REEVES’s REASONS WHY RAPID, REPETITIVE, RINGING THE PHONE WILL GET YOU NO RESULTS!!
Let me tell you why ‘BLOWING up’ someone’s phone NEVER works
Ok, before you start losing your mind, I don’t mean ‘LITERALLY’ blowing up someone’s phone so back off. That’s not what I’m talking about. I mean when you decide that calling several times a day or leaving multiple messages over a short period time is how you’re going to get someone to respond. Let me tell you that this course of action is NEVER a good thing.
Now, keep in mind this little point. Pretty much every state requires attorneys to keep their client’s informed. So we tend to be very accommodating to multiple calls (probably more than we should sometimes. lol). However, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to give my “REEVES’s REASONS WHY RAPID, REPETITIVE, RINGING THE PHONE WILL GET YOU NO RESULTS!!”
1) For every message left, they gotta listen to it.
I’m always amazed at the people who feel that they have to leave multiple messages. One message is usually fine. Even more so fascinating is the fact that so many people will leave LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG messages and then want to repeat the same information when they speak to the person. Remember, this is not necessary. More importantly, why would you leave a 3 minute message on Monday morning and then call BACK that afternoon to see if they got it OR to ask them about the message?? Give them a chance to read it.
2) Don’t assume that your caller id will appear on the person’s phone. Even if your number appears, do you really expect them to remember your number?
Remember, some phones have caller id which will only show your number. THAT’s IT! So don’t get an attitude if you call OVER and OVER again and you assume the person will recognize your number. When I worked for my old firm, I had over 1000 clients. Trust me, I’m doing good when I can remember family member and friend’s numbers on my cell phone. Do you really expect people who get calls all day every day to remember YOUR number by heart????
3) If they say 24, 48, or 72 hours, GIVE THEM THAT TIME TO RESPOND.
Most people make a point to let the caller know that they need to be given time to respond. Usually, this is done because the person has so many calls they receive, they want to have the ability to call back in a timely manner. So be reasonable. If the message says, “I’ll respond in 48 hours”, that means TWO DAYS!! So if you call on Monday morning and you get the message “I’ll respond in 48 hours”, WHY IN THE HELL ARE YOU CALLING MONDAY AFTERNOON?????? CHILL! Give the person a chance to respond.
4) Always remember the story about “The BOY WHO CRIED WOLF”
Now, like i said before, attorneys are different. We have a duty to communicate and keep our client informed. However, you have to be realistic, if you call on Monday and the person gives you a status and THEN you call on Tuesday and they give the same status and then you call on Wednesday and they give you the same status, you CAN’T be surprised if you call Thursday and they don’t call back right away. Keep things in their proper perspective. After a while, people may tone you out so be careful.
5) If you don’t leave a message, HOW will they know?
This happens ALOT. People confuse “making repeated calls” with “leaving repeated messages”. Don’t forget about point #2. You can’t assume that the person’s phones keeps tracks of the multiple calls you have made. More importantly, you can’t treat ‘calling multiple times’ like leaving messages. So before you get angry because you’ve called 10 times and never got a call back and you didn’t leave a message, ask yourself this question, ‘If you didn’t leave a message, HOW do you expect them know that you called multiple times?’
6) Don’t forget about the shoe.
Now, follow this example, you owe someone some money. You don’t have it. You are going to get it. You are going to reimburse the person. However, they are not sure you’re going to honor your word. So they call you every other day asking for the status of their money. GUESS what you’re going to do? First, you’re going to have an attitude because you don’t want anyone sweating you. Second, you’re going to ignore. Third, when you finally pay the money, you are NEVER going to bother that person EVER again. Now, REVERSE the role. See how easy it is to get stank with someone and FORGET that they have your interest at heart but you have to respect them and their time.
Now don’t get me wrong. As a professional, I understand the importance of making sure that people kept informed. Just keep things in their proper perspective. Sometimes, you have to understand that you must give the person you’re speaking to the opportunity to respond and once they have, you have to trust that it is not always necessary to ‘aggressively call them’. Trust me. They know you’re there.
Please don’t OVERTHINK those Social Security Disability forms!!
Like most administrative processes, Social Security Disability is VERY paper work heavy. After you have applied for disability benefits, you will receive a CRAP load of forms to complete. Work history forms, pain forms, mental forms, 3d party forms. If it relates to your condition, you will get a form about it.
However, I can’t tell you how many times people get these forms and LITERALLY lose their minds. Now, I’m not trying to be ’stank’ but these forms tends to frustrate people when they receive them.
In an attempt to calm your mind, here’s a few things to think about when you get these forms:
1) If you ADD stuff that you didn’t you didn’t previously mention, SSA will have to investigate
People always feel the need to “throw in the kitchen sink” when it comes to their conditions. I’m a firm believer that SSA needs to be aware of all conditions that affect your ability to work. However, you have to be smart. NOT every condition is going to affect your ability to work. So be mindful, focus your attention on those conditions that affect your ability to work. Remember, if you add it later, SSA is going to have to investigate it (Which means more time).
2) Keep copies so you can remember what you put before.
COPIES! COPIES! COPIES!! SSA will send you duplicate forms all the times. So unless you have a great memory, you’re probably not going to remember what you put on a form 3, 4, 5 or 6 months ago. Keep a copy so that you have something to refer to when the time comes.
3) It’s not that crucial. The question says what it says. DON’T READ INTO IT!!
If the question is asking “Can you cook your own meals”, that’s what the question SAYS!! These questions are not MISSION IMPOSSIBLE or 24. Stop spending so much time ANALYZING the question and thinking that you are going to ‘Out Smart’ SSA. Just answer what is being asked and move on.
4) If you don’t fill out the forms, you are just adding time to process.
So many times, I have people who refuse to fill out forms. These people either get mad because they are tired of filling out the forms or they think SSA has what they need. I got news for you. If you don’t fill out the forms, you’re either adding time to your process or risk getting a quick denial.
5) Say EXACTLY what it wants. NO MORE! NO LESS!!
This statement goes back to my “stop analyzing’ statement. IN addition, don’t use these forms as a chance to make your situation look worse than it is. If your back hurts 2 to 3 hours a day, don’t say that your back hurts 8 to 10 hours a day. Say what it actually is.
6) Stop whining about the fact that you filled out the same thing already. THAT’s THE IDEA!!!!
People, SSA is LOOKING for consistency in your statements. They are looking to see whether your statements regarding your condition (as you report it) is consistent. I know that it is easy to get frustrated when you keep filling out the same things over and over again. However, this paper work trail is designed to assist SSA in determining if your condition is the way you say it is.
7) Don’t stress about what you put down. You already sent it out so let it ride.
When you send the forms out, don’t lose your mind. You’ve written down everything so trust what you’ve written. Don’t stress on it. Just send it.
I know this post may seem a little harsh. Unfortunately, it is a necessary process and the system is not designed to BEAT you so don’t act like it is. Remember, you bear the burden of proving you are disabled. They won’t know unless you tell them accurately.
Why does it take so long to get a decision after a hearing for Social Security Disability?
The mystery of all great Social Security mysteries is WHY it takes so long to get a decision. Now, before you go and start blaming the government or your representative or your doctor, recognize a few things.
First, Social Security is in the process of going completely paperless. And let me tell you, this is going to shave a HUGE amount of time off of your case. Now, the local offices, the hearing office, and the medical determination offices all have the ability to look at your file for a variety of information. I don’t know how many of you have ever seen a file for someone who goes to the VA but WOW, back in the day, you could have a paper file that was HUGE (we’re talking 10 pounds easy). Now, everything you need can be put on a disk.
Second, with the processing being paperless, it is easier to transfer your file from place to place if need be. Back in the day, you had to literally MAIL the folder to the hearing office and then the office had to receipt the file. Imagine how long this process used to take.
Finally, Social Security is actively sharing the wealth. It used to be that one office would be responsible for an area and so, as you can imagine, some areas had smaller case loads than others. Now, Social Security is spreading the wealth to other offices and having hearings via video teleconference. You could live in Arkansas and have a judge from Washington (Trust me, the regulations are federal so they are world wide).
NOW, back to your question as to WHY it takes so long AFTER you have a hearing, here’s a few things to consider:
1) New records, not in evidence.
Remember, at the hearing level, YOU have the responsibility of providing records to the court. So you can imagine the number of times people get to court and either a) they bring in new records, b) they mention records that they need to get and the court to consider and/or c) they requested records and they are waiting for them. You have to remember that the courts want to make an informed decision. As such, the court may decide to allow you the opportunity to get those records. Now, I hope you don’t think that the judge has made their decision and will finish it up once you send them the records. The court has a duty to weigh ALL of your evidence so they have to look at what you provided and compare it to what’s in the file. This process may take a while.
2) CE
Follow me on this procedure. You’re in a hearing and the judge decides that you need to go to a Consultative Evaluation (don’t freak, this is usually in your best interest). SO, they order it in court. After the court hearing is over, one of their staff drafts the order. The judge signs it and tells you that you will be scheduled by a Medical Determination Service (this can take about 2 weeks to 3 weeks to get this letter). The Medical Determination Service gets this letter and then looks for the specific type of doctor that you need. They then schedule the appointment based on the doctor’s availability (This can take a few months) and then notify you. You go to the doctor. Within 30 days (usually), the doctor sends back a report to you (if you don’t have a rep) and the judge. You can either agree to it, contest it or ask for another one (you are usually given 10 days to respond). Then the judge has to consider this report with the other medical evidence. Now, in theory, from the time you had your court hearing to the appointment for the CE and the report to come back, at least 4 to 5 months have passed. And the court still has to review the findings. The judge could ask you to come back for another hearing.
3) Supplemental Hearing
Hear me when I say this “If the judge wants to have a SUPPLEMENTAL hearing, there’s not a DAMN THING you can do about it!”. People sometimes forget that the judges have a responsibility to ensure that the decisions properly weigh the evidence. As a result, the judge has the discretion to ask you to come back if he or she needs more info. TRUE STORY, I represented a client that had one hearing and two supplemental hearings after the first one. At the first hearing, the judge was reviewing the evidence and determined that we needed a vocational expert. At the second hearing, the judge determined we needed an additional psychiatric and neurological expert. I kid you NOT. It took a year and a half to go through all 3 hearings AND receive the decision. Now, that’s not a YEAR and A HALF from the start of claim. That’s just the hearing process from the date of the hearing. Supplemental hearings like this one are rare but they can happen.
4) Conflicting evidence
IT is AMAZING how people don’t realize that sometimes, the hardest part of the case is when there is evidence that is conflicting. What do I mean by “Conflicting”? For instance, you got one doctor that says you have bad breathing problems and that even if you stop smoking, you would be in bad shape. You got another doctor saying that you would be better if you stopped smoking. Two different doctors saying two different things. WHO do you believe? Now, that example was clear cut but there are many other times when your medical records provides conflicting information and the judge responsibility of trying to resolve this conflict. Unfortunately, you can’t do this quickly.
5) DAA
DAA – Drugs AND Alcohol. I’ve seen some GREAT cases drag out because somebody wouldn’t put the bottle down or get off the pipe. And just to let you know, Marijuana is only medicinal if it’s PRESCRIBED, not because the ganja makes you feel better about your conditions. As a result, people fail to recognize that anytime you are using Drugs and Alcohol, the court has to determine if this materially affects your ability to return to work. It’s one thing if you haven’t used drugs or alcohol in years. It’s another if you just got off the pipe last week and you want the court to consider that the fact that you’ve been clean for 7 days.
6) Large case load (the Judge to the Writer to the Editor to the Judge THEN to you)
Bottom LINE, my friends, Judges have a HUGE case load. As a result, it takes a while to receive a written decision. Here’s how it will go. The judge has to review the evidence and make a decision. The decision is sent to a decision writer. The decision writer is usually writing for several judges which means that they probably process their decision based on age (the oldest first). After the decision is written, the judge has to review. If it’s cool, it goes to the editor. Back to the judge for a signature and THEN, to you! See, I told it takes a while!
7)Once it’s in the judge’s hand, there is nothing your representative can do (most of the time).
If you have a representative, please recognize that there is probably nothing more than can do. They have gotten all of the evidence into the court. It’s in the court’s hands. More importantly, there is nothing YOU can do. So please don’t think that you calling the court every day or sending faxes to the court is going to make a difference. At the end of the day, the process must go through. Now, i know you noticed that I said there is nothing your representative can do (most of the time). If you have a critical situation (ie foreclosure or eviction), your representative may be able to ask the court to expedite the case. In some instances, the court may permit your representative to file a proposed decision (if it’s favorable). However, everything rides and falls with the court.
I know this process is a beast but it’s the only one we have so you need to be aware of the pitfalls and the perils of the process so you don’t get too overwhelmed.
What happens after you file a claim for Social Security benefits and beyond!
Alright, so you get the word. You have an appointment with Social Security coming up. You got your papers. You got everything you need. You go to your appointment. Now what?:
1) Make sure you complete what they give you and send it back.
In some situations, Social Security is going to probably give some forms to sign. These forms are designed to assist Social Security in obtaining the records and information that they need for you. If you DON’T complete this information, Social Security can’t develop your case. If that happens, your case could be closed for lack of evidence or failure to comply.
2) Your case may be LEAVING SSA to DDS.
Depending on your state, once Social Security has your forms, your case may be referred to a state agency responsible for developing your case. This agency is called the Disability Determination Services.
3) What does it mean “DEVELOP my case”??
When you apply for Social Security Disability, you are indicating that you are DISABLED. In order to determine if you ARE disabled, they need to get your medical records. In essence, they have to develop your file to determine if you have medical records to support your disability.
4) There is no time line so stop being a pest.
Social Security recognizes that they have a lot of cases so they take every effort to aggressively push their cases forward. However, they don’t drag their feet because they are trying to keep you back. In most cases, Social Security and DDS are awaiting the evidence they need to make a determination. So the WAIT is what they are doing as well.
5) Get your point of contacts right (i.e. 3d parties)
Most people don’t realize that part of the delay in your case is due to lack of response from your 3d parties (you know, the people you listed that Social Security could talk to about your case). Make sure you inform your third parties that they may be getting a call from Social Security about YOU!
6) Get your doctors right (i.e. medical records)
Docs get request for records ALLLLLLL the time so please take the time to make sure you inform them that these request are on the way so they can make the effort to ensure the records are available. Here’s a little tip for you. Social Security works on a budget just like any other organization so they are not going to pay $200 to $400 and above for a huge file on you.
7) They have to consider everything so if you SAY it, they will consider it.
You have to think about what it is that keeps you from being able to work. The law regards the Social Security Administration to consider your combination of impairments. With that being said, be careful. If you mention something new every time they talk to you, Social Security is going to investigate it and THAT may take time.
YOU don’t run the show. THEY do!
Alot of times, CLAIMANTs will want to TELL SSA or DDS exactly what it is that is keeping them from working and what specifically they need to look at in terms of medical records. In other words, if you’ve been to 4 doctors but one of them says you’re disabled, you may tell SSA or DDS to ignore those other 3 because the one that says you’re disabled is the one they should focus. NOT! Social Security has to consider everything.
9) I got a DENIAL! Now what?
APPEAL! APPEAL! APPEAL! Most people don’t realize that you don’t get your best opportunity for results unless you appeal your case. Take it to the next step.
10) If I appeal, what happens?
Depending on the state, you either case will be re-reviewed (Reconsideration) or go before a Judge (Hearing). If it’s reconsidered, you will go through the whole process again so they can determine if they got it wrong. If it’s a hearing, it goes from the Local Office to the Hearing office for a hearing date.
The biggest thing that you need to know is that you need to be patient. The process is not short but be mindful that YOU may do things that may cause the process to go on longer.
