By: Darrell Castle
You will have to go to court for your Social Security Disability application, but not like you’re thinking
Video Transcript
If you file for Social Security Disability, do you have to go to court?
Hi, this is Darrell Castle and I’m an attorney licensed to practice law in the state of Tennessee and the answer to that question is yes…and no.
YES, you have to go to a hearing. But NO, it’s not as formal as what you think of as court. Though it is a hearing in front of an administrative law judge, it’s normally in something like a conference room or something like that – not really a court room setting.
When you go into that hearing, hopefully you’ll have a lawyer — you should anyway — and that judge, or you lawyer, will ask you certain questions. They’ll want to know the basics about you — your name, your age, the last grade you attended in school and things of that nature. And they want to know about your work and what you did there. What was your work life like? Did you have to pick up things? Did you have to bend, stand, walk and did you supervise other people? All those things are important and are things you’ll probably be asked.
Now, they also ask you about your doctors. What are the doctors you’ve seen in your life? Did they perform surgery? Are they planning to perform surgery in the future? How about medication? What kind of medications are you on?
Now, in addition to that, the judge will want to know your limitations. Can you walk long distances? Can you walk any distances? Can you bend over? Can you touch your toes? Or whatever.
He’s not going to ask you do those things but he’s going to ask you questions — or your lawyer will ask you questions — about your physical limitations.
In addition, the judge is going to want to know, what is a day in your life like? What do you do in a normal day? Do you cook? Do you clean? Do you chase the kids? What do you do for a normal day?
Finally, one of the most important things that you can get across to the judge — and this could be presented by your attorney if you have one, which you should — what your life is like now. How has this disability affected you?
Are you in constant pain all day? You used to play golf but now you can’t. You used to chase your kids and your grandkids but now you can’t. You so much enjoyed playing basketball in the backyard with your teenage son but now you can’t. All of those things and the way it’s affected your life is all very important and those things should be presented to the judge by your lawyer, folks. You need to have one.
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