Social Security
By Jose B Vidaurri
Q: What should I take with me when I go to the Social Security office to apply for disability benefits?
A: You should have your Social Security card, or a record of your Social Security number, and proof of age for yourself and for each person eligible for benefits. You should bring a copy of your last W-2 form or, if self-employed, your federal tax return. You should also be able to provide the names, addresses, and phone numbers of doctors, hospitals, clinics, and institutions that treated you and the dates of treatment. In addition, you should be prepared to give a summary of where you worked during the past 15 years and what you did. Social Security will also want to know the dates of any military service, the dates of any marriages, and the claim number of any other benefit you receive because of your disability. |
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SERVICES
Social Security Disability
The Social Security Act has been compared to the Internal Revenue Code due to its complexity. The statute that encompasses the Social Security disability law has not only many sections, but there are administrative rules that go with the statutory provisions and court decisions that interpret those. Thus, if you have been denied at the initial level for Social Security disability, a trained attorney in Social Security disability law can probably tell you why you were denied at the initial level where you may look at the very simplistic and general denial you are given and wonder how they could possibly find you not disabled.
There are even those perhaps at the local Social Security offices that will tell you that you don’t need to get an attorney; you can proceed yourself. The problem is that once you have been denied, you are out the door and don’t know how to get back in.
When you consider that the representation in Social Security disability is by contingent fee, the choice becomes obvious. You need to have an attorney to get you through the sticky wicket. “Contingent fee” means that unless the attorney wins the case there is no charge for that representation. It is always better to get 75% of something than to get 100% of nothing.
Condominium and Real Estate Development Law
After doing a wide variety of legal matters the first 15 years of his career, Mr. Gilbert has devoted almost 100% of his practice to Social Security disability. In addition to SSD, however, Mr. Gilbert is proficient in law dealing with condominium association clients and has also worked with developers in preparing master deeds.
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