SOCIAL SECURITY DISABILITY ATTORNEY IN SUWANEE, GEORGIA
If you live in Georgia and are permanently disabled or unable to work for an extended time, you may be entitled to federal Social Security Disability Income Benefits. Of course, your benefit rate depends on the amount and length of your contribution into the Social Security system.
Obtaining those disability benefits can be frustrating. You will quickly run into government red tape. That's why you need a Georgia attorney with experience helping the disabled person qualify for Social Security Disability Income Benefits.
Attorney Tom Brown has more than 30 years of hands-on experience helping people obtain SSDIB and other benefits. We can cut through the federal paperwork and red tape. Our goal is to help you secure the disability benefits you need and deserve.
For a free consultation about your disability benefits, call Burdine & Brown or use our online contact form.
People who are profoundly disabled as a result of a physical or mental condition and are no longer able to perform substantial work may qualify for monthly Social Security Disability Income Benefits. Simply having your doctor say that you are disabled isn't enough. You must meet Social Security's strict definition of being disabled. You must be unable to engage in substantial work activity.
Whether you are preparing your online application for disability benefits, seeking a reconsideration of a denied claim, or need to request an appeal hearing because your request for Social Security disability has been officially denied, the Social Security disability Attorney Tom Brown may be able to help you assemble the records and expert testimony you need to make a compelling case for benefits.
The federal disability benefits program includes:
Social Security Disability Income Benefits—SSDIB provides cash assistance to disabled and blind people based on their previous work history and contributions to the Social Security system. The monthly benefit is based on one's average lifetime earnings. But having a disability does not automatically qualify applicants to receive benefits. The physical or mental impairment must prevent the claimant from performing gainful work as determined by a Social Security Administrative Law Judge. The disability must be expected to last a year or longer or be a terminal condition. Simply being unable to perform your current job is not enough to qualify for SSDIB; you must be disabled from all gainful employment.
The Social Security Disability claims process may include four phases:
Application for benefits and initial screening;
Disability determination made by a Social Security Administration field office in Georgia;
Reconsideration of denied claim by the Social Security Administration field office;
Appeals hearing before a Social Security Administrative Law Judge.
Most disability claims go to the Georgia Department of Labor Disability Adjudication Office for initial processing. This office evaluates disability applications based on federal regulations. It is important to recognize that an increasing number of people who seek benefits are initially rejected, then granted benefits later after appealing the initial decision. Talk to a Georgia SSDIB benefits lawyer today for help.
Social Security Frequently Asked Questions
I am not part of a national social security law firm that will push you off to a nameless paralegal staff that does not care about your case and where you meet your lawyer only on the day of your hearing.
I will become completely familiar with each of your medical conditions and in doing so, will obtain for you the best possible medical reports from your doctors to demonstrate your functional disabilities.
If you have been denied at Level I or Level II, do not be discouraged. Denied benefits at these levels do not mean the decision is final.
Minor mistakes in how you first applied can ruin your case. Let us help you to avoid such costly mistakes.
Wherever possible we obtain high-quality Functional Capacity Evaluations to determine your actual abilities or disabilities and present these findings to your primary doctors for approval. These are objective tests and are highly persuasive.
In some cases, we employ Vocational Experts to review your transferable job skills and your medical condition in order to obtain highly persuasive testimony that could possibly demonstrate whether you qualify for Social Security benefits.
Did you know that to be considered disabled, a person must ordinarily establish that he or she cannot perform his/her past work (within the last 15 years) and must also establish an inability to perform all other types of employment? This is why a thorough development of your legal entitlement to these benefits is critical.
Part-time work may or may not constitute substantial gainful activity (SGA) which, could disqualify a person from receiving benefits. Why are you working part-time? If you are physically or mentally unable to perform more than part-time activities, you still may qualify for benefits. SGA for 2015 is considered $1,090/ month.
Will your testimony about your pain be persuasive? Simply put, your doctors may present testimony about how your pain affects your activities of daily living. Your statements about pain alone will not establish that you are disabled.
Fighting the Government alone is a losing battle. DO NOT FIGHT ALONE!
There Is a Five-Step Disability Determination Process Used by The Social Security Administration. It Is as Follows:
STEP 1: Is the person engaging in substantial gainful activity (SGA)?
STEP 2: Does the person have a severe impairment?
STEP 3: Does the person have an impairment or combination of impairments that meets or medically equals a listed impairment?
STEP 4: Can the person perform his or her past relevant work?
STEP 5: Is there any other work in the national economy, given the person's age, education, past relevant work, and residual functional capacity that the person could perform?