I just want to thank all those who served or is now serving in our armed forces.  We should all take some time to thank our veterans and current service personnel and their families for their sacrifice to keep us free.  Regardless of what your position is on the current wars we should all support the men and women who are doing their duty.  If you know someone in the military or who has served in the past take the time to thank them.  If you see a person in uniform let them know you appreciate the sacrifices they have made or are making.  Remember it is the sacrifice of the soldier that keeps our lives and freedom safe.  Most importantly please also take a moment to remember those who have made the ultimate sacrifice.  Have a fun Memorial Day but don't forget what it means.

Many times the most important person in your ssdi or ssi claim is your treating doctor.  In this post I will explain some ways you can make things easier for your doctor to help you.  Don't rely on SSA to get your medical records and RFC forms.  They will usually not get the rfc forms and do a not so great job of getting all your records.  You should inform your doctor of your disability claim and let him know he will be receiving request for his or her records.  Bring your doctor the appropriate rfc form to fill out on a scheduled visit.  This way the doctor is paid for his time and can do any evaluation of you for the forms at that time.  I also recommend, if you have the money, to pay the doctor for his report or records if it is reasonable.  Doctors have allot of patients to take care of and their time is valuable.  If you are having trouble getting your records mention it to him on your next visit but try not to get angry.  Chances are it is the doctor's staff that may have not processed your request.  Remember that your doctor plays a very important part in your Social Security Disability claim so be polite but be persistent.

One new thing that the Social Security Administration is testing is the possibility of lawyers being able to have disability hearings by video conference from their office.  I suspect if this does become an option it will first be used by the big disability firms since I imagine the equipment to do this will be expensive.  But as the technology becomes cheaper I can envision a day when many small firms will also be able to do this.  I see a couple of advantages for the claimant if this becomes a reality.  First, I think it could reduce some of the backlog and therefore decrease wait times for hearings.  I think it would probably allow for a more hearings to be scheduled if they allow the attorneys to schedule a bunch of their hearings for a particular day.  The other advantage I see is that claimants would probably be much more comfortable in their lawyers office than a hearing room.  I will keep my eye on this and report anything I hear.

I have just started a new website for veterans looking for answers about their disability claims.  You can find a link to it from my page on veterans disability.  When the site is finished it should provide a wealth of information on VA claims.  I am extremely excited about the idea of finally being able to help veterans with their disability claims as I have for so long for those trying to get Social Security Disability.  If you are looking for help with your claim feel free to contact me and I would be glad to discuss your case.

This post is to update you on the new rules which allow veterans to hire lawyers.  The rule as it stands now is that a veteran can hire a lawyer after the first BVA decision if they get that lawyer with in one year of that decision.  However, if a notice of disagreement is filled on June 20, 2007 or later the veteran can hire a lawyer at that point.  A veteran can hire an attorney for any court work as well.  This can all be kind of confusing so if you have any questions feel free to e-mail me.  The next question might be what will lawyers charge for their services.  This will depend on the individual lawyer but the law says the fee must be reasonable.  A fee of no more than 20% is considered presumptively reasonable.  I would guess that most attorneys will charge 20% of past due benefits for most cases.

I am posting today from the conference on veterans disability in New Orleans.  I have been really looking forward to this conference since Veterans will be able to hire lawyers for their disability claims starting in June.  The conference is sold out so I assume many lawyers who handle Social Security Disability claims are here to learn the ins and outs of a VA claim.  I personally am looking forward to being able to help veterans pursue their disability claims.  I believe this new law that allows vets to hire lawyers will benefit Veterans.  I can only speak from my experience in Social Security Law that the advantages of having an attorney are many.  Statistics show that in Social Security claims those that have a representative win at a higher percentage at hearing than those who do not.  I expect that the same will be true for Veterans.  I will post some information from the conference each day.  I will soon be adding more information to my site about this very important area of law.

I have included many new things to this site.  I have added a few states and have included a few new medical condition pages.  I will soon be adding a section on Long Term Disability.  I have also added a mental RFC form and updated the physical RFC form.  I have already received e-mails from many of you about how the website has helped you win your claim.  I appreciate hearing how the site has helped.  It motivates me to continue to post new information almost everyday.  This site is still very young and far from complete and I will continue to add new information that I think may benefit anyone pursuing disability benefits.