Eligibility

An Ocala disability lawyer will inform you that there are two similarities between state agency decisions about your Social Security disability claim and decisions made by Administrative Law Judges (ALJs): Disability decisions cannot be inconsistent with medical evidence; Listing of Impairments is a critical factor in determining disability. But important differences exist as to how each agency will make that determination: States typically do not consider anything other than the medical file and your Listing of Impairments. Impairments, if listed, meet federal disability guidelines. If not, the state agency has a pre-determined formula to determine your Residual Functional Capacity (the tasks you can actually perform). The vast majority of state agencies treat claimants with similar medical conditions identically, despite individual…Read More

Preparing to testify about your mental limitations can mean very different things depending on the particulars of your case. Your Ocala disability lawyer will be able to provide you more information about how to testify, but this article gives some general principles. Even if you have small-scale mental limitations, the matter still needs to be discussed with your Ocala disability lawyer well in advance of the hearing. If you have both mental limitations and physical impairments, the mental issues are still very important to discuss before the trial. There are some very specific issues that concern those who have both physical and mental issues. Those who have chronic and severe physical problems often develop emotional issues as well. In fact,…Read More

When you will be asked to testify about your educational and work history at your Social Security disability hearing, the judge will want to know about the job duties in your past employment, the job skills that you have, and the educational credentials that you have attained, if any. In terms of past work, you will be asked about the duties for which you were responsible at each position that you have held in the past 15 years. You will be questioned as to how much weight you were required to lift on the job and how much time per workday you had to sit, stand, and walk. Any difficulties that you have had at your former jobs due to…Read More

An experienced Ocala disability lawyer will prepare your case well and ensure that you and your witnesses testify in a way that helps your case. There is one thing over which your lawyer has no control, however, and that is the time that it takes to conduct a hearing and as how long it takes to receive a decision. Hearings are, as a rule, quite short, generally clocking in at about 60 minutes or less. Even on the longer side, they almost never exceed an hour and a half. The shortness of the hearing is starkly contrasted by how long it can and does take for a claimant to receive the written decision. Both you and Ocala disability attorney will…Read More

Most of the work that your Ocala disability attorney will do for you will consist of building your case in preparation for the hearing. On the legal side of things, this means preparing you and any other witnesses for testimony at the hearing as well as doing research into the law and the outcomes of similar cases. In terms of the medical part of your case, your Ocala disability attorney may look at scientific literature pertaining to your health issues, gather records, and obtain statements from your doctors. An experienced Ocala disability lawyer will prepare you well enough so that you can do most of the talking at the Social Security disability hearing. At a hearing, it is best if…Read More

Unlike the formal rooms that are characteristic of courthouses, Social Security hearing rooms are just small conference rooms. They sometimes have an American flag or the seal of the Social Security Administration in the way of official trappings. As with any other type of meeting room, they always have a large conference table. There will also be a desk that will sit slightly above the level of the main conference table; this is the judge’s desk. An optional addition is a small desk for the judge’s assistant, who will otherwise sit at the main conference table. Because every hearing is recorded, every Social Security hearing room is equipped with audio recording devices. In order to ensure that the recording made…Read More

The Social Security Administration’s determination of disability is based not just on objective medical evidence, but also on subjective symptoms that are often very hard to measure. This is because symptoms of pain aren’t readily quantifiable by clinical tests or laboratory diagnostic techniques. In this article, Ocala disability lawyer CJ Henry explains why the Social Security Administration may need to ask your treating doctor for a subjective opinion on your medical condition. The Social Security Administration may ask your treating doctor for an opinion as to the nature and severity of your symptoms. Social Security will also inquire as to what kinds of activities you’re still able to do in spite of your medical impairments and what your physical or…Read More

Return to Step Four. If you do not meet or equal a listing in the Social Security Administration’s Listing of Impairments, but you satisfy Step 4 of the sequential evaluation process (that is, you’re not able to perform past relevant work), you will be found disabled if you are not able to perform other work. In this article, Ocala disability lawyer CJ Henry will explain that Step 5, the final step in the sequential evaluation process, examines your potential ability to perform prevalent work that you haven’t actually done before. Step 5: Are You Still Able to Perform Other Work? In this final step, the Social Security Administration will evaluate whether you are, despite your impairment, still able to adjust…Read More

Return to Step Three. If your impairment does not meet or equal a listing in Social Security’s Listing of Impairments, you may still be found disabled for Social Security disability purposes if you satisfy Steps 4 and 5 in the sequential evaluation process. In this article, Ocala disability lawyer CJ Henry will examine Step 4, which looks at your ability to perform past relevant work. Step 4: Are You Still Able to Perform Past Relevant Work? If the Social Security Administration finds that you’re still able to perform “past relevant work,” it will find you not disabled. Thus, in order to satisfy this step, you must establish that you cannot do any of the work that you performed in the…Read More

Return to Step Two. In this article, Ocala disability lawyer CJ Henry discusses what could be the last step of the sequential evaluation process for the determination of your disability, Step 3. Step 3: Does Your Impairment Meet or “Equal” an Impairment in the Listing of Impairments? Step 3 of the sequential evaluation process for Social Security disability benefits involves determining whether your medical symptoms and findings meet or “medically equal” one set of the medical symptoms and findings that are enumerated in the Social Security Administration’s Listing of Impairments. The Listing of Impairments describes the objective medical criteria for determining disability (that is, whether your impairment is severe enough to preclude you from performing substantial gainful activity). If your…Read More