10 Costly Mistakes That Can Ruin Your Social Security Disability Claim [sample]

8/10/2019 10 Costly Mistakes That Can Ruin Your Social Security Disability Claim [sample]

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10 Costly Mistakesthat can Ruin

Your Social SecurityDisability Claim

And How to Avoid Making Them

By

Michael SullivanandKenneth L. Hardison

THIS IS AN ADVERTISEMENTKentucky does not certify legal specialtiesOthers in firm may perform some services

Main office- Louisville, KY


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Legal Questions? Go to www.michaelsullivanlaw.com

THIS IS AN ADVERTISEMENT

Co-Authored, revised, and edited by Michael P. Sullivan, November 2010, minor revision Sept. 2012

MICHAEL P. SULLIVAN, ATTORNEYSullivan Law Office1500 Story AveLouisville KY 40206(502) 587-0228(888) 587-0228

Michael Sullivan is an attorney licensed to practice in Kentucky.

Kentucky does not certify specialties of legal practice. KenHardison is an attorney licensed in North Carolina

Original Copyright 2008 by Kenneth L. HardisonAll rights reserved.

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any mannerwhatsoever without the written permission of the author.

Printed in the United States of America.

Copyediting and Composition by Valerie Cole

ISBN: 978-0-615-19016-7Library of Congress Control Number: 2008924447

Hardison & Associates4800 Six Forks Road, Suite 220Raleigh, NC 27609www.lawyernc.com

THIS IS AN ADVERTISEMENTKentucky does not certify legal specialtiesOthers in firm may perform some servicesMain office- Louisville, KY


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Legal Questions? Go to www.michaelsullivanlaw.com


About the Author- Michael P. Sullivan

Michael Sullivan was inspired by his father who was a

lawyer and a solo-practitioner. His father devoted his practice primarily to Social Security Disability cases. After Michaelgraduated from Law School, he began his legal career workingwith his father. Over time, Michael has expanded the practice,yet still maintained that strong focus in disability law.

Michael has an undergraduate degree in ElectricalEngineering, and a Masters Degree in Electrical Engineering.

He worked for a few years in engineering, and returned toacademics to study law. He attended the University School ofLaw at the University of Louisville and graduated in 1990.

Michaels background in engineering has provided aknowledge base that helps him better prepare, track, and presentcases. The heavy academic concentration in science andmathematics also provided a foundation to better understandcomplex medical issues, which is generally the crux of mostcases. Also, the science training that demands attention to detail-always helps.

Michael has been a presenter of local seminars on SocialSecurity law, was past Section Chair for the Social SecuritySection of the local bar association, and regularly attendsnational training seminars in disability law. He has an active

practice and still personally attends disability hearings.

Michael P. Sullivan is a licensed attorney who practiceslaw in Kentucky for Sullivan Law Office. Michael was licensedin April, 1991. Sullivan Law Office is located in both Louisvilleand Lexington, Kentucky, although the staff and attorneys travelfrequently for cases. They service the Louisville and SouthernIndiana area, Lexington Kentucky, as well as many surroundingcounties. They also travel even further in some cases.


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1 Legal Questions? Go to www.michaelsullivanlaw.com


10 COSTLY MISTAKES THAT CAN RUINYOUR SOCIAL SECURITY DISABILITY CLAIM

AND HOW TO AVOID MAKING THEM

Thank you for buying or requesting this book. We believe you will find it helpful, and we would appreciateyour comments.

If you have recently become injured or ill, andcannot work anymore, chances are, youre worrying about

what you should do next. You may also be feeling angry,frustrated, or just wondering if there is a simple way tohandle your unfortunate situation.

You may be asking these questions: Can I trust thegovernment to take care of me? How do I deal with theSocial Security Administration? Should I get a lawyer?

Will I lose any benefits because I didnt follow the complexgovernment rules? Can I apply and work anymore?

If any of these questions have occurred to you, thenkeep reading. Our hope is that this book will answer manyof your questions, and that it will ease some of your stressand frustration.

The United States Government created the SocialSecurity Administration for the purpose of providing asense of financial security and inner-peace to aging anddisabled Americans. It is social promise from generation togeneration.

Sadly, those who need help the most areexperiencing just the opposite everyday as they fight toobtain their well-deserved benefits. Years of under-funding


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of the Social Security Administrations day-to-dayoperations has resulted in enormous backlogs of deniedclaims that are awaiting appeal hearings. Certainly, the

agency is working to reduce the backlog, but in spite oftheir efforts, people suffer every day.

If you are reading this book, more than likely youare either already in the process of trying to obtain SocialSecurity benefits or you are considering your options forfiling for benefits.

You may have already been denied and arewondering why, after all your years of hard work andhanding part of your paycheck over to the government, youare being denied benefits which are rightfully yours. Youmay be a parent wondering why your child is being deniedsupplemental benefits when he or she is clearly suffering

from one or more very serious impairments. If you havehad these thoughts, or if you are just interested in learningmore about the Social Security disability claims process,read on.

We have written this book so that consumers couldhave good, solid information before hiring an attorney ordealing with the Social Security Administration. You maywonder why we went to the effort to write this book, andwhy we are giving it to Kentucky and Indiana residents forfree? Let us try to explain further.

Most attorneys require you to make an appointment,during which you would get some of the information thatwe are providing here. You might even fell pressured intosigning a contract. We believe that you should be able tohave this information right now, and without any pressure.


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The hiring of an attorney to represent you is an extremelyimportant step that should not be taken lightly, and should

be done with no pressure on you.

Also, this method of talking to you saves us time.Weve packed a lot of information into this book, and itsaves us and our employees the hours of time that it wouldtake each day just to talk to all of the new potential clientswho contact us. We cannot and we will not accept everycase, and each day we unfortunately turn down Social

Security cases that simply do not meet our case selectioncriteria.

So, rather than cut you short on the phone, writingthis book gives us a chance to tell you what you need toknow so that you can make an informed decision aboutwhat steps to take with your case. Even if we do not accept

your case, we still want you to be better educated about theSocial Security process. The more you know, the better protected you become, and you will make better decisions.

We Do Not Give Legal Advice in this Book!

Even though we may know many of the argumentsthe big government agencies are going to make in yourclaim, we simply do not give legal advice in this book. Wecan offer only general suggestions and identify certain

pitfalls and traps, but please do NOT take anything in this book to be legal advice specific to your own situation.You really do need specific legal advice, tailored to yourown particular fact pattern. This book is really onlydesigned to give you some insight into the disability

process. The book presents the legal concepts in asimplified fashion to ease your understanding.


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If a prospective client and our firm do moveforward with a formal attorney-client relationship, we willmake the existence of a formal relationship quite clear, and

we always memorialize that relationship in writing. Absentthat writing, there is no attorney-client relationship.

Important Notice:

We do not want to interfere with any legalrelationship you might have now. If you are already

represented by a lawyer, this book may raise certainquestions for you. Please discuss these questions with yourcurrent lawyer. Each law firm does things a little differently,and small differences dont mean that we are right, and yourlawyer is wrong. In fact, we are not suggesting that we areany better than any other lawyer out there.

If you are having some type of problems with yourlawyer, I encourage you to sit down with him or her and tryto work things out. It is usually better to work out problemsand stay with your original lawyer, than to switch lawyers

part way through your claim. My firm sometimes willaccept a case in which another attorney had already beeninvolved and is no longer counsel of record. However, thisis a unique situation. Please do not ask us to simply takeyour case away from another lawyer. The local legalcommunity is too small for us to come anywhere close tointerfering with anybody's relationship.

THE BASICS

We find that the best way to begin understanding acomplicated concept is to start with the basics. We will start

10 Costly Mistakes That Can Ruin Your Social Security Disability Claim [sample]

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