How Early Should I Hire a Lawyer to Assist Me With My Claim for Disability Benefits?

If you are thinking about filing for disability, you may be wondering when you should hire a Columbus disability lawyer to assist you with your claim. Hiring a lawyer to represent you at your hearing is essential since the great majority of represented claimants win their cases. What is less obvious is whether you should hire a lawyer to assist you with your application or reconsideration.

The main advantage to going through the initial phases of applying for disability without a Columbus disability lawyer is that you will save on having to pay attorney’s fees. You may be wondering if not having a lawyer assist you with the application will harm your chances of success. More than one-third of the people who apply for disability will be found disabled after filing the initial application. About 15% of those who request reconsideration of an initial denial are found disabled at the reconsideration stage. Most of those people do not have assistance from a lawyer.

Additionally, the Social Security Administration (“SSA”) makes it difficult for a lawyer to get involved in a case at the initial application stage. Our firm generally waits until a denial is issued and a legal controversy exists before getting involved. On rare occasions there may be an unusual legal problem with a case that may require a lawyer’s assistance at the application stage. We may consider getting involved early on in those cases but keep in mind that it is hard to predict which cases can benefit from a lawyer’s help that early.

If your application is denied, you may again consider hiring a Columbus disability lawyer to assist you in applying for reconsideration of the denial. However, it is still difficult to evaluate a case at this stage and thus difficult to get involved this early. One of the difficulties at this stage is that it is hard to tell if a claimant will be disabled for the 12 months required by the Social Security Act. It is also difficult to gain access to your file from the SSA. If we do choose to get involved at this stage we will generally have the claimant gather his or her own records so that we have enough information to properly evaluate the case.

If you think you may need assistance in the initial phases of the application process contact Columbus disability attorney Matthew A. Weller to discuss your case. Otherwise, the best time to call us is as soon as you get the reconsideration denial.