Absolutely not. When applying for Social Security Disability, accepting financial help from friends, family or any other person, will have no negative impact on the status of your claim or your eligibility for benefits. Receiving gifts such as money, food, clothes, or even a place to live is completely permissible. The only thing that will interfere with your claim is if you are working. Social Security Disability (SSD) is designed for those who have been (or will be) for more than a year due to an illness or injury. Because of this fundamental point, it is extremely likely that your disabilit ..read more

Dipping into the Social Security Trust Fund Without some major action from Congress, the current excess trust fund revenue will be depleted by the year 2034.  If this occurs, it is estimated that Social Security would only be able to pay less than 80% of the promised benefits from ongoing payroll taxes. Donald Trump has thrown out lowering the payroll tax in an attempt to spur the economy. If the government takes this action, the Social Security trust fund would likely be depleted faster. Full Retirement Age Has Increased For those still a few years away from retirement, those born in 1960 or ..read more

Timing is everything, and the arrival time of your monthly payment from Social Security can be key to keeping your financial house in order. As you budget to pay your bills and save for future needs, keep in mind that your disability benefit will be paid at the same time each month. To see your next payment date, create or log on to your my Social Security online account and go to the “Benefits & Payments” section. In general, here’s how Social Security assigns payment dates: If you were born on the 1st through the 10th of the month, you’ll be paid on the second Wednesday of the month; If ..read more

Step-by-step instruction offers the latest digital transformation for veterans filing online. The Veterans Administration (VA) is transforming the way Veterans learn about and apply for compensation benefits through a new video tutorial highlighting the digital Disability Compensation Benefits Claims tool. Built with Veterans, for Veterans, the Disability Compensation Benefits Claims tool is a development process that incorporates user testing and human-centered design principles. The tool gives Veterans more control over claims submission and represents an innovative leap forward in VA servic ..read more

Social Security disability cases are supposed to center on medical evidence, particularly on the diagnosis and expert views of the applicant's treating physicians, and Social Security administrative law judges (ALJs) are expected to give “controlling weight” to a treating physician's views. However, if the ALJ discounts or rejects the physician’s testimony, there are regulatory factors that must be considered, and ALJs often disregard treating-physician evidence without giving a valid explanation. For example, let’s say a plaintiff applies for disability due to degenerative joint disease in h ..read more

The Americans with Disabilities Act gives employees the right to a reasonable accommodation. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) prohibits discrimination against applicants and employees with disabilities. Employers may not, for example, refuse to hire someone or pay someone less just because that person has a disability. However, the ADA goes further than simply outlawing discrimination: It also requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations to allow employees to do their jobs. What Is a Reasonable Accommodation? A reasonable accommodation is assistance or a change in the job o ..read more

According to an article in USA TODAY by Anita Wadhwani, the Trump Administration is proposing new rules for the nation’s safety net program for people with disabilities that could end benefits for tens of thousands of people. The rules would require more frequent paperwork checks of people getting Social Security disability payments in a process known as a “continuing disability review.” The proposed new rules have alarmed some advocates for people with disabilities, who call it a “backdoor way” to cut people from a program already under scrutiny for taking years to review disability claims ..read more

Social Security and SSI disability benefits are a form of social protection insurance that pays you income if you become disabled. As such, you should receive disability benefits for as long as you need them. You'll receive Social Security benefits as long as you remain sufficiently disabled. This means that as long as your disability prevents you from working, you are eligible to continue receiving Social Security disability benefits. The SSA will conduct periodic reviews of your case to determine whether you are still eligible for disability benefits. These reviews are called continuing disa ..read more

Recently Social Security has made several enhancements and have introduced two new features to their “my Social Security” section on their website. With a “my Social Security” account you now have access to: The new Retirement Calculator to view retirement benefit estimates that compare their selected dates or ages to begin receiving retirement benefits to retirement benefit estimates for ages 62, Full Retirement Age (FRA), and 70. Users can also vary their expected future income for inclusion in the estimate. The new centralized Representative Payee portal for individual representative payees ..read more

Statistically, the majority of Social Security Disability (SSDI/SSD) and SSI claims are denied at the initial claim and reconsideration levels, whether or not a disability claimant (applicant) is represented by an attorney. However, there is significant evidence that 50% of those who hire a lawyer to help them fill out the initial application for their Social Security benefits were approved compared to 20% of those who tried to do it on their own. Most SSDI and SSI claims that are initially denied will need to go to a hearing in front of an administrative law judge (ALJ) before a claimant can ..read more