for disability benefits. Within these kinds of cases, the representative and client will most likely sign a “fee agreement,” explaining how the representative will get compensated. Social Security claimants’ representatives generally work on a “contingency fee” basis. This means that the client does not pay whenever the representative is hired, but only if the client is awarded benefits. This is the case with Kassin and Carrow. The representative’s fees are often paid directly from any Social Security back benefits. Back benefits, also called retroactive benefits, are cash Social Security decides a claimant should receive for months before they made the decision on the benefits claim. Social Security will look at the fee arrangement, pay the representative, and then give the rest of the back benefits to the applicant.

It is essential to understand any fee arrangement before you sign it, and to go over how the representative will handle expenditures like requesting a client’s medical records. Representatives have various ways of charging their clients fees for matters aside from an application for disability benefits, especially when Social Security will not owe any back benefits even if the case is successful. It is always smart to read information about fees carefully and ask questions before signing anything. Save a copy of any agreement just in case questions come up later.

Is there a representative who can assist you?

Representatives may not be able to take each and every case that comes through their doors. Sometimes they haven't the time or expertise to handle a specific issue, or they might not feel that there's enough evidence to make the argument a prospective client wants them to make. Kassin and Carrow, helping the people of St. Louis, St. Charles, Florissant, and Chesterfield, Mo and the Metro East St. Louis area in Illinois, is here to help you and would love to schedule an appointment with you regarding your case.

The Top Questions Regarding Social Security Disability Benefits

What disability benefits are available from the Social Security Administration (SSA)?
There's two kinds of benefits available for those in the St. Louis, MO area: Social Security Disability and Supplemental Security Income. Social Security Disability is paid to handicapped workers, and in some cases their dependents, in accordance with the cash paid into the Social Security system by the disabled individual. Supplemental Security Income (SSI) is paid to disabled people that have little or no work history dependent on financial need.

Are you currently entitled to disability benefits from SSA?
If you've an ailment or injury which has prevented you from doing work for twelve months or is anticipated to prevent you from working for twelve months or lead to your death, then you may qualify to apply for Social Security Disability benefits or SSI.

Why should you apply for disability benefits?
If you are found disabled:
•   You will be qualified to receive Medicare health insurance or Medicaid dependent upon the kind of Social Security benefit
•   You may receive cost of living increases each year to your monthly disability benefit
•   You may possibly benefit from tax advantages or receive your benefits tax free
•   You might shield any future Social Security benefits (Retirement or Survivors benefits, if eligible)
•   You may be qualified to receive work incentives or vocational rehabilitation programs to assist you in returning to work
•   Your spouse or children may be eligible for benefits on your record

How exactly does SSA determine disability?
Disability is determined through a procedure called Sequential Evaluation, which is outlined below:
•   Are you working? If you are and your wages are more than nine hundred dollars monthly you generally cannot be deemed disabled. If you haven't been working, SSA continues on to the following question.
•   Is the condition “Severe”? Your condition will have to interfere with basic occupational activities for your claim to be reviewed. If it doesn't, SSA won't find you disabled. If it does, SSA will move to the next question.
•   Is your condition in the list of disabling impairments? The SSA regulations list impairments for every of the major body systems that are so severe they automatically mean you are disabled. If your condition is not in the list, SSA will have to decide if it is of identical severity to an impairment on the list. If it is, SSA will find you disabled. If it isn't, SSA will go on to the next thing.
•   Are you able to carry out the work you did in the past? If your condition is serious, but not at the same or equal extent as a condition on the list, then SSA must decide if it impedes your capability to do the work you did before. If it does not, your claim is going to be refused. If it does, SSA will go on to the next step.
•   Could you perform any other type of employment? If you can't perform the work you did in the past, SSA decides if you are able to fully adjust to other work. SSA looks at your medical ailments, how old you are, education, prior work experience and any transferable expertise you might have. If you fail to adapt to other work, your claim will be approved. If you can, your claim will be turned down.

If you're in Gasconade, Ste. Genevieve, St. Francois, St Louis, or St. Charles county and you believe you may be eligible for disability, think about calling up the law offices of Kassin and Carrow and having a totally free appointment.

Non-Medical Reasons For Being Denied Disability

Aside from the more noticeable medical reasons for being denied SSI or SSDI benefits, there are a lot of reasons a person's disability claim may be denied that do not involve their supposed disabling condition or conditions.

For instance, disability cases may be rejected since they don't satisfy the non-disability criteria, or eligibility requirements, of Social Security Disability and/or SSI (Supplemental Security Income disability) program. If someone has not worked, or hasn't worked for some time, they might not be insured for Social Security disability.

Insured status is acquired only with work activity and lasts a limited amount of time once an individual stops working. If somebody files a disability claim based on need, their disability claim can be denied because A) the worth of their assets is too high (at this time, the income resource limit for someone is $2,000 and the couple’s resource limit is three thousand dollars) or B) they have income that's over the income limit. Like all need-based social welfare programs, people who file for SSI need to meet particular income and resource limits to be eligible for disability benefits.

Disability claims might end up being refused for some other reasons as well. If someone files a disability benefits claim and they're working, their disability claim may be declined for the performance of substantial gainful activity (SGA) before their case being taken to a disability examiner (at disability determination services, the agency which makes case decisions for SSI and SSDI benefits) for a medical decision.

SGA is a regular monthly earnings quantity that the Social Security Administration has determined as being self-supporting. If somebody is earning over the SGA amount, if is irrelevant what their disabling condition is or how extreme it is; their claim is going to be denied.

Social Security disability claims may also be denied either in the Social Security office, or at the state agency responsible for making disability determinations, for failure to cooperate. Failure to cooperate denials include a failure by the disability candidate to supply forms or information necessary to process their social security disability claim.

Often, too, the state disability processing department denies disability cases simply because they're unable to make contact with the disability applicant. That's why it's so important for all disability claimants to provide Social Security with updated addresses and phone numbers if there are any developments throughout the processing of their disability cases.

The Missouri or Illinois state disability agency (DDS) may also deny a disability case if a disability claimant doesn't attend a scheduled consultative examination. If a disability applicant cannot attend their consultative examination for any reason, they need to contact their attorney or the disability examiner responsible for their disability case a reschedule examination rather than miss it.

Hiring a good attorney can go a long way in avoiding these and many other pitfalls of the social security and disability application process. If you live in Franklin, Warren, Lincoln, Washington, or St. Louis County in Missouri or Calhoun, Jersey, Macoupin, or Monroe County in Illinois, contact the offices of Kassin and Carrow today!

Medical Reasons That One Can Be Denied SSI and SSDI Benefits

Social Security Disability and SSI cases are mainly refused for one particular reason: a claimant's medical records fail to authenticate that the person has enough physical or mental constraints that will stop them from having the ability to return to work--either performing one of their previous jobs (past pertinent work potentially includes any job that was done within the last fifteen years) or performing some other type of work (that Social Security might declare that you're able to do based on your age, education, medical limitations, and skills and training).

Whenever Social Security finds that a person in St. Louis, Chesterfield, St. Peters, Warrensville, or St. Charles filing for disability benefits is disabled, this simply means they have determined that they've either A) fulfilled the requirements of a listing in the Social Security List of Impairments, or B) that they've successfully passed through the five-step evaluation process referred to as sequential evaluation.

Now, most individuals won't be accepted based on the acceptance criteria for a listing. The reason is many medical conditions aren't within the listing book. And when they are the criteria for approval can be quite high. The simple fact is that quite often a claimant's medical records won't contain the information necessary to prove that they qualify under a listing.

When a person is approved it is because they have gone through all five steps of the sequential evaluation process, which means that:
1) They are not presently working and earning a substantial and gainful income,
2) They have a severe handicap,
3), They don't fulfill a listing in the listing book,
4) Their condition or conditions prevent them from being able to do their previous work, and finally
5) Their condition or conditions are extreme enough that they can't do any other kind of work, work that, if they were not disabled, they may easily be able to change to.

We can distill the way the entire disability system functions by making this single statement:
Most claims are rejected because an SSA adjudicator--a disability social security adjudicator or a judge--will decide that the person may still do some sort of other work, even if they can no longer do their past work.

The trick to winning a disability claim, of course, is demonstrating that your condition is so severe that you can't do other work, as well as being unable to do your past work. This is where a social security or disability attorney can really come in handy. Kassin and Carrow are here for you if you have any further questions about filing for disability in the St. Louis and Metro St. Louis areas.

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!

Can You Qualify for Both SSDI and SSI Disability Benefits?

Some people who are eligble for SSI get a modest amount of Social Security disability benefits, if they worked. Making an application for both benefits is called a "concurrent claim."

In particular circumstances, you can collect SSI and SSDI at the same time (called "concurrent benefits"). This takes place when a disability applicant is approved for Social Security Disability (abbreviated as SSD or SSDI) but gets merely a low monthly payment. (A low SSDI payment can be brought on by not working a great deal in the past few years or making low wages.)

Qualifying for SSI

To qualify for an SSI payment in addition to an SSDI payment, your unearned earnings must be less than $721 per month. The SSI income limits are relatively confusing, however; this limit is greater in certain states, and if you are working and making some cash, another limit is applicable. The SSI program also offers asset limits.

If your revenue and possessions are low enough to be entitled to Supplemental Security Income (SSI), and you worked long enough in a job that paid taxes into the Social Security system to qualify for Social Security disability insurance (SSDI), it is not unlikely you'll receive both types of benefits at once. (However, remember your SSDI payment is included in determining your eligibility for SSI. Quite often, your SSDI payment is going to be so high you simply won't be considered for SSI.)

Monthly Payment of Concurrent SSDI and SSI Benefits

You will not get a higher monthly combined benefit than you would under the SSI program by itself. Your SSI payment will be lowered by your SSDI payment to suit the absolute maximum SSI payment. If your SSDI benefit is underneath the current SSI monthly payment amount and you qualify for SSI, you'll receive an SSI payment. Simply put, if your SSDI benefit is below the set maximum per month, you are able to receive both SSI and SSDI benefits at once.

How You Apply for Concurrent Benefits

Whether you apply for SSI, SSDI (often known as SSD), or both, the Social Security office will choose whether your claim is concurrent, depending on your income and assets. The category of your claim will make no difference as to the way the claim is processed. In other words, an SSI claim will be completed in much the same way as an SSDI claim. The same definition of disability and the same disability review process is used for both programs.

The Benefits of a Concurrent Claim

The benefit to getting SSI when you are collecting a lower monthly SSDI benefit is that the SSI payment will lift up your benefit up to the maximum per month.

The benefit to having the capability to collect SSDI when you're eligible for SSI is that you may be eligible to get on Medicare as an SSDI recipient (although you must wait two years from when your SSDI eligibility begins).

In contrast, SSI recipients are eligible for Medicaid alone. Although Medicaid does provide payment for more services than Medicare, more physicians acknowledge payments from Medicare, so it may be much easier to find a provider.

Kassin And Carrow are ready and willing to help you receive all of the benefits that you deserve, whether SSI, SSDI, or both!

Is My Child Eligible To Receive Disability Benefits?

SSI makes monthly payments to individuals with low income and limited resources who are 65 or older, or blind or impaired. Your child younger than age 18 can qualify if she or he meets Social Security’s definition of disability for kids, and if his or her income and resources fall inside the eligibility limits. The amount of Missouri's SSI payment is distinctive from other states since some states add to the SSI payment.

When it is decided if your child may get SSI, they consider your child’s income and resources. We also look at the income and resources of family members living in the child’s residence. These rules apply if your child lives at home. They also apply if he or she is away at school but comes back home from time to time and is susceptible to your control.

If your child’s income and means, or the income and resources of family members residing in the child’s household, are greater than the total authorized, they'll deny the child’s application for SSI payments.

SSI rules about disability:
Your child must meet all of the following requirements to be considered disabled and therefore allowed SSI:

The child ought not to be working and earning greater than $1,070 per month in 2014. (This earnings amount usually changes each year.) If he or she is working and earning that much money, it will be found that your child is not handicapped.

The child will need to have a physical or mental condition, or a mixture of conditions, that causes “marked and severe functional limitations. This means the condition(s) must very greatly limit your child’s activities.

The child’s condition(s) must have been debilitating, or be anticipated to be debilitating, for a minimum of twelve months; or needs to be likely to cause death. If your child’s condition(s) leads to “marked and severe functional limitations” for a minimum of twelve continuous months, it will be found that your child is disabled. But if it doesn't trigger those limitations, or doesn't cause those limitations for at least twelve months, it will likely be found that your child is not disabled.

The process and qualifications can be complex and frustrating to have to go through in great detail. Visit the offices of Kassin and Carrow and see what we can do to help you receive the benefits that you need!