4 LAWS OF SOCIAL SECURITY DISABILITY

If I've learned anything in my years in disability practice, it's this: You must win benefits their way, not your way.

There are many ways to approach a Social Security disability claim, but most of them are not going to work. If you can't win it THEIR WAY, you just can't win it.

I've written down what I consider the 4 LAWS OF SOCIAL SECURITY DISABILITY:

1. They only pay if the law requires it. There's no such thing as compassion.

2. The burden of proof always rests upon you. Social Security has no burden.

3. It will usually take a court hearing.

4. The judge will recommend an attorney before the hearing begins.

Whenever I meet a new client with a disability claim, the following attitudes are nearly always present:

1. "I know I am disabled. Social Security will approve me."

2. I know someone who got approved and I'm worse off than they are."

3. "I've worked all my life and I deserve to get disability benefits."

4. "I can explain to anybody who asks me why I can't hold a job."

All of these things may be true, but they will not win a disability claim with Social Security. I have to get you to stop thinking "your way" and get you to start thinking "their way."

Their way doesn't involve opinions, it involves objective fact that you can prove. Can you prove it with X-rays, MRIs, CT scans, PET scans, or other medical or laboratory tests?

Also, it's not about your diagnosis, it's about how limited your function is.

Other factors (beside medical evidence) will play a role in your case:

* Your age

* Your past work

* Your education and vocational skills

At your hearing, the judge will have a legal "roadmap" in front of him (or her). There will be 5 stops on the way to a decision. You must prove your case at each "stop," and make it all the way past Stop # 5 to get approved.

Disability attorneys/advocates have learned to present cases "their way," that means--the way that Social Security law stipulate--and the way judges need to see cases in order to pay a claim. That is the value of representation: your representative knows "their way" and how to prepare and present the case for the best chance to win.