There are specialists in basically every field. You can attempt to re-pipe your home yourself or you can hire a specialist, also known as a licensed plumber. Doing it yourself may be less expensive but also comes with the risk of you botching the job and ending up with inferior work.
The same can be said when it comes to handling your own disability case. The forms are available right there on the Social Security Administration’s website. You can trudge through them yourself and do your own submittal, but you risk getting denied for improperly filling out your forms.
“Hiring an attorney basically doubles your chances of being approved on your first try,” said Maria, a disability attorney in Melbourne, Florida. “The number one reason people get denied is lack of evidence followed by improper filing.”
The same holds true for an appeal. Appeals have a 1 in 4 chance of being approved, but if they are handled by a legal professional, that number doubles as well. This goes for all cases in all 50 U.S. States. Your attorney simply gets a cut of your payments until their legal fees are paid. They don’t get a dime unless you are approved.
Would you want to handle a criminal or large civil case without professional representation? The odds that you lose both also skyrocket if an attorney is not there to represent you. If you are injured in a slip-and-fall, do you trust yourself to present the best case against in court?
Why They are So Strict on the Application
The SSA only has about 50,000 employees actively reviewing cases. If you consider that over 2 million people per year file for disability, you can understand that they don’t have much time to go back-and-forth with the applicant. If the case before them is weak or not filled out properly, they simply deny it and give you the reason for the denial. You can appeal, but you better have your ducks in a row.
Bottom Line
Going at it alone makes life more complicated. Sure, you may save a few thousand dollars in legal fees, but the results you get may end up being lackluster. Hiring an attorney for anything to do with that is almost always your best move.
