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Your Ocala Social Security disability lawyer’s number one priority is to analyze what you need to prove to be awarded disability benefits and then figure out the best way to achieve this outcome.  Once your lawyer has put a plan in place for your case, he or she can follow through by performing a variety of tasks including, but not limited to these: Help and guidance with the paperwork. The Social Security application process can be tedious requiring you to fill out a number of forms detailing your work history, medical condition, and physical and mental impairments. Your Ocala disability attorney can provide you with tips and guidance on how to complete the forms accurately and properly.  Correctly completed paperwork…Read More

If you have just received word from your Ocala disability attorney that a vocational expert will be testifying at your hearing, you are probably wondering two things: (1) What is a vocational expert? and (2) Why is he testifying at my hearing?  Your Ocala disability attorney can provide a detail explanation specific to your case but here is some general information about vocational experts and why their testimony can be important in a given disability case. A vocational expert is one of two types of experts who your judge can ask to testify in your case.  The other type of expert is a medical expert.  Judges ask vocational experts to testify more frequently than medical experts.  There are some judges…Read More

At some point before your disability hearing, you may receive a notice stating that a medical expert will be testifying.  Here is a brief explanation of what a medical expert is and the issues they commonly discuss in their testimony.  Your Ocala disability attorney can explain in detail what the medical expert in your case will be testifying about. Neutral Witnesses Medical experts are usually either doctors or psychologists.  They are intended to be neutral witnesses, meaning that they are neither “for” you nor “against” you.  Their job is to help the judge understand medical issues, specifically medical issues involving Social Security regulations.  Medical experts testify more often in mental impairment cases than in cases involving any other single impairment.…Read More

At your Social Security disabilty hearing, your testimony will be the most important.  However, your Ocala disability lawyer may decide that a family member, friend, neighbor, co-worker, or supervisor could provide the judge with important information about your disability. The Social Security disability hearing is informal. Unlike court, no evidence rules need to be followed for testifying. The interaction between your Ocala Social Security disability lawyer and your witnesses at your hearing will be more like a conversation than a formal question and answer sequence. What is expected of your witnesses at the hearing is truthful testimony concerning what they have observed about you. While the administrative law judge may ask questions, it will not be a “cross-examination” of witnesses…Read More

It is crucial to have an experienced Ocala disability attorney at your side if your judge decides to have a vocational expert testify at your hearing.  Your Ocala disability attorney will be responsible for cross-examining the vocational expert and making sure that there is a legitimate basis for the expert’s testimony.  You may think that you can handle cross-examining the expert yourself but it is a task best left to your attorney as it requires a significant knowledge of Social Security law, medical issues, and vocational issues.  Unsurprisingly, the ability to effectively cross-examine a vocational expert is something that is developed through years of practice. Why Your Attorney Will Cross-Examine It is important to have an experienced Ocala disability attorney…Read More

Your ability to give detailed testimony at your Florida Social Security disability hearing will be a significant factor in the success of your claim. As an experienced Ocala Social Security disability lawyer, I suggest that you keep at least one diary of your symptoms to assist you in obtaining disability benefits in Florida as the quality and accuracy of your testimony will dramatically increase with the use of a simple diary. Your Memory Will Fade You may think you don’t need to keep a diary because it will be easy for you to recall the limitations on your routine daily activities.  However, it may be more difficult for you to recall detailed facts about more than one symptom and the…Read More

If your disability is based on a need to alternate between sitting and standing, then at your Social Security disability hearing your Ocala disability lawyer will have the opportunity to question the government vocational expert who will testify on behalf of the Social Security Administration. Possible Questions to Ask a Vocational Expert About Working While Alternating Between Sitting and Standing Your disability lawyer might ask the government vocational expert some of the following questions: Have you identified jobs allowing alternate sitting and standing that are classified as light or sedentary jobs by The Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT)? For the jobs classified as light, can we assume that they require standing and walking for approximately six-hours out of what is…Read More

If an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) denied your disability claim and you would like to appeal your case to a federal court, your Ocala disability attorney will review the evidence similarly to the way that he or she analyzed it for the ALJ hearing. This means solidifying the theory of disability based on the Social Security Administration's five-step s sequential evaluation process. Reviewing the Evidence Supporting the ALJ Decision That Denied Disability Benefits When the ALJ denied your Social Security disability claim, he or she cited evidence to support the denial. Your disability lawyer will examine this evidence to determine the following: Do the evidence and the ALJ's findings correspond? Based on the evidence presented, does the ALJ's decision make…Read More

Ocala disability attorneys sometimes deal with the legal issue of the Social Security Administration’s requirements for residual functional capacity (RFC) with regard to alternating sitting and standing. A person who needs to alternately sit and stand presents a special situation and many vocational experts treat the RFC of having to alternate between sitting and standing as falling between the RFC for sedentary work and the RFC for light work. A Need to Alternately Sit and Stand May Qualify for Social Security Disability Benefits In some disability claims, the medical evidence results in an RFC assessment that is compatible with the performance of sedentary work or light work as long as the person can alternate between periods of sitting and standing…Read More

If you have postural limitations that pertain specifically to walking and standing, talk to your Ocala disability attorney regarding specific details of how these limitations affect your case. However, the following material provides some general information regarding how standing and walking limitations may affect your Social Security disability claim. The Social Security Administration’s Standing and Walking Time Requirements You are expected to be capable of standing and walking for an approximately two out of the eight hours of what is considered a regular workday. A significant decrease in this two hour standing and walking requirement reduces what is referred to as your sedentary occupational base. The Social Security Administration considers the sedentary occupational base of a person who can stand…Read More