Advice For Your Social Security Disability Benefits Claim

 Posted on August 25, 2010 in Social Security Disability

I get emails everyday from individuals who have applied or are looking to apply for Social Security disability benefits asking what the best piece of advice is that I could give them. Most of these individuals already have representation or are looking for someone to help them with the Social Security disability process. Since these individuals know that getting benefits possibility for the rest of their life can dramatically change their current health and financial situation, they are looking for an edge to help their claim get through the Social Security Administration (SSA) as quickly and successfully as possible. These individuals typically expect me to use advanced legal jargon or come up with a very crafty answer that they have never heard before. In fact, most people are very surprised when I write back to them saying that in my opinion the best thing that they can do is to keep in contact with their attorney.

Although it seems like a fairly obvious statement, I cannot stress enough how important it is to keep in constant contact with your attorney. Your attorney will hopefully do everything he or she can to keep the Social Security Administration up to date with all of your information, but the attorney can only do that if you inform him or her of any and all of your correspondence with SSA. This includes any emails, phone calls, faxes, or letters that they send you in the mail. You will most likely receive numerous letters from the Social Security Administration asking for more information about yourself, appointments with their doctors, status updates, etc. All of this information needs to be forwarded to your attorney as soon as you receive it.

The Social Security disability benefits process can be a very long process and can take several years to get through. Sometimes there can be three to four month periods where there is no correspondence between yourself and SSA. During that time period it is not uncommon for there to be significant changes in a claimant's health. By staying in contact with your attorney, you can insure that your medical records are up to date with SSA and are adequately reflecting your current medical condition.

My best piece of advice to help you win your Social Security disability benefits claim is to keep your attorney up to date and to stay in contact with him or her throughout the process.