It is unfortunate, but a common scenario with many Social Security disability applicants is that they find out that they are ineligible to receive Disability Insurance Benefits (DIB) before a claim really gets going, no matter why types of potential disabilities an applicant has. Before an applicant can even get the Social Security Administration to… Read more »
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Administrative Law Judge Qualifications
The majority of applicants who apply for Social Security disability benefits and who continue to appeal decisions by the agency to deny claims will eventually end up at a hearing before an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ). Most everyone knows what a judge is and what their functions are, but typically when we think of a… Read more »
g Financially Until the ALJ Hearing
Among the questions asked to Greeman Toomey attorneys and staff, the most frequent one is “how am I supposed to survive until my hearing?” Unfortunately the average wait time for a hearing before an Administrative Law Judge is 12-15 months from the date of your appeal. If a claimant receives unfavorable decisions at the Initial… Read more »
How will becoming incarcerated effect my benefits?
Incarceration may impact your eligibility for benefits from the Social Security Administration (SSA). This depends on how long you are incarcerated for and what type of benefits you receive. If you are receiving Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payments and you are in jail or prison, your payments will be suspended after you have been incarcerated… Read more »
Timeliness and Quality of the Disability Process
Social Security has an $800 billion annual budget, and is one of the government’s largest expenses. Best known for sending monthly payments to retired Americans, SSA also pays disability claims for 18 million people each year, with numbers increasing due to the recession. The Social Security Administration currently faces one of the largest backlogs in the… Read more »
Hearing Wait Times Vary Depending on Hearings Office
For those who do not know, the Social Security disability process is a long, winding road that can take many applicants the better part of two years to navigate until a final decision is reached. There are a variety of reasons for this, but probably the biggest reason is it takes, on average, 12-15 months,… Read more »
One Way Social Security Can Save Money
Wasteful spending is counter productive when an operating budget is stagnant as is the case with Social Security. Literally every dollar counts as Social Security is dealing with massive backlogs of disability claims and far too few resources, so you would think Social Security would be interested in saving a buck where it can. Unfortunately,… Read more »
The Problem With Working And Not Paying Social Security Taxes
No one likes to pay taxes, but sometimes when you don’t pay taxes you can pay for it in the long run when it comes to Social Security benefits. There are many types of jobs that people have, typically cash jobs, where Social Security taxes are not paid. This might increase your take-home pay,… Read more »
Social Security Myths Uncovered
We hear stuff all the time about Social Security that isn’t true. For example, many Republicans would have the public believe that Social Security disability is running amok paying people who are not disabled and too lazy to work. This not the case as there is less than 1 percent fraud found in the Social… Read more »
The House Wants To Save Social Security But May Destroy It In The Process
A recent draft of a budget resolution from the U.S. House Of Representatives demands that the president and congress act to secure the solvency of the Social Security trust funds. The resolution does not really say how that would be accomplished, but there are generally two ways to do this – cut benefits or increase… Read more »
