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If you have applied for Disability benefits with the Social Security Administration, or have been denied on an application or appeal for benefits in Michigan, you may be thinking of finding representation in the form of a lawyer or representative advocate. Here are just a few questions that may already have occurred to you:
What are the costs for representation on a disability claim, Are lawyers needed for disability hearings?, At what point should you get an attorney to handle your case?, and how likely are you to win a disability case with, or without, the use of a disability lawyer? |
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Regarding the issue of representation and representatives:
Statistically, Social Security Disability and ssi claims are overwhelmingly denied at the Initial Claim and Reconsideration levels. For this reason, most claims will have to be heard by an Administrative Law Judge before a claimant can hope to receive monthly disability benefits. It is at the level of an ALJ hearing, though, that one should always be accompanied by a Disability Attorney or Non Attorney Claimant's Representative. While a disability attorney or non attorney representative in Michigan cannot guarantee that a claimant will be awarded social security disability or ssi benefits, such an individual can guarantee that a case will be properly developed prior to a hearing date. The simple fact of the matter is this: the vast majority of claimants will have no idea how to properly and thoroughly prepare a disability case for a hearing, whereas an attorney or non attorney disability representative can apply a certain level of familiarity and expertise with social security rules and regulations toward the goal of obtaining a favorable outcome on a case. And, in many cases, an attorney or non attorney representative will have several years of invaluable ssdi and ssi claim experience to lend to a claimant's disability case. Can an ssdi claimant who is not represented by an attorney or non attorney still win an ssd or ssi disability claim at an ALJ hearing? Yes. And, in fact, this does occasionally happen. However, the odds of winning are markedly decreased when a claimant does not employ the services of an attorney or non attorney representative; therefore, a claimant should weigh the risk of going unrepresented to a hearing when their future livelihood is literally at stake---particularly when it takes so long to get to a disability hearing in the first place. And even unrepresented claimants who are successful and win their claims may not obtain the most favorable onset date for the commencement of their benefits. The date of onset and the date of entitlement, of course, will determine how much a claimant will receive in backpay; therefore, being able to prove the earliest possbile onset is of extreme importance for a social security disability or ssi claimant. Michigan disability attorneys and lawyers do a great many things to ensure that a social security disability or ssi claim will have the best chance of winning. This includes gathering medical records, obtaining detailed statements from a claimant's treating physicians, and, at the time of the ssd or ssi hearing, applying a thorough understanding of SSA regulations and requirements to the disability adjudication process. Though attorney or non attorney representation is never required in Michigan in an ssdi disability claim, to attend a hearing before a judge without the assistance of a disability attorney or non attorney representative is unwise and may result in a lost opportunity to win ssd or ssi disability benefits. |
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