Social Security increase coming in 2012!
Good news. Individuals on Social Security will be getting a cost of living increase in 2012. And it won’t be a meager .7 % as initially thought:
Social Security recipients will get a raise in January — their first increase in benefits since 2009.
…
Based on consumer prices in July and August, the COLA for 2012 would be about 3.5 percent. Vlasenko estimates the COLA will be from 3.5 percent to 3.7 percent.
Via Washington Post.
UPDATE: The number is out, and it’s 3.6%.
UPDATE: SSI benefits are going up in 2012 from a maximum of $674 per month for individuals (and $1011 per …
Winning Social Security disability benefits after age 50
If you are 50 years old or older, Social Security makes it easier to prove your disability case. Individuals between 18 and 49 meet a tougher standard discussed in this article.
Starting at age 50, and then again at age 55 and 60, Social Security lowers the requirements for proving disability. The rationale is that the older you are, the harder it is to work in a job that you have never done before.
After age 50, Social Security can approve you for disability benefits even though you are able to do some type of work.
The older you are, the more physically demanding the work can be and still allow you qualify for disability benefits.
However, this is not a free pass and do not leave this article before you read the “gotchas” at the bottom.
Social Security told to slow down decisions?
Do you think Social Security is working too fast processing Social Security disability claims. Someone apparently thinks so. Writing in the Wall Street Journal, Damian Paletta reports:
Social Security judges and employees in Florida, Alabama, Colorado, Georgia, Tennessee, Ohio and Arizona were among those instructed to set aside disability cases this week, with the slowdown allowing managers to boost their performance numbers for the coming fiscal year, which starts Monday.
Top officials, in a bid to meet goals to win promotions or thousands of dollars in bonuses, directed many employees to refrain from issuing decisions on cases until next week, according to judges and union officials.
How did Social Security judges respond?
Are earnings in WTU considered SGA for Social Security disability benefits?
The touchstone in disability cases is the ability to work. More specifically, the test is whether an individual can perform a Substantial Gainful Activity (SGA). One of the first tests of whether work is SGA is earnings.
In 2012, earnings of $1,010 per month (before taxes) suggests the work is SGA. However there are exceptions to this. One of these is for sheltered work as defined in 20 CRF404.1574(a)(3).
If you are working in a sheltered workshop, you may or may not be earning the amounts you are being paid. The fact that the sheltered workshop or similar facility is operating at a loss or is receiving some charitable contributions or governmental aid does not establish that you are not earning all you are being paid. Since persons in military service being treated for severe impairments usually continue to receive full pay, we evaluate work activity in a therapy program or while on limited duty by comparing it with similar work in the civilian work force or on the basis of reasonable worth of the work, rather than on the actual amount of the earnings.
The idea behind sheltered work is that an individual may not be earning all of what they are being paid. The value of the individual’s work may be half (or a different percentage) of the amount actually paid. The amount paid over the value of the work is a subsidy. Social Security only counts the value of the work and not the subsidy in determining if the work is SGA.
For may injured soldiers, before discharge from their branch of service, they may be placed into a Warrior Transition Unit (WTU) or similar program. While the soldier’s salary stays the same, the duties are greatly reduced.
Can I get Social Security disability without losing income?
I was recently asked the following question:
I need my job to survive. I can’t quit. I have some vacation days and sick time, but it is not enough to go without pay until they tell me I qualified.
How do I still work and file for SS Disability without loosing any income?
I have previously discussed working while applying for disability benefits. However, this question presents some new issues. Generally, I consider transferring from work to Social Security disability with no loss of income as an unrealistic goal. Here is why:
The processing time on an initial claim is about 4-6 months (in Colorado).
The test of disability under Social Security is an inability to perform work (at a substantial gainful activity level). So, working at SGA, after considering the exceptions) is a problem. Note: if an individual works below SGA level, it would not be a bar to receiving disability benefits. However, any work is still be an issue.
Social Security requires that a disability be expected to last 12 months or longer. This is the “durational requirement.” While Social Security does not require that a person is out of work (or working below the SGA level) for 12 months, Social Security can deny cases if it feels that while a person is currently disabled, but is unlikely to remain disabled for 12 months.
There is also the 5 month waiting period (on SSDI claims), during which SSA withholds the first 5 months of benefits. If the alleged onset date is the last date an individual worked, Social Security would still keep the first 5 months of benefits. So, even if an individual is approved within 30 days of applying, there may still be a waiting period in which no benefits are paid. Note: this only applies in SSDI case (there is no waiting period in SSI cases). However, SSI cases do not pay benefits before the filing date.
If you have read all that and digested the information in the links, you have a pretty good idea of what you are up against.
SSR 11-1p: can’t appeal and reapply for Social Security disability
A number of attorneys suggest that if you are denied at your Social Security disability hearing, you should do two things:
Appeal the Administrative Law Judge’s (ALJ’s) decision to the Social Security Appeals Council, and
File a new claim for Social Security disability benefits.
The idea was that the new claim would be evaluated by Social Security until it got to the hearing level, the the old claim was pending on appeal. There were pros and cons to this approach.
Since cases often take in excess of 18 months at the Appeals Council, some advised to start the ball rolling on a new claim (which might get approved sooner).
The problem was that a denial on the new claim might reinforced the correctness of the prior hearing denial which is being appealed.
Also, if the new claim got to the hearing level, it was put on hold until the Appeals Council decided on the appeal of the prior hearing decision.
If the Appeals Council denied the appeal, it might have a chilling effect on the new claim’s chances waiting to be heard at the hearing office.
Well, all this is a thing of the past.
With SSR 11-01p, Social Security now effectively makes you pick whether to appeal OR start a new claim.
Social Security Hearing Judge Approval Rates
The rates cover September 25, 2010 through July 29, 2011 and provide:
Total number of decision.
Full approvals.
Partially favorable approvals.
Denials.
The chart also lets you sort by each column. So, if you want to see how your judge stacks up to the other judges in the same hearing office, click the second column to sort by ODAR office.
Social Security Ruling: Documenting and Evaluating Disability in Young Adults
September 10, 2011 saw the second SSR issued for 2011 (effective September 12, 2011). You can also view and download the entire ruling as a PDF here.
SSR 11-2p deals with Documenting and Evaluating Disability in Young Adults. Much of the ruling is a summary of how Social Security should evaluate cases for claimants with ages between 18 and 25. However, there are several interesting items:
First, the ruling makes it clear that evidence generated during childhood (before the 18th birthday) can be relevant in an adult claim.
Social Security Judge Told Me She Approved My Disability
I was recently asked the following question:
The judge at my husband’s hearing said she was going to approve him. She said she would get his letter to him in the next 2 or 3 weeks, but NO letter yet.
Since she approved him during his hearing when will his benefits start?
Social Security cannot process benefits until a decision is entered. While judges can issue a “bench decision” by orally entering a ruling into the record at the hearing, this is fairly rare.
More commonly, when a judge tells a claimant how the s/he is going to rule, that is not the decision. It is …
Is a Social Security disability hearing without a Vocational Expert a bad sign?
I was recently asked what it meant that the Administrative Law Judge did not have a Vocational Expert (VE) testify at an individual’s Social Security hearing.
What happens when the administrative law judge does not call the vocational expert to the hearing. Why would the judge do that?
Well, I can’t tell you “why” the judge didn’t have VE. Some judges use VEs all the time, others do not. A VE provides evidence (testimony) about steps 4 & 5 of the sequential evaluation process.
Social Security to go “broke” in 2017
AP reports Social Security may run out of funds to fullyfund Social Security disability benefits as early as 2017:
New congressional estimates say the trust fund that supports Social Security disability will run out of money by 2017, leaving the program unable to pay full benefits, unless Congress acts.
…
The trustees who oversee Social Security are urging Congress to shore up the disability system by reallocating money from the retirement program, just as lawmakers did in 1994. If Congress does not act, the disability program will collect only enough payroll taxes to pay about 85 percent of benefits after the trust fund is exhausted in 2017.
So, Social Security may not have …
Social Security widow’s benefits for divorced spouse
Can a divorced husband or wife collects Social Security survivor’s benefits (widow’s or widow’s benefits) after a divorce?
Yes, in some circumstances, they can.
Here is a summary of the requirements:
You had to be married for at least 10 years before the divorce became final.
You are at least 60 years old; or you are at least 50 years old and have a disability.
If you are at least 50 and have a disability, the disability had to start not later than 7 years after the insured died or 7 years after you were last entitled to mother’s or father’s benefits or to widow’s or widower’s benefits based upon a disability, whichever occurred last.
You are not entitled to an old-age benefit that is equal to or larger than the insured person’s primary insurance amount
You are unmarried, unless for benefits for months after 1983 you meet one of the following conditions:
You remarried after you became 60 years old; or
You are now age 60 or older and you remarried after age 50 but before attaining age 60 AND at the time of the remarriage, you were entitled to widow’s or widower’s benefits as a disabled widow or widower; or
You are now at least age 50 but not yet age 60 and you remarried after attaining age 50 AND you are disabled AND your disability began within the specified time of subsection c in the regulation listed below.
Want an even simpler version? Here is a short and sweet version (with the exceptions cut out):
Social Security lawyers and percent won
Do you know how to find a good lawyer? How about asking:
What percentage of cases do you win?
A high percentage of wins sounds good to many people. However, it doesn’t necessarily mean you will get a good lawyer.
Let me let you in a secret: lawyers know high percentages impress people. A lawyer with a 99% success record sounds better than one who wins 75% of cases. It is good marketing to keep a high percentage of wins. Not good “lawyering”, good “marketing.” That means lawyers may do anything to keep their percentages up.
How do lawyers keep a high percentage of wins? By turning away cases that may lose. That means, not …
Does adoption cut off survivor’s benefits for children?
I previously wrote about when a child qualifies for survivor’s benefits. I was recently asked if adoption stops Social Security survivor’s benefits for a child.
If a child receives benefits from a deceased parent and is adopted by a step parent, can he still receive benefits from the deceased parent?
I had to confer with colleagues familiar with this topic.
Adoption after entitlement to benefits is not a terminating event.
However, adoption prior to entitlement to benefits might prevent entitlement. There are cases which have gone either way. It depends on the laws in the State where the worker died and other circumstances.
It is always a good idea to check with your local Social Security …
Is a 504 plan or IEP enough to win Social Security children’s benefits
My Colorado law office handled a number of Social Security disability benefits for children. Often parents have a 504 plan or an IEP (Individualized Education Program) from the school. Parents often ask me if this is enough to have their child approved for children’s disability benefits.
Unfortunately, typically not. While a 504 plan or an IEP is good evidence and often contains useful information about the child’s disability, it is often not enough by itself.
There is no single formula for winning a disability case. There is a wide range of possible …
