Disability Lawyer Michigan

Social Security Disability benefits help you stay on steady ground after major health problems knock your life and livelihood off track.

These benefits last as long as your condition continues to force you out of work and until you reach retirement age, when you switch to regular Social Security retirement benefits.

Here’s what you get with Social Security Disability in Michigan:

Monthly Checks with Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI): Your payment amount depends in part on your past wages, helping replace lost income. You qualify by paying Social Security taxes when you work. This is not a handout, but a benefit you earned.

Monthly Checks with Supplemental Security Income (SSI): If you have little to no work history and limited financial resources, you may qualify for SSI, which provides a set monthly amount.

Medicare Coverage: If you’re approved for SSDI, you’ll become eligible for Medicare after a waiting period, ensuring you get medical care that you need now more than ever.

Medicaid Coverage: If you qualify for SSI, you automatically receive Medicaid, giving you immediate access to health care services.

When you’re struggling to make ends meet, these benefits are life changing.

To find out how you may qualify, get the Michigan Social Security Disability lawyers at Levine Benjamin Disability Law Firm to look at your situation for free.

To qualify for Social Security Disability benefits , you must prove—not just say, but prove with evidence—that you have severe health problems that make it impossible for you to work, and there’s no chance you could return to work in less than a year.

Your application for disability benefits requires special care. A few things can make it stronger. To improve your chances of approval:

• Make It Accurate—Be honest about your condition. Don’t exaggerate, but make sure Social Security understands how your condition seriously impacts your ability to work.
• Be Thorough—Provide all necessary details. This means a lot of details, including doctor’s statements, medical test results, descriptions of the job duties you’re no longer able to perform and more supporting evidence.
• Be Timely—Apply as soon as you realize you can’t work. The sooner you file, the sooner you can secure financial relief and potentially get more back pay for waiting. When you need to appeal a denial, you also face strict deadlines to file your appeal.
• Get Help—Work with a disability attorney in Michigan to ensure your application meets all the requirements, so you can rest easier knowing it’s being well taken care of.

Having a skilled Michigan disability lawyer means you have someone who understands what Social Security is looking for, knows what details to emphasize, and ensures your claim is as strong as possible.

When your financial stability is on the line, don’t take chances. Let us help you fight for the benefits you deserve and a better foundation for a life of independence and dignity
When you work with a disability lawyer, you pay no fee until you win benefits.

When health problems have disrupted your life, and you’re looking into Social Security Disability benefits, you’re full of questions.

Many have been down this path before. And the Michigan disability attorneys at Levine Benjamin know what some of the most common questions are about disability benefits.

We gathered answers here for you. See them below. To find out more about your specific situation, call us anytime.

Does My Health Problem Qualify for Social Security Disability?

Just about any medical condition can qualify for Social Security Disability. The exact diagnosis often isn’t the most important part. The key is that your health problem must be so severe that you can’t work.

Social Security keeps a list of impairments that qualify for benefits. Following the guidelines on that list can be a way to get disability. But it’s not the only, or even the most likely, way.

What you really have to do is show how your symptoms hinder your everyday life to the point that you couldn’t function in a job.

Can I Work and Still Get Social Security Disability?

Not much. Disability benefits are designed for people who can’t work. So if you’re working, you may be disqualified.

It’s possible to work a small amount, making under certain limits on income, and still get benefits. But any work could jeopardize your claim because Social Security could see it as a sign that you could work more.

Be careful how much you work and what kind of work you do if you want to get disability benefits. Run your situation by your Michigan disability lawyer.

Do I Have a Strong Case for Disability Benefits?

It’s one of the first things most people ask. To have a strong disability claim, you need strong medical evidence confirming the severity of your health problems.

Your reports from doctors, medical test results, records of hospitalizations and treatments must show that you have symptoms that clearly prohibit working.

If you know you can’t get through a workday because of physical or mental health problems, that’s when to start exploring a disability claim.

How Long Does It Take to Get Social Security Disability?

This is a sadly long process.

It can take several months to get an answer on your first application for disability benefits. It’s more months, or maybe a year, to appeal a denial and get an answer on that.

If you need multiple appeals, your disability claim can take well over a year.

Money is tight and waiting like this is hard. Two things to know:

• When you’re finally approved, you’ll receive a lump sum check for back pay covering much of the time you spent waiting. It can be a sizeable amount, so big financial relief can come at the end of the wait.
• In the meantime, you can take several steps to make ends meet. The Levine Benjamin disability attorneys gathered ideas for surviving the wait for benefits in a blog post.

What Is the Difference Between SSDI and SSI Benefits?

You might hear a lot of abbreviations thrown around in the world of Social Security Disability benefits.

Social Security runs two different disability benefits programs: SSDI and SSI.

Here’s how they’re different:

SSDI—Social Security Disability Insurance. This benefit covers people who can’t work because of bad health, and they have a history of working and paying a qualifying amount in Social Security taxes.

SSI—Supplemental Security Income. This benefit covers people who can’t work because of bad health, and they have little work history or haven’t worked in a long time, and they have few financial resources.

SSDI pays monthly checks based partly on the income you made when you worked, up to a limit. It usually pays more than SSI, which is based on a standard national rate for everyone.

In addition to monthly checks, SSDI provides early access to Medicare health coverage. When you qualify for SSI, you also qualify for Medicaid.

Why Should I Get a Lawyer to Help with Social Security Disability?

There’s no law that you have to have a lawyer to seek disability benefits.

But there is this:

The application process has thousands of rules. You need to submit evidence and make arguments for why you are legally qualified for benefits. Having a lawyer makes a huge difference.

Most people get denied and have to appeal. The process is deliberately hard, focused on weeding out anyone who doesn’t absolutely need benefits. An overwhelming number of people get denied. Appealing is a normal part of the process, and it’s much more legally complicated.

Going to a hearing with a judge is the best chance to win benefits. The highest approval rates tend to be when people make their case personally to a Social Security Disability judge on appeal. Your disability attorney in Michigan prepares you to testify, files your documents with the judge, and represents you throughout your hearing.

Your chances of approval can be greater with a lawyer. A government study found that people with representatives like lawyers at their hearings were almost three times more likely to win benefits than people without representation.

You only pay for your disability attorney if and when you win benefits. There’s little risk in working with a disability attorney. You pay no upfront fee. Your lawyer will work on your claim for no charge and only collect a fee if you win benefits. When you win, the attorney fee comes out of your back pay from Social Security, not your bank account, and the fee cannot exceed limits set by Social Security.

Talk to our Michigan disability attorneys for help with your claim.