When Should I Contact an Ocala Disability Attorney?
Unless you have a remarkably unusual case, you will probably not need the help of a legal professional before the initial determination is made regarding your disability claim. Indeed, not only do you not need the help of a lawyer to file a claim, the Social Security Administration makes it difficult for lawyers to get involved with the application at all. At the initial application stage, more than a third of people will be found disabled, and you might be one of those individuals. At the second stage (the reconsideration stage), 15% of people are approved; as with the initial application, you do not usually need an attorney’s help to apply for reconsideration.
In most cases, the optimal time to look for representation is when you request a hearing. It is difficult to get representation before this stage because cases are far more difficult to evaluate early on. The reasons for this are twofold. Firstly, it is harder for an attorney to gain access to a file at the SSA before a hearing, and so you may have to gather records, something that can require a great deal of work. Secondly, the Social Security Act stipulates that you must be disabled for 12 months in order to qualify, and that can be hard to ascertain this early in the process.
The majority of people who have a lawyer advocate for them at a disability hearing are able to obtain a favorable decision on their claim. An experienced Ocala disability attorney will be able to assess your case and use his or her expertise to build the best possible case for you. If you are denied at the hearing level, you may wish to have your attorney appeal your claim to the Appeals Council, though doing so will usually incur an extra fee.
If your initial claim has been denied and you need help to get the benefits that you deserve, contact Ocala disability attorney CJ Henry at (352) 304-5300 or fill out the form on this page.