(REMASTERED)10.23.2011 (Permanent disability; Retirement; appeals)

0:17 Good day, and welcome to another edition of Q and A so Security Disability Today. I am your host, Attorney Anthony Reeves. I look forward to answering your questions. So let's go ahead and get started. Okay, let's get ready for our very first question. It has to deal with actually a follow up to one person and asking me a question about what type of impact is the fact that they've gone to college and they actually have gone to whether it be online or in person, and they're actually doing well in college. In this instance, they're asking just because they completed their courses and received a four point zero GPA, will the judge say that they could probably do a lot express job. You know, this is

1:01 one of the things that I have to kind of remind people that when you're talking about school, it's not any and this is one of the things I know I'll probably say throughout. Don't focus on the end result, focused on what happens during the process. And what I mean by that, This is what I mean to say.

1:18 Somebody says you made a four point zero Okay, Well, that by itself doesn't tell me anything. How did you get that four point zero? Were you taking one class per semester. Were you dropping classes? Did you have special accommodation in those classes? Did you have problems with your assignments? Did you have to take the classes over and over again?

1:36 Were they online classes where you had the opportunity to be in the school, I mean at home when you're doing coursework, the school offers you special accommodations so that you could turn your assignments in all at one time after the semester was over. Those are the things that those security needs to focus on. Did you have the opportunity to do projects with other people? Did you have problems when doing projects with other people? Did you have to do them in person or online? I know I sound like I'm giving a lot of details, but remember because a lot of times people focus on the end result, I always tell them you got to break down how you got there, because if you just say I made a four point h I can tell you, as a

2:15 former educator myself, that I have a certain presumption in my mind of somebody who makes a four point zero. So I'm going to have an opinion. But if I don't know how you got that four point zero, then I'm left to speculate on how you got there. Remember, social Security doesn't know what's going on in your day to day life. It's your responsibility to educate them how you got from point A to point B. All right, let's go ahead and get going to our second question.

2:50 The second question really talks about is there such a thing as a permanent disability? For Social Security administration? Let me tell you where this usually comes up. A lot certain conditions people automatically assume, and there's there a degree of truth to it. They're just not gonna get any better. However, social Security doesn't take that mindset. Social securities impression is that the idea of disability is that at some point you should give better. Now, is there a possibility that you're gonna have a condition that may get worse over time? Absolutely, if you've got cancer and it's out of remission, it's a good chance it's probably gonna get worse. But let's kind of keep things in their proper perspective. Let's look

3:29 at a few things. For instance, let's say somebody has been diagnosed with cancer, but then let's say the cancer goes into remission. Are they technically still disabled? Well, there are I know a few people who have cancer gone into remission and went right back to work. So guess what Social Security is going to do. They are going to assume that if you have a condition that may disable you today, they don't assume it's good to disable you forever. That's why they're most of this thing is a permanent disability. Now. I had a person ask the question, what about an IQ issue. If somebody has a low IQ and been determined to have mental retardation, that's not going to get me better. So in that a permanent disability.

4:05 Now here's where you need to be very careful because there are certain conditions that if provided by provided with the necessary support and training, you can learn how to function successfully in society with those conditions. I've seen them. You know, there's a lot of different agencies, state, ferally and even private agencies that are assisting individuals where various learning disabilities or mental retardation and assisting them and being able to contribute to society. I stress that point so that you understand one thing. Don't ever assume that just because you've been found disabled and in your mind you believe that it's not going to be something that's ever going to get better. Don't ever assume that Social Security

4:45 is going to take that same opinion. So it's your responsibility to always follow up with your medical treatment. And remember that Social Security has a responsibility to determine whether or not they think your disabled disability has continued. So there is no such thing as a permanent disability. And always remember you bear the response poke phonics, you bear the responsibility of proving that you are disabled. All right. Now, we're going on a third question that really deals with the trial work period. For most of you, you probably aware because I've talked about this before, that once you've been found disabled, you're permitted to work nine months within a five year period, and that those nine months are

5:33 not counted against you for purposes of so discontinuing your soci scurity disability benefits in other words, except for as a side which is resource based, its a little different. If you've paid into the system, you've got disability insurance benefits, You've been determined to be disabled, and you want to test the market to see whether or not you can work, you can test it. You are given nine months total over a five year period, starting with the first month you went back to work. Now, is there a cap on amount of money, to my knowledge, not really. So in this question where they're asking, what do they made five thousand dollars in one month, it's still one month.

6:09 So they're not going to thread it over those nine months and say wow, no, no, no. If you actually had a job and you made that much money in one month, it's still one month towards your nine month work period. Okay, let's go ahead and get going to our fourth question, which is can I work after I retire social Security. This is one of the things that I've told people before, and actually it comes from experience that I have from some of my own family members when I was a lot younger. If you are working and you're retiring, the two are kind of counterproductive, meaning it's kind of difficult to say, you're retiring so you want to draw all those security benefits, but then you're working, so you're paying into the system. Again, here's what I

6:53 tell people all the time. If you're thinking about going back to work after you officially retire and you start drawing benefits, you need to let those security know right away, so if they can inform you as to the ramifications of you returning to work. The last thing you want to have is a situation where your social security retirement is being jeopardized in any way, shape or form because you've decided to enter back into the workforce. Do that as fast as possible, and more importantly, do it right before you start working, so that you won't have any disruption whatsoever. Had a very interesting question, and this is actually question number five, talking about who oversees social security,

7:34 And as a result, I said, okay, well, what you're really asking is what are the levels of appeal, especially when you've exhausted everything within the Social Security administration. Now here's one thing I need you to be aware of. The rules of governing. Various agencies are put forth by Congress and basically put into formats, whether they be federal statutes or federal regulations. Here's one thing that I tell people, and I make this point very clear, there are some things that by statue, there's no level of appeal, meaning once you've exhausted the administrative level, there's really nothing you can do now for purposes of social security disability. It's a little different if you've appealed it all as far

8:16 as you can, so we call it exhausting the administrative appeals that means you basically you've used every appeal within the organization. You then can bring a civil action against the Social Security Administration. What you're doing is you're really bringing it against the commissioner of the Social Security Administration in federal court of the jurisdiction where you are currently residing. So, for instance, if you were living in I don't know, Tampa, Florida, you could bring a case after you've exhausted all the remedies in the Middle District the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida. So at that particular point, if you've gone through as much of the internal procedures

8:54 and processes they have in place and you haven't been able to get a resolution, they typically will let you know at this point you can now exercise your rights by filing a civil action against the agency. So at that point, which you're basically doing is suing the Social Security Administration in order to get a favorable outcome in your case or at least get another opportunity to have your outcome reviewed internally. So for those of you who are wondering who's responsible for who oversees Social Security, it really depends on what it is you're asking for whether it's somebody is doing something illegal and you're looking for possibly an internal inspector general review, whether you're utilizing all

9:33 the administrative process, whether you're suing social security, whether it be as a class action or as an individual. But trust me, there's always levels of appeals available to you if you believe that your rights have not been properly adjudicated. But I also remember one thing here, because I had this happen at least one time before. There's always an inroad, it's on particular point, and sometimes it's kind of wild because like, for instance, I had a situation where a woman based we appealed her case all the way to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court did not take the case.

10:05 And then she turned to me and said, well, what can I do now? I said, other than going to your congressman or your senator or maybe boling a petition for there to be a change and the way this is happening, I don't think as much as you can do now. So always keep in mind that at some point you're going to exhaust all of your peals. There's a very good chance that you've done all you possibly could.

10:24 I hope that answers your question in terms of who oversee Social Security all Right, time for the final question of the day, sixth question. I've had this happen a few times before, where people ask, why will Social Security only allow me to receive benefits up to a year before the application? And that's it. Here's where this usually comes into play. You've paid into the Social Security system, you'll applied fordictability benefits. Your onset date is a little bit more remote than your application. So say, for instance, you applied in January of two thousand and eleven, but you said you became disabled back in January two thousand and five? Was the medical record support that your disability

11:09 went back that far? But the furthest you can get before here is up to a year before. And sometimes people are like, well, what happens to that money? Where does that money go to? It doesn't go anywhere, because the reality is that Social Security does that for a reason. Here's where it gets pretty and this is what I've told people before, is that Social Security is not meant for you to be a lottery type case. And I know some people are like, well, that's money I paid it to this, Why can't I get money that far back. Well, just let's kind of look at a rationale. At that point, you're indicating you became disabled January January of two thousand and five. Why did you wait until January of twenty

11:43 eleven to apply? Now this may sound kind of weird, but I've seen this happen before. But you know what'll happen that somebody will apply, then they'll appeal, and then they'll appeal, and then they won't. They'll go back that far. But here's where it gets really weird. Let's say, for instance, that the first time you applied was January two thousand it but you became, but you indicated your disability began back in January two thousand and five. I don't mean to be rude, but why did you wait that long?

12:07 And I know this sounds mean, and please don't take it. You're wrong, And I tell people I say this all the time. You got to take some personal responsibility with regardless some of this information. If you know you're disabled, why are you waiting six years before you apply and then expect Social Security to pay you back that far.

12:21 The other thing is they want to encourage people to of course apply within a period of time when they became disabled. Now it gets interesting because maybe in the scenario I provided you, the person tried to go to work, maybe they lived on their safeings, maybe they expected their condition to improved, maybe a host of other things. However, social Security is not going to compensate you because you chose to take all these other avenues before you decided to apply, and then expect them to retroactively. Go back that far, and trust me, you also have to worry about people abusing the process because there will be people who will try to extend their disability. They back further than that because they want to try to get as

13:01 much money as possible. Trust me, I've seen it happen if they thought that they could get more benefits. Guess what. Well, then he'll say, well, I didn't become disabled January of five. I started having problems in March of two thousand and three. I should go back that far too. See how this could create a potential windfall, because all of a sudden, now everybody is trying to stretch out their period of disability so they can get as much money as possible. Remember, the onus is upon you when you're applying for disability.

13:27 You're not walking in saying I'm entitled to it, give it to me. You have to demonstrate that you became disabled. And let's be real, if you became disabled at a set period of time and you elected to not file an application until later, unfortunately, that's really to your detriment. But you bear that responsibility. That's one of the reasons why I tell people all the time. If you think you're disabled and and you believe you have medical records to support it, file as soon as possible. Don't delay because the longer you delay, you're only going to be capped up to a year before and there's no way you can go back but before that year in order to get that extra money. So keep those thoughts in the back of your mind. Again, I want to thank

14:07 you for joining me for another edition of Q and A so Security Disability today. As I've always indicated, if you're interested in me for conducting a webinar live for any of your groups of individuals, whereby you can have the opportunity to ask me as many questions as you want to live, just make sure you send a message to contact at resfirm dot com. As always, I appreciate you taking the opportunity to reach out. Keep those questions from coming, and I'll do the best I can to keep the answers coming. This is Anthony Reeve's attorney at law, and this is your Q and a Social Security disability today