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| Frequently Asked Questions This is a list of the most frequently asked questions from clients and potenial clients.
Q: What exactly does a Disability Advocate Representative do? A: Basically, our Disability Advocate Representative does everything needed to prepare a case for its scheduled hearing. Our services and this preparation includes: - Filing Social Security disability applications
- Getting information from your Social Security file
- Obtaining a copy of a claimant's social security file (sometimes 3 inches thick).
- Gathering medical evidence
- Getting Physicians to complete statements supporting the claim holder's case and submitting these to the ALJ.
- Obtaining a claimant's most recent medical records for the ALJ.
- Requesting a reconsideration, hearing, or Appeals Council review
- Filing necessary appeals through the Appeals Council level
- Preparation of formal arguments
- Coming with you, or for you, to any interview, conference, or hearing you have with the Social Security Administration
- Formal representation at interviews, conferences, or hearings
- Helping you and your witnesses prepare for a hearing and questioning any witnesses
- Cross-examination of expert witnesses during hearings
Your representative also will receive a copy of the decision(s) made on your claim(s). During the hearing, the Representative will point out to the judge evidence supporting an Approval.
If the ALJ has experts present, the Representative may elect to cross-examine them (there are two kinds of experts: Medical Experts, who are M.D.'s, to comment on the medical records, and Vocational Experts who can comment on whether a Claimant can perform certain work).
A: Your Disability Advocate, Rosemarie Scordamaglia. is a well seasoned Social Security Disability Advocate whose skills, much like those of a skilled surgeon, are honed by trying numerous cases. You will meet your disability advocate initially, then for a pretrial preparation and then just before and during the trial.
You will be interviewed by Rosemarie Scordamaglia at the onset of your case. I will be the one who is in charge of your file. I am always available if you have any questions regarding your case. Unlike an attorney, I personally handle every aspect of your case. You will only be dealing directly with me. Not a secretary.
When your case gets to the hearing stage, I will send you a fairly extensive questionnaire that you must complete for us since these questions are the ones whose answers I will be reviewing with you when you meet with me for your pre-hearing work-up.
The questionnaire you will complete for us was developed by us. It literally contains every question and area of inquiry your Social Security judge can or will normally ask. So it is absolutely necessary that you complete and answer all questions and return it to my office prior to your second meeting with me at your pre-trial work-up. I will talk to you about the hearing process, procedures and protocol and about the judge that will hear your case.
Please note that if you have moved or your hearing is outside the Tampa Bay - West Coast of Florida area, your meeting will be telephone or done via computer-telecamera over the internet. At your second meeting, I will review your answers with you and make my own notes and highlight the important facts and issues in your case.
The third time you see me will be the Social Security Administration office where your case will be tried. I usually arrive about an hour early for your hearing. I will review the judge’s file to make sure all exhibits are in your Social Security Administration file and have copies made to supplement your file if necessary. Then I will meet with you to review any last minute facts and issues and answer any of your remaining questions prior to the hearing. The judge will ask me if I have personally reviewed your file that morning and to let the court know of any objections and will confirm that I have received the file and all pertinent issues with you, so we are very careful that this is all done.
The hearing is generally informal (only you, the judge, assistant and a medical or vocational evaluator will be in the hearing room) and you will be seated before the judge with disability advocate. Your Disability Advocate, the judge or both will direct questions to you and any subsequent medical or vocational witnesses who may testify after you.
When your hearing is over the Court will “close the record” and I will let you and the Court know that me and you are getting up to leave by asking “May we be excused now?” When the Court acknowledges this, you both may get up and leave the hearing room.
I will discuss any questions you may have subsequent to the hearing and await your favorable decision. If the decision is fully favorable, as it is in the vast majority of the cases I accept, you will not need to meet with me again.
If your decision is partially favorable or unfavorable, a fourth meeting with me will be scheduled to discuss the next steps that needs to be taken.
Ultimately, if you obtain a favorable disability ruling, you will not need or want to see me, unless you just want to stop by and say thanks.
Q: How does having a disability representative help? A: A Disability Advocate Representative will do everything possible to win a case. That is, they will seek to provide winning representation. Under social security regulations, a Representative can take take 1/4 of the Claimant's backpay (up to a maximum of $5,300.00)---but, obviously, only if the case is won.
For example, if a Social Security or SSI Disability claim is won and the backpay amounts to $10,000.00, the Rep receives $2,500.00. If the claim is lost, the Rep receives nothing, other than reimbursement for gathering medical records (typically, a hundred dollars or less)
Therefore, a representative has every incentive to win a claimant's disability benefits for them and make sure a claimant gets as much backpay (or past due benefits) as possible.
A: We always recommend that our clients not live their lives for a lawsuit or a Social Security Disability claim. If you can return to work and do and subsequently fail, the Social Security Administration may deem that an unsuccessful return to work, if the monies you earn are not significant or your return to work lasts generally less than six months. If you return to work and succeed, you may have your claim changed from an open ended period of disability to a closed ended period of disability, as long as your disability made you unable to work for twelve months or more. If your return to work is successful, please let us know in writing and as to whether you want to continue on with either an open ended or closed ended period of disability.
Q: How does Social Security define disability?
A: Social Security defines disability as the "inability to engage in any substantial gainful activity by reason of any medically determinable physical or mental impairment which can be expected to result in death or has lasted or can be expectd to last for a continuous period of not less than 12 months."
A: That does not generally constitute substantial gainful activity, unless you are substantially active in producing that income. This gets a bit difficult with dividends from a small business or corporation and with rental income, as these often involve some gainful activity to produce the income other than just receiving and depositing a check or moving monies from place to place on your computer. Of course, work and investment income will affect directly your SSI (Supplemental Security Income) claims as there is a need based financial offset involved.
Q: What is the role of the vocational expert at my social security disability hearing?
A: While medical factors alone may justify a finding that the claimant is or is not disabled, it is necessary in some cases to consider vocational factors in order to determine whether or not the claimant is able to engage in any substantial gainful activity. A vocational expert may be called by the Social Security Administration to testify about your employability. Two basis questions will be presented at your hearing as follows:
The first question pertains to the kind of work, if any, the claimant can do in light of prior work activity and residual functional capacity considering age, education, training and work experience, as well as physical and mental restrictions. The expert's testimony will be predicated on various assumptions, posed at the hearing, with respect to the claimant's residual functional capacity. The expert will not be expected to testify as to whether or not the claimant is under a disability, since he does not have the responsibility for deciding this ultimate legal issue. The expert will not express any opinion regarding the impairments involved and their effects on residual functional capacity, since these are medical matters. The expert will be requested to furnish a rationale and complete explanation for his or her opinions. In forming the expert's judgment as to whether or not the claimant could transfer vocational skills to any other type or work, the expert will be requested to consider only work which the claimant could perform after a normal period of training, usually given to new employees, rather than after extended vocational rehabilitation.
The second question is whether any work a claimant could do exists in the "national economy"; i.e., whether it exists in significant numbers either in the region where the claimant lives or in several other regions of the country. The expert should be prepared to testify from personal knowledge gained from vocational surveys of businesses and industries (whether such surveys were made by the vocational expert or by the other vocational experts) and from other current vocational resource materials.
Questions may also be asked of the expert by the claimant or representative who will be entitled to cross-examine the vocational expert.
A: There are advantages of receiving Social Security disability benefits. When people think of Social Security, they think of retirement benefits. But Social Security also provides financial protection in the event that you suffer a serious disability, regardless of your age. This protection is provided under the Social Security Disability Insurance program (SSDI). Think of Social Security as an insurance program that you paid for through Social Security (FICA) taxes that were deducted from your paycheck.
There are a number of advantages to receiving Social Security disability benefits. Depending on your individual circumstances, advantages may include:
Higher Social Security retirement benefits: Generally, Social Security retirement benefits are calculated based on your average earnings during your working life. For people whose earnings have been reduced due to disability, this can mean lower retirement benefits. However, if you are approved for Social Security disability benefits, your Social Security retirement benefits will be calculated based on your earnings before your became disabled.
The impact of SSDI on your Social Security retirement benefit is significant. For example, an individual earning $50,000.00 a year who became disabled at age 40 and remained disabled until retirement would receive more than $130,000.00 in additional retirement benefits over a 20-year retirement:
We therefore recommend that you protect your future retirement benefits by filing for Social Security Disability.
Medicare eligibility: If you are found to be disabled, you will become eligible for Medicare 24 months after your Social Security effective date, regardless of your age. This is important, especially if you do not have or cannot afford private health insurance.
Automatic cost of living increases: Every year, Social Security gives SSDI recipients an increase in their benefits based on the Consumer Price Index.
Q: What happens on the day of the Hearing? A: Both the Claimant and the Representative arrive at the hearing location. Most often, the Hearing is held at the Office of Hearings & Appeals. Sometimes, though, especially when the Claimant lives hours away, the hearing is conducted closer to where the Claimant lives. In such instances, the "Hearing Site" may be a hotel conference room in another town or city.
Compared to a courtroom case, Disability hearings are informal and relatively brief, lasting an hour at the most. Yet, considering the impact a Hearing can have on a person's financial status, the proceedings are just as important.
When the hearing is concluded, the ALJ informs those present that a decision will be forthcoming in "X-number of weeks".
However, as with other things, take this with a grain of salt. It is not uncommon for an ALJ to state that a decision on a benefit claim will be delivered in 6 weeks----when in actuality it may take 12 weeks, or longer.
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