Social Security Disability: From Application to Appeal | Remastered 2015 Broadcast

0:03 All right. Welcome. My name is Attorney Anthony Reeves, and today is your walking you through the disability process. For those of you who don't have the opportunity to see it live, of course, you know, my video is broadcast throughout the week. So if you happen to see something that you want me to ask, you know, you want to ask me a question about, please feel free to do so. And if there's anything in this video that you want me to address, please feel free. If you're here with me live, keep in mind this. At any point in time, if you want to jump in and chat and ask me a question, please take full advantage of the opportunity to do so. I do not have a problem. All right. So let's go ahead and get started.

0:42 I want to share with you my presentation screen. So this way we can, you know, you'll have something to follow through with regards to knowing exactly what I'm talking about. A lot of times what happens is you do these videos and people are like, okay, they're not quite sure where you are in the process. So let me, share with you some things and we will get this thing going accordingly. So give me one second. One second here.

1:10 Present to everyone. All right. Okay. Give me a second. I'm trying to do two things at once here. Sometimes, you know, technology and what you're doing will always go hand in hand. So, all right. Let me sure about you getting rock and roll here, so please forgive me. All right. Okay, walking you through the disability process. Let's start with the first thing. Probably the biggest question that most people ask me is, should I even apply for disability benefits? And that's a hard question to answer because everybody's circumstances are very different. One of the things that I caution people, and I say this a lot, is don't sit here and fixate on whether you should or should not apply. If you're thinking about applying, go ahead

2:04 and apply. The reality is that if you don't qualify fairly quickly, they'll deny you, but at least you're in the process because the longer you wait, the longer it takes. Keep in mind, the disability process is not a short process. So you want to make sure you kind of get into the process and get rocking and rolling accordingly and not dragging your feet in terms of you know, waiting to make that determination. Because a lot of times what people will do is a lot of times what people will do is people will sit there and they'll wait and they'll think maybe I should wait until it's just right.

2:39 Or when I'm in the right set of circumstances and I'm always cautioned and say, listen, the longer you wait, the longer it takes. Now here's the toughest part about making a determination about whether you should or should not apply for disability benefits, evaluating your circumstances. Most people, If they're going to apply, they just go outright and apply.

2:59 But I do find that I've had a few people here and there that will sit there and try to determine their circumstances and trying to figure out, should they even apply at all? Like, are you still working? Like, you know, I've had people say, well, I want to be able to transition in Social Security. I said, there's no transitioning into Social Security. Keep in mind, the standard is, do you have a condition or conditions that keep you out of work or can reasonably be expected to keep you out of work for 12 months or longer? I'm not saying you have to wait 12 months to apply.

3:29 I'm just saying that it's probably going to be very difficult to transition from actively working to apply for disability benefits. Sometimes what people will do is that people, if they're getting disability from other sources, they're thinking, well, if these other agencies think I'm disabled, that might be a great justification to support that I'm disabled with social security as well.

3:53 It can be helpful to you. Now, I will say this, though. Just because somebody else found you disabled doesn't mean Social Security would. They're not bound by any disability determination agency. So just because the state that you work in or the VA or somebody else or your long-term disability carrier finds that you're disabled doesn't mean that Social Security is well.

4:13 But it is something to consider. Unemployment, same thing. When you're getting unemployment, unemployment is different. than getting Social Security. When you're applying for unemployment, you're telling the government that you can work. When you're applying for Social Security, you're telling the government that you can't work. But that doesn't necessarily mean if you get one, you can't get the other.

4:32 But again, those are things you consider. And I always tell people, do not, let me stress again, do not focus on somebody else's Social Security case. So many times people will say, this person's got disability benefits and my condition is worse than theirs. I'm like, well, let's be real. You really don't know all the ins and outs of their, you haven't reviewed all their medical records. You don't know everything about their case. You just decided in your mind that you believe it is. So I always tell people, don't look at anybody else's case, focus on yours. Now, the process is an informal process. Let me say this again.

5:15 The process is an informal process. You can do it on your own, but you need to know what you're doing. A lot of times people are like, I think I can swing through this. And I'm like, yeah, you may be able to swing through it. But the process, even though it's designed to be handled informally, there are pitfalls along the way. So if you don't know how to handle those pitfalls, you might make your situation worse. So at that point, you may want to think about hiring a representative. Now, when I say know what you're getting involved, What I'm basically telling you is this. Ask questions. Ask questions about the process. Talk to them so that you can feel more comfortable about what you're getting into. Ask

6:00 those things because you might be surprised at what you find out. You know, ask them how far will they take it. Some representatives will only take you to the hearing level. Some will only appeal beyond the Hill to the Appeals Council. Some will take it in the federal court. You need to know what you're getting into in terms of representatives. Now, I made this comment where I say, stop trying to get quick answers while doing it yourself.

6:28 I've been doing these videos for a number of years now, and I've gotten a lot of great questions and I've appreciated all of them. But what happens a lot of times is that sometimes people don't know the difference between asking me a question for general information or somebody who's looking for me to give them some guidance so they can handle the case on their own. And this is where I tell people all the time, I don't mind helping, but I am a business person. I'm not in the business of giving stuff away. I do these videos because I love them. And if it helps people, I think that's great. But when you start coming to me because you have specific facts about your specific case, those are the situations that I typically tell you need a representative for,

7:07 because you're trying to figure out how to handle your specific scenario, not a general scenario. You're asking for a specific guidance. And a lot of times people come to me for specific guidance because they want to see about getting some quick answers so they can handle it on their own. And I always caution people against doing that because one, from their standpoint, you haven't given the person all the information, just the information that you think is important.

7:33 And from an attorney standpoint, ethically, I can't do that because if I don't know everything, I may be giving you answers based on what I know, but not necessarily what's the case. Now, if you're trying to find somebody to represent you, if you know an attorney already, ask an attorney. A lot of times they'll refer you to somebody that they know. A lot of times this is even great because this way you know somebody that you trust has referred to you somebody that they trust. But there are two big organizations that have a lot of Social Security representatives. The National Organization of Social Security Claimants Representatives, which is called NOSCRF, or NADAR, or the National Association

8:11 of Disability Representatives. Both you can find online. Both have representative referral services that can connect you to an attorney in your area. Now, and beyond the question of should you apply? Let's go to the next one. So you apply. How long does it take? Most people don't like to hear this, but social security are case by case basis.

8:37 It really is. So how long it takes for your case to be processed depends on the case worker. Who's handling your case? Depends on the type of case. And one thing that I didn't mention up here, it depends on how cooperative everybody is with providing information about your case. What do you mean? Remember, when you're applying for disability benefits, you are telling the government that your medical condition prevents you from being able to work. So that means they need to contact people who know about your condition. They need to contact your doctors, your clinics, your providers. And depending, let's say again, depending on how fast those people get information back to the government, maybe they have a huge

9:23 bearing on how long it takes for your case to get a decision. Now, most people come to me and they say, well, can I speed the case up? Now, I want you, I'm going to give you my club analogy. I know I've said this probably a few times. People are like, here it goes, attorney reason, that old club analogy.

9:38 I was like, yeah. The reason why I give that club analogy is because most of us at some particular point, I'm not going to say everybody, but some, most of us have probably been to a club or something, some type of social gathering. And this is the way I like it. Imagine going someplace and you, even if you take the club out, it's a sporting event, it's a concert.

9:59 Imagine that you go to some event and there's a long line. You're in that long line. You know what that long line represents? Well, that long line also represents length of time people have waited. Let's say that you want to go to your favorite concert. You bought the tickets, you got to stand in line to get the tickets.

10:15 You get to the line and there is a line down the street. You want to get to the front of the line. I'm going to ask this question. Those people who are standing in the line have been waiting longer than you. You just got there. What is it that's so special about you that you should be able to move ahead of people who've been waiting in the line much longer than you? They're in the exact same spot you are. They want to go to the concert.

10:40 They want to get a ticket. They got their money and they want to go. The difference between you and they is that they got there sooner. Just like when applying for disability, you applied later than they did. So you need to be able to demonstrate what is it about your scenario that moves you to the front. That's why when people tell me, well, I'm going to be homeless. Well, a lot of people, social security, same thing. Well, I'm going to be struggling with regards to finances. Same thing.

11:05 I'm like, I'm not trying to be funny, but you are applying for benefits in a program that everybody's in the same boat. They're all broke. They all need money. They all need help. They all are struggling. What's so special about you? And when I say that, people get offended because they're like, you're trying to be a jerk.

11:20 I'm not being a jerk. I'm just saying if somebody's been sitting there waiting for their case to be processed for the last several months and then you just come in and you want to move ahead of them, what is so special about you that you should be moved ahead about someone who's in the exact same position that you are? And then it gets quiet. It's not trying to be a jerk. But then the reason why I say this is because when you're trying to speed your case up, you have to be able to demonstrate that. Now, If you notice, I got about three things that typically will cause your case to get sped up. One's a Terry case, terminally ill. You're about to die. Those cases are fairly straightforward. Compassionate allowance. Those are cases that the

12:01 condition is the type of condition is one that it's going to be reasonable to expect that they're probably going to get approved. And so they want to go ahead and allow them because of the fact of how uniquely and devastating that condition is. You don't want to make them wait to get benefits. And it's probably going to be more likely they're going to get it. A lot of people will run and say, Oh, that's me. That's me.

12:21 I'm like, no, no, I've been doing this for 14 years, 14 years. I'm not going to say that I've handled every kind of case, but I can tell you, I've rarely ran across compassion allowance cases and Terry cases typically get approved really fast. So then most people that I work with who are trying to give disability benefits and trying to speed their case up fall into the category of what we call dire need. That means you're trying to show that you're about to be evicted. You're about to be foreclosed. You don't have any housing. You don't have any money. I mean, not money, excuse me. Your bills are outlandishly high. You've got all these people running you down. You don't have any shelter. You don't have

13:01 any clothing. And again, you can have those situations, but you still have to prove it. Okay. You still have to prove it. You have to be able to show it via documentation, not because of your stunning personality. Okay. You've got to be able to prove that your situation is so dire that you have documentation to demonstrate that you should move ahead of someone else. All right. So you've gone through the first two steps of the process.

13:33 You've figured out, you've evaluated your situation and decided, okay, I'm going to apply. You've applied. Now, after you start, you start getting a bunch of forms and you're like, what the heck is all this paper that I'm getting? It's like every time you go out to the mailbox, you're getting more and more forms. Well, remember, I need you to understand one very fundamental thing. You have to prove you're disabled. not the other way around. It's not the government's responsibility to prove that you should give disability benefits.

14:04 It is yours. So this provides them very valuable information. It lets them know about the doctors you're going to see, the hospital visits you're going to get and see, that you've gone to, the therapy places that you've gone to, what treatment you receive, what objective testing, whether it be x-rays, CTs, MRIs, echoes, EEGs, echocardiograms, whatever the case may be. also gives them information about the people who may be able to tell them about your condition, which is why I say consistency. Now, people will be like, what do you mean by consistency, Attorney Reeves?

14:39 I say, what I mean by consistency, meaning are you consistent in what you tell Social Security and what you've told your doctors and also what others have seen as well? Because the reality is that I can't tell you the number of times I've had people who will say, Oh, I got back problem. My back hurts me really bad.

14:58 And then, you know, you've got when they go to the medical workers, there's no indication that they've complained to their doctor about their back at all. So, again, consistency. Also, make sure you let people know that you're coming. That means these forms are coming. The reason why I said early on when people ask me, how long does it take?

15:19 I say, you know, one of the big things people don't do, they don't tell people that forms are coming. Now, I know you're going to say, just follow me when I say this. They don't tell people that forms are coming. If you list that you've got a cousin or auntie or uncle or friend who can talk about your condition, then why don't you let them know that Social Security may be reaching out to them? This way, it's not a surprise to them when they get these forms. And stress to them that your ability to get disability benefits is directly related to how fast and how thoroughly they fill those forms out. Because you don't want them to put the form on their kitchen table and then just not come to it for a while. You want them

16:00 to crank that stuff out fairly quickly. Same thing with your doctors. You want your doctors to be aware that these forms are coming. And so that this way they know, okay, I got to keep an eye out. I'm going to get a form regarding their impairments and keep on trucking. I appeal my case. What are my chances? Now, you've gone through a process. You've evaluated your case. You've applied.

16:30 You've done all the forms. Gone all the doctor's appointment tapes that you're on. You get denied. Okay? I appeal my case. What are my chances? And it's kind of funny because I left one slide out. And before I do that, let me add that slide for her for a second, because I want to make sure there's, there's one slide I meant to add in here. So my reason, I don't know how I'm here. So hold on one second.

17:04 Give me one second. See if I want to put this in here. I want to make sure because I put here my case. There we go. Some odd reason, the one that I wanted is not in here. All right. Don't go anywhere, I know I'm sitting here. I wanna make sure, the slide that I really want you to see is when you get denied. So give me one second and I will get in here. And why is that important as I'm looking away and I see you're looking at me here? It's important because this is usually where most people reach out to somebody like me. Things about that denial that I really want to make sure I take the opportunity to talk to you about. So give me a second. Let me make sure. Now, go back to do this, sharing this. And are we there? Okay,

18:38 here we go. Now, you got denied, but they lied on my denial. Now, the reason why I say this, and I know this is gonna sound kind of weird, because people will sit here and they'll say, okay, Most people come to me and they say, I got denied. But the reason why I say they lied on my denial is because most times what happens when people come to me when they've gotten denied, they are hot. I mean, when they get that denial, they are mad because they say, oh, Social Security got it wrong. They lie. And so I have to start down kind of my responses and kind of knock this out of court. Let's start with the first one. They probably didn't lie. You just didn't like the answer. Remember, when you're applying for disability benefits, you're

19:22 telling the government that you can't work because of your impairment. They probably have not lied about your condition. You just don't like the answer. And you're well within your rights to do so. You're well, well within your rights to do so. Why is the answer so short? If you stop and you think about it, a lot of times they're not trying to give you a detailed blow-by-blow answer.

19:49 usually at the first portion of the process. They're just addressing your situation accordingly. They're basically saying, we looked at your medical evidence. We recognize your condition is severe. We just don't think your condition is as bad as you say it is. That's just the nature of the beast. And pretty much that satisfies their burden in terms of what they're supposed to tell you. Why aren't all of my doctors listed? That is usually the million dollar question.

20:16 People will go and they'll look at their decision. And all of a sudden they have realized that for whatever reason, for whatever reason, all of their doctor's information is not there. The fact of the matter is, though, is that no one really knows why it's not there. Now, you're going to say, well, wait a minute. Well, hold on, attorney.

20:36 You've got me a little stunned. What do you mean by no one really knows why it's not there? Well, this is what I mean when I say this. What I mean is you are so fired up about these. You don't know if they sent the forms out to them. You don't know if they got them and they may not have chosen to send it back. Weird things happen when you apply for disability benefits. So just because you don't see it there doesn't necessarily mean anybody screwed up.

21:04 You just don't know what happened. So what can you do about this denial? Very simple. Appeal it. I always tell people when they come to me and they're going buck wild, look here, ain't nobody got time to listen to all that because why? You can't undo what they did. All you can do is appeal and move forward. Don't sit there and stress about the fact that you didn't like the decision. They give you a right to do something about it. Appeal it. So what are your chances? Depends. Depends.

21:35 It just really depends on why they determined that you were disabled. Here's what you need to do. Review. Like, for instance, you got fired up because you said that you noticed that some of your doctors were not listed. Well, great. Make sure that they get them this time around. If you notice that there was some particular doctors on there, you know, especially like, let's say you see your doctor was listed on there or a couple of your docs.

21:59 And those couple of docs specifically said that you cannot work. Well, make sure you go to those doctors and say, hey, listen, did you put anything in my file that may let the decision makers know that I'm in a tough spot? Did you do that? If not, could you please do so this time around? I would be appreciative. Because that goes a long way towards helping your case out. And make sure when you ask them to do so, ask them to give a detailed breakdown. to analyze your medical records and to provide an assessment about your limitations. Don't just write some statement and they're saying, my patient is disabled and this is what they have. That doesn't really help you out a lot. And when I say treat

22:42 it like you just applied, it's because you're basically someone brand new who is going to be looking at your file the second time around in those states that have that. Some states go straight from the initial denial to go into a hearing, but most states don't. You file an initial application, you get denied, and you have a recon determination.

23:01 Then you get denied. Then your next chance is to get into a hearing. Okay? Now, you requested a hearing. When are you going to court, and what should you do while you wait? All right. Here's something that you need to be aware of. When you are asking for a hearing before an administrative law judge, when you are asking for a hearing before an administrative law judge, the date that they scheduled your hearing is based on the day you requested the hearing, not the day you applied.

23:41 So the fact that you've been waiting for a year already and they should hurry up and give you a hearing date doesn't mean anything. They're going based on the date you asked for a hearing. So you asked for a hearing on this date. How long from that date Should you expect to get it here? Typically it depends on the office. I always tell people, I think the national average right now, it's about 16 months. That is my thinking. And so what do you, when you say, well, what do you mean by 16 months? Basically what I'm telling you is basically 16 months from the day you were actually asking for a hearing, you're probably going to get a hearing date. or at least scheduled for a hearing.

24:28 Are you telling me I need to wait a year and four months? I'm like, yeah, very possibly you could be waiting a year and 16 months. It is very, very possible. And it's not me trying to be funny. It's not me trying to be stank. It's just, I just need you to be aware that that is a definitive possibility. Do not, I repeat, do not freak out because that's just, unfortunately, that's just the system that we deal with, that we have. Okay? Now, keep in mind, some offices are slower, some are faster. How do you know which one is slower and which one is faster?

25:10 Call the office and ask them. They'll tell you. A lot of times, they'll give you a hint. Now, Speeding up the hearing dates, same type of things that I told you before. When we talked about Terry cases and allowances, those are the ones that tend to get sped up in terms of hearings. But in the hearing level, you still have to provide documentation that you fall into any of those categories. At the hearing level, they no longer will get your medical records. They're not responsible for that.

25:39 Only you are. So just keep in mind, if you file a request for hearing today, 16 months later have passed, In that 16 months, your file is sat there with no updates to it whatsoever. So don't stroll into the hearing thinking that, okay, why didn't you have the records from my last two weeks or two months ago? Well, they're not responsible for getting them. You are. So if they don't have them, because you didn't provide them. Also witnesses.

26:06 This is the time where if you choose to, you can actually have witnesses appear on your behalf when you get ready to have a hearing, because they're going to call them, which is typically you. Now, you got a hearing day. So what should you expect? First of all, you're going to testify. And what I mean by you're going to testify, I mean by the fact that you're going to be required. Excuse me. You'll testify. You're going to be required. OK, you're going to be required to testify under oath about your condition. I always tell people when you go into these hearings, everything is fair game.

26:43 I'm not trying to be funny. The reality is everything is fair game. So you want to make sure you're aware of the fact that they're going to ask you about everything that's in your file. Every judge is different. Some judges require a brief. Some judges require that everything be submitted to them before you walk through the hearing.

26:59 You just don't know. Every judge is different. If you get into the hearing, there is a good chance that there may be experts there. What do you do? I said it's hard. I can't tell you what exactly to do. It depends on the kind of experts you have there. Typically, they fall in the two categories, vocational expert, who are there to talk about the kind of work you've performed in the past, as well as talk about what type of work may be available for persons with various limitations, and then medical experts. And that medical expert may be a doctor in any particular field. What do you do?

27:33 How do you handle them? It just depends on the type of expert. Most hearing, if they don't feel comfortable with the heck's going on, they want to get a representative. Keep in mind, on most cases, a judge will give you one shot to get a rep. So if you walk in there, they notice that you don't have a representative.

27:54 They have a standard speech. They like to give you a nice little funky fly breakdown where they basically say, look here, you want to get somebody? Bam, bam, bam, bam, bam. And what I tell people is if they tell you that if you're feeling that you don't feel comfortable enough to do this on your own, I stress. If they give you that opportunity to get a rep, take full advantage of it. A lot of times judges, they will prefer it because here's the reality. It's an informal process.

28:23 But the reality is, is the judge is not there to go through all your medical evidence to help you get your disability benefits. They're the objective fact finders. They're looking at it from both sides. Should you or should you not? A representative is there to help you present your case so that you can get it. The judge is not there to help you present your case so you can get it. That's not what they're there for.

28:43 So if you walk in there and you're not totally sure, if you don't know how to read medical evidence, like I'll see people who say, oh, it says I have diabetes. Yeah, but if you read down further, it says that you're not taking your medication the way that you were supposed to. Guess what? That hurts your case. Well, I didn't know that. Well, guess what? If you don't know how to read medical evidence so that you can properly present your case, how are you expecting to get disability benefits? So when the judge gives you a chance to get someone, take advantage of it. Now, you had a hearing. You've already gone in.

29:17 You've testified. What happens? Well, what happens after the hearing is it depends on what happens in the hearing. If the file is complete, the judge will typically close the file, review the evidence, make a decision, and the decision will come to you in writing so that you will know what you can do next. A lot of times when you call the court to find out what's going on with your case, they're going to tell you a couple of things. It's in post-hearing development, post-hearing review, or pending decision writing or decision writing. Most people don't know what the hell those things mean. Typically, if they're telling you it's post-hearing development, it may mean it may mean that there is some additional stuff that they're going to do

30:01 with the case. Meaning, if you're going to get a representative, post-hearing development may be to give you a chance to go get a representative. If you told them that you can get medical records from your treating doctor to give you five days to get them, judge gives you five days for your post-hearing development. Post-hearing review. That typically means the judge has everything and they're reviewing your file to make a decision. And usually I tell people that's when they're usually writing the decision is during the post hearing review.

30:31 They're reviewing it to make a decision to write a decision. One thing that people fail to realize that under most circumstances, let me stress this again. One thing that most people fail to realize that under most situations, the social security judge does not write your decision. The social security judge does not write your decision. It is written by a decision writer. That's typically an attorney that is assigned to write that decision. So you could easily have, you know, a place where there's like six or seven judges, but only two people writing the decisions. So what does that mean when it says pending decision writer, when it says pending decision writer, that means the judge is already drafted

31:22 the boilerplate information that he wants or she wants the decision writer to rely upon to make a decision. In other words, they have decided your case. It now has to be. When it goes from pending decision, right? It's a decision writer. That means the decision writer has been assigned and that they are, and that decision writer is writing your decision. Now, a couple of things you need to know. Can you add stuff after the hearing? Sure.

31:50 In most cases, they're pretty, you know, most reps or judges are pretty laid back about getting stuff submitted to them. But make sure you get that stuff in before the decision is written because you want to make sure if there's anything that's relevant that it's considered. Make sure you keep in mind that any evidence that you send in or anything that you send in relates for the period of disability that you're applying for. If you say you became disabled January 1 of 2014, and then all of a sudden you get into a car accident, on January 15, 2015.

32:21 Is that information about the car accident relevant? Sure. But it's only relevant from that accident going forward. It doesn't show that you were disabled before the date of the accident. Make sense? So you want to try to make sure you get stuff that shows that you were disabled during that time period. And if you're not sure, again, get a representative. Also, I cannot stress this enough. You're probably not going to get an answer about your case over the phone. Hear me, people, when I say this, this is not me being nasty. This is not me being a jerk. I have rarely found that Social Security will actually tell you about your case over the phone. All right?

33:06 So do not, I cannot stress this again, do not sit there and use this as an opportunity and you're calling them and they're like, they won't tell me that, they won't tell me that. Of course not, because they're not going to tell you stuff over the phone. So keep that in the back of your mind. You need to get the decision in writing because the decision in writing kicks forth everything else. What do you mean by everything else? Well, if you get approved, it gets you paid.

33:29 But here's something that most people fail to realize. This is something I tell people. Check to see what type of referral you got. What type? Did you get a fully favorable or a partially favorable? Now, most people don't know the difference. Well, what's the difference? A fully favorable means You asked for certain things and they're going to give you everything that you asked for in terms of when you became disabled. You said you became disabled January, 2014 judge determined you were disabled January 1st, 2014. A partially favorable decision is a decision where they have modified that, where you say you became disabled January, 2014, but you were an honest accident in 2015. And the judge says,

34:08 I think your disability benefits began when you were in that auto accident. No. Now, here's the other thing. Appeal or not appeal. Now, this is going to sound very, very, very, very, very, very, very goofy. You can appeal a favorable decision. Most times this comes up when it's a partially favorable. Like, you know, you say you became disabled in January of 2014. They said it was a year later. You think you should be entitled to more benefits going retroactive. And so I tell people all the time, I say, okay, you can appeal that. But keep a couple of things in mind.

34:49 If you appeal it and you lose, you may owe the government money. Also, when you get approved, the appeals counsel can actually review your case to determine whether or not the approval was correct. It's a random thing. It doesn't happen a lot, but it does happen. I need you to understand this point. The judge is responsible for reviewing the medical portion, not the non-medical. Judge can't tell you whether or not you have any problems with assets or anything like that. They can't tell you if there's any offsets. They only can function of determining whether you are, whether you are not disabled. Now with that, with the SSI portion, you still have to do, they still have to make a determination of problems with regards to resources,

35:38 things of that nature. Okay. So there's going to be, they're going to look at your resources. They're going to look at your assets. They have to do the resource, you know, asset and resource interview. For the DIB, they got to see whether or not you have any problems with any offsets. So those are the things they're going to have to look at to see whether or not you're from a non-medical are being affected. And that's something the local office can help you with. I tell people when they ask me the magical thing, how long does it take for me to get my money? And I say it takes anywhere from 60 to 90 days normally to get money, but don't hold your breath. Why do I say normally? Because if there's something wiggy with your case,

36:16 they're going to need time to work that out. Let me say this again. If there's something wiggy with your case, they're going to need time to work that out. So do not stress if for whatever reason something weird happens. Let me say this again. Do not stress that if something weird happens for whatever reason, your benefits are not coming to you. Just stay in communication with social security.

36:41 They will work with you. Okay. Now here's the thing. So you get denied by a judge. Now what I'm going to try to explain this and I'm going to talk slow. So please forgive me. When you go to the appeals council, you're telling the appeals council that you're disagreeing with the judge because you believe the judge did not apply the law correctly. Listen to me very carefully when I say what I just said. No, you're not appealing, okay?

37:18 You're not appealing the case because you believe that the judge did not find you disabled and you need somebody else to look to determine whether you're disabled. The appeals counsel is not reviewing your case to determine whether you are or you're not disabled. They want to know, did the judge apply the law correctly in finding you are not disabled? Why is that important? Because they couldn't, the appeals council could make a determination that the judge did not apply the legal standard properly. They did not apply the law properly. It could send back to the judge and you could still be found not disabled. Meaning the judge could correct the problem and still find that you're not disabled. So I need you to keep that in

38:02 the back of your mind. The appeals council in very rare instances will overturn the judge, Oh, I've seen it happen a few times where they've overturned it outright and said this person was insane when you really missed the vote. But under most circumstances, that's not the case. Now, I need you to keep in mind this. We have 50 states, okay, 50 states plus the District of Columbia as well as Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico. The Appeals Council handles appeals of judges in one location in Falls Church, Virginia, and they handle it for the entire country, one place. So how long does it take? It takes about 15 to 16 months to get a decision. I know that sucks, but that is what it is. You get denied by a judge,

38:53 you file a request for review, it goes there to the Appeals Council, and it sits for about 15 months until 15 to 16 months before an analyst pulls it for review. They review the case and make a determination. They provide the recommendations to the judge. The judge makes the decision and then you get your decision. Most times it's a denial. Now, let's say you get denied. At this point, there's a phrase, what we call exhausting all administrative remedies. That's a nice way of saying that you've done everything possible. You've applied, you've got denied twice, you've gone to a judge, you got denied, you appeal to the appeals council, you've got denied. There are no more processes left within the social security system for you to utilize.

39:38 So now you need to use the court system, the federal court system. Same standard applies with regards to the appeals council. You're basically arguing that the Social Security Administration failed to properly follow the law when making the determination that you are not disabled. So you are suing the Social Security Administration so you can get them right. Same thing. Now, here the process is a little different because one, and this is why I said, if you remember earlier in the video I talked about when you're choosing a representative, make sure you know what you're getting. Some representatives don't take cases in the federal court. If they're a non-attorney rep, they can't because they're not attorneys. In this case, you're

40:29 actually filing a complaint with the United States District Court suing that particular, in the Social Security Administration. If you have a filing fee, you're paying that. If you can't afford it, you're filing a basically form showing that you're poor. The Social Security Administration will answer. A copy of the transcript is typically made available to your attorney. And then at that particular point, arguments are being made. Now, the process of getting a decision from the United States District Court is wild because every court is different. Like I tell when people ask me, how long does it typically take for you in your area? I said, I practice before the Northern, Southern, and Middle District of Florida, as

41:16 well as the 11th Circuit of the United States Supreme Court. Most of my federal court cases, I would say about 99% of them are focused primarily in the United States district court. And probably about 90% of those cases that I handle are the middle district. And it had been my experience that in the middle district, from the time you actually file the complaint to the time you actually get a decision, it usually takes about 14 months. Usually.

41:47 14 months. Now, let me tell you something that may blow your mind. I know one attorney who told me they're in a jurisdiction, literally, I had to pause in that one, they're in a jurisdiction, literally, where it takes them 36 months. Now, wrap your brain around what I just said. From the moment they file their complaint in the federal courts to the time they get a decision from the court, three years. My district, 14 months, Other district, three years. And there's a big old thing of different views and scopes within the middle. So I share that so that you are aware that everybody is different. And when you're in federal courts, hold different beats. Now, if you get denied federal courts, your next option is a

42:35 certain court of appeals. Very few attorneys take cases into those courts. Why? Because at that particular point, your case has got to be really strong because those courts are very conservative. I think there's probably... I want to say 14, I believe, federal courts of appeals. There's the United States Circuit Court of Appeals for the First Circuit all the way to the 11th. I think there's one for Federal Circuit, and there's one other one, too, as I believe. But in any event, very few reps take cases into those courts because at that particular point, you're talking super conservative at that point. I need you to understand something. you don't have an automatic right, excuse me, you don't have

43:19 an automatic right to appeal for the Supreme Court. Meaning, with all these other appeals, it's an automatic right. From the time you applied and got denied all the way to your circuit court of appeal, if somebody told you no, you had a right to appeal. When you're going to the Supreme Court, you have to ask for permission. Meaning, you're appealing and you're saying, would you mind considering this case? Now, remind you, that means The United States Supreme Court handles appeals from the entire country. I think they only take about 8% of those cases. So just do the math.

43:57 Think about it like this. This is not trying to be funny. If they get a million cases a year that are appealed to them, and that's not an unrealistic number. I think the number I saw was like they get almost close to a million cases appealed to them per year. If you get almost a million cases appealed to you for, and I may be, I may be wrong. No, not a minute. I think it was something like four or 500,000 per year. So imagine that out of those four or 500,000, 10% is four, 10% is 40,000 to 400. 1% is four.

44:27 So you times that times eight, that's 12. So that means 12,000 out of about four or 500,000 are actually considered for appeals. So the chances of getting accepted is very, very low. So keep that in the back of your mind. So what happens? So you go before a judge and then you decide, I'm going to file a new application.

44:53 A lot of times people worry, what about my old claim? Doesn't matter. If you previously applied, does not matter. They treat it as if you're applying for the first time. Will they look at my old records? Probably not. Because remember, under the law, you've already been denied. So there's no need for them to look at that old period because it's already been decided upon. They're going to look at the period from the time of the judge's decision going forward.

45:13 It's all they care about. Now, first of all, I know I've covered a lot. We've been on here for like 45 minutes. I need you to recognize everything I've covered does not cover everything that could possibly happen. So please don't treat it like that. If you don't know what you're doing, get help. Do not try to flounder your way through this And try to figure it out on your own. And make matters worse for yourself because you think you know what you're doing. If you don't know, ask for help. And choose to get help as opposed to being cheap. And let me tell you why I say this. It's what I call the power of need.

45:53 What do you mean by the power of need? The power of need. People always ask the question. They don't ask me should they get an attorney. They ask me do I need an attorney. And I always say you don't need anything. You don't need a doctor if you get sick. You don't need a mechanic if your car breaks down. The question is, if your car breaks down, do you know how to properly diagnose the car to figure out how to fix it? If you get sick, if you notice that you've got blood coughing or blood in your urine, do you need to go to a doctor or can you figure out what exactly is causing that on your own? Most people cannot. Same thing. One of the things that I love about the Internet, but it's also a curse as well, is that a lot

46:36 of people use the Internet as a cheap go around. You know, they go and they Google and they use all these resources, which are awesome. But then what ends up happening is they use they try to wait to doing things. So this way, they're not trying to piecemeal the way they're doing things so that they don't have to pay for it themselves. They're trying to hold every little dollar that they have in their pocket. They ain't trying to get any money away. I got you. But keep in mind, there's a penalty and a risk that comes with trying to run dirty and run cheap. Keep this in mind. For all the things that you find online, and let me tell you something, there are groups out there.

47:17 There's going to be some people who are going to put a post on this video and say, oh, don't even listen to Attorney Reese. He's an attorney. He's trying to make money anyway. And there's going to be people out there. And I've had them. I've talked to them a million times. People say, we don't really need an attorney.

47:29 I got my benefits on it. I got my benefits on my own. I don't see what you don't really need an attorney. And I told one guy because I was kind of annoyed listening to this. I said, so let me get this straight. There are a million people out there with cases like yours? Well, no, that's not what I'm saying. That's exactly what you're saying. I'm telling you that you got disability benefits for yourself because the set of facts for your case was of such a magnitude where it supported you being disabled. Not everybody's like that.

47:56 And there are a lot of funky nuances in the law that if you don't know how to handle those funky nuances, you roll in there and screw yourself more. So I say this to say this. I applaud you if you got disability benefits on your own. I really do. I think that's awesome. Please don't be irresponsible and tell somebody that just because you got it means that everybody can get it as easy as you did. Because let me be blunt when I say this. Even though you know your case, trust me, I'm almost 100% confident you don't know your case as well as you think you do.

48:32 I guarantee you, I bet if I get access to your file, I can find something going on in your file that you didn't know about. And it's not because I'm being arrogant. It's because usually at one particular point, Me as a representative, I'm going to get access to certain things that maybe you haven't. Or secondly, there are going to be things that I'm going to look at from a different glass lens than you will. And so I always tell people, be very careful about advising people that because using you as a foundation model to justify not getting a representative. If you don't know what you're doing, look to hire someone. I'm not saying you can't handle them on your own. Give it a shot. If you think you can, roll. Just know that if you're not

49:15 sure if you can handle it on your own, don't try to do it on your own. Get help. I hope this helped. We went through a lot. If you have any questions, you know where to find me. If you think, if you have something specific you need about your situation, I'm probably going to need you to fill out a free claim evaluation in order for me to better advise. And if If you don't want to do that and you're looking for someone in your area, let me know. I may be able to point you in the right direction. With that, I wish you the best of luck. Thank you very much. And again, my name is Attorney Reeves. This is Walking You Through the Disability Process presented by the Reeves Law Firm and Q & A Social Security Disability Today.