5 Questions to Ask Before Selecting an SSDI Advocate

Summary: Selecting an SSDI advocate is an important step to ensure you get the benefits you’re entitled to. It’s always a good idea to take the process seriously and ask the right questions in order to find an SSDI advocate that will get you the results you need.

Table of Contents

Introduction

1. How does your firm get paid?
2. Who will be managing my case?
3. How will you help me?
4. What do you expect of me?
5. Will you be available after my case is approved?

Selecting a social security disability (SSD) advocate is an important step in obtaining the money you deserve. When you become ill or suffer an injury that keeps you from working you are eligible to make an SSDI claim. However, your claim may be denied if you don’t provide the right medical evidence and other relevant information during the initial applications process. Choosing an advocate with experience handling SSDI applications is the best way to avoid delays as well as denial.

An SSDI advocate decreases the risk applications are denied using proven methods to meet the demands of strict rules followed by social security administration (SSA). Finding an effective advocate is just as important as the application process itself. Here we offer five questions you should ask to ensure your disability advocate can help you receive your SSDI benefits in a timely manner.

1. How does your firm get paid?

Just like a good personal injury lawyer doesn’t get paid until they win your case, a good disabilities advocate won’t expect payment unless your case is approved. An advocate company should have a standard fee agreement based on the retroactive benefits you are owed. In this case, SSA withholds 25% of the retroactive benefits to pay the fee which should be no more than the maximum allowed by SSA in a standard fee agreement, which is currently $6000.00.

Then your advocate is paid directly from the money they withhold. This makes it easier on you, while also protecting you. You are protected because SSA has to approve the fee agreement prior to paying the fee. Your advocate can request payment for expenses such as medical records, copy fees and postage, however, if an advocate requests payment in advance of assisting you, this is a red flag they are not working in your best interests.

2. Who will be managing my case?

This might not seem important, but it actually can make or break your approval. Responsible advocates do have a team to help manage their practices. Without them, all the legwork and administrative tasks take up too much of the advocate’s time, but this doesn’t mean the qualified professionals in the firm aren’t doing the work. Instead, they focus on overseeing the management of your cases with their support staff often handling time-consuming and tedious communications with SSA. They also offer assistance to you.

Advocates themselves focus on the cases coming in and the likelihood that those cases will be approved. They focus on the main issues of your case and assure the integrity of the disability process with SSA. You always want access to your advocate or to the person whose name is on the paperwork you sign. A good advocate uses their skills to focus on the case and ensures their staff is well trained in working directly with the SSA. At Princeton we never overburden our staff with cases we can’t win or by taking more cases than we can manage. If we are working with you it is because we believe there is a chance we can help you obtain benefits and want to assist you. We use our four decades of experience to ensure approval, with our highly experienced staff helping manage your case with the attention it deserves.

3. How will you help me?

An advocate’s job is complicated. They don’t just handle the initial steps of your application for disability. They also must handle all correspondence with SSA on your behalf. The process is fraught with paperwork, confirmations, questions and ongoing communication before and after your case is developed. Therefore, your advocate should help you complete and submit your application ensuring all the documents and forms are obtained and presented.

This ensures the SSA has everything they need. Princeton Disability takes painstaking steps to ensure they respect the integrity of the disability process. We use a specially designed questionnaire addressing all the questions the SSA tends to ask. The more thorough your application, the fewer questions they have and the fewer delays there are for your case. Our custom questionnaires better support the process to avoid delays in the first place. The questionnaires also make the whole process easier on you as you’ll understand the medical records and additional information required to support your case.

4. What do you expect of me?

You might be thinking you are hiring an advocate, so you don’t have to do anything, but you still play a key role in completing the SSDI benefits application process. Therefore, your advocate should explain what they expect of you. This includes:

• Updating your advocate when you go to the doctor or hospital.
• Providing information on medication changes.
• Sharing any relevant information you receive in the mail.
• Answering questions as the application process begins, to clarify information or details provided.

If this seems like too much work, you can appoint a friend or loved one to communicate with your advocate instead. While working with an advocate, they might ask you to be patient with communications. It is not uncommon for requests for information to be processed over a few days.

Also, the SSA does not move quickly, which can add even more time to process items regarding your case. Ensuring you or someone you trust is available to work with your social security disability advocate is the best way to avoid the appeals process because of denied SSDI applications.

5. Will you be available after my case is approved?

Many advocate firms aren’t available to answer questions about your case once it is approved. Although you might be thinking you won’t need them anymore, there are many scenarios where questions might come up. Our advocates are always available to help with questions regarding your SSDI benefits, before, during and after the approval process. While other advocates are not willing to help during the post-award processes because they are focusing on new cases, we offer free Medicare information and Insurance products in hand with ongoing advice for all our social security disability benefits clients. We can also point you in the right direction with other questions you may have regarding your SSDI benefits. We welcome your questions, anytime after your case is approved.

At Princeton Disability Advocates, our team works hard to ensure you receive the benefits you deserve. We understand that Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) is designed to protect you when you experience physical or mental impairments that prevent you from working, and that selecting an SSDI advocate can be a challenging process. You have earned the right to those benefits if you have worked and contributed to SSDI on your paychecks. As your SSD Advocate, we help you navigate the difficult road of Social Security Disability and attain the benefits to which you are entitled. Click here to reach out to our team today.