Suppose you have been diagnosed with a condition or suffered an injury that left you unable to continue with your work. In that case, you are probably considering applying for Social Security Disability Insurance. This is a natural course of events, but keep in mind that the process of getting approved can be pretty complex.
Due to this reason, you should think about hiring a disability rights advocate. Obviously, you should also do this if your claim has been denied. In the following article, we will tell you what a disability rights advocate can do for you, and therefore, why you should employ one.
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Who is a disability rights lawyer?
The answer to this question is fairly simple if we are talking about legal advocacy. These people are trained professionals who represent their clients and advise them while going through a legal problem. They are not only familiar with every aspect of the process of applying and getting your claim approved, but they also know your rights as a disabled person, and their job is to ensure you learn and benefit from them too.
Why should you employ them?
If you know anyone who has been through the Social Security Disability Insurance process, you have probably heard how challenging it can be. However, many people don’t even think about the fact they need a lawyer until much later in the process. After all, you have all the documents sorted, every detail is evident, so why would you need a professional? Well, here are some of the most common reasons.
Denied claims
Did you know that most of these claims are initially denied? Yes, this is a fact. Do you know why it usually happens? You guessed right. In most cases, it occurs due to insufficient medical evidence. That’s right. Most people do not gather all the papers and details, which makes their claims incomplete. Naturally, the insurance companies don’t even glance at these. Why? Well, they cannot make a well-informed decision since they don’t possess all the information.
Clearly, going through this initial problem will cost you a lot of time and patience. Because of this, it is a good idea to employ a professional to be by your side. This benefit is pretty obvious. They know the ins and outs of the process, and they will tell you about the medical papers and evidence you need to obtain before filing your claim. It will make the entire experience that much easier and comfortable.
Meet the deadlines
Once your claim gets denied, you only have a short period of time to file an appeal. Many people don’t know about this requirement, which is why they don’t follow through with it. You only have 60 days to do this, and if you miss the deadline, that’s pretty much it. The truth is that you may not get an extension to turn all the papers in, and if you want to get a disability hearing, you definitely need a lawyer. Why? Well, unless you know about the exact procedures you have to make, you may have to wait up to 2 years to get a date. It is a long time, and in some cases, people cannot wait that long.
Present your case
Another thing people don’t understand is that winning a disability claim is so much more than merely meeting the deadline and turning in all the evidence. Yes, you need to do this when filing it, but there is an entire process that follows. The only way to successfully complete it is to understand every step you have to make and present your case perfectly.
Naturally, this is not possible if you are not aware of every detail, so it is when a laywer comes in. As stated several times, they know what’s going on, but most importantly, their job is to make sure you do too. After all, this process can greatly affect your life, so you need to be included as much as possible. Moreover, in order to win the claim, you need to present your claim in the best way possible. When you sit down with a disability rights advocate and tell them about your case, they will work on finding the best method to present it properly. It doesn’t only mean they will tell you about the evidence you need to gather, but they will also explain the best way to use them to win the claim.
Benefit termination
Even if your claim gets approved and you receive all the benefits, it doesn’t necessarily mean everything is over. In some instances, an insurance company may decide to terminate the benefits prematurely. This may happen due to several reasons, and unless you are a professional, you will need the lawyer’s help to fight this decision. What’s more, you may still be going through recovery and rehabilitation, so you may be physically prevented from doing anything about it. If this occurs, a lawsuit against the insurance company will follow. As you can assume, this is another complex process, and you can learn more about what to expect on www.disabilitylawyertoronto.ca. It goes without saying that you need a trained professional to represent you and your case every step of the way.
When should you hire a lawyer?
Since employing a professional is optional in cases like this, people are usually confused about when they should use their services. If you have decided that you don’t want to go through this process alone and want a professional to represent you, you should hire them immediately. What do we mean by immediately? Well, you should hire an advocate before your file the claim. As already mentioned, over half of the submitted claims are incomplete because people aren’t familiar with all the requirements. The only way to prevent this from happening to you is to employ an advocate beforehand and work with them on obtaining all the evidence necessary.
When it comes to finding the right disability rights attorney, you have to consider several things, such as their previous experience on similar cases, the approach and methods they use, etc. Nevertheless, the most important thing is that you feel comfortable and confident collaborating with them.