If you think you may be eligible for disability benefits, we can help you file your application online or appeal any denial you may have received.

Apply as soon as you and your doctors agree that your disability is going to last a full year. You are not eligible for Social Security Disability benefits if your condition is not expected to last a full year. However, if you have been denied because Social Security believes your disabling condition is temporary, our attorneys may be able to speak with your doctors and get the right kind of evidence to show your condition is more permanent and will satisfy the one-year requirement. Others, who have been struggling to work in spite of a disability and know the condition is not going away, should apply as soon as work activity stops or falls to part-time levels.

To determine your number of credits, Social Security uses your total yearly earnings. The amount needed for one credit in 2016 is $1,260. You can earn a maximum of four credits for any year. The amount needed to earn one credit increases automatically each year when average wages increase. If you have almost enough credits to qualify for SSD, it is beneficial to talk to an experienced Panama City Social Security Disability attorney about how to correctly earn the additional credits in order to qualify.

If you earn more than a certain amount and are doing productive work, we generally consider that you are engaging in substantial gainful activity. You would not be eligible for disability benefits.

You can also call Social Security at 1-800-772-1213 (TTY 1-800-325-0788), wait on hold for a while, and then finally speak with someone, Monday through Friday from 7:00 a.m. EST to 7:00 p.m. EST. Or, if you are brave enough to fight the lines, you can go to your local Social Security office, pick a number, and wait to see someone in person. The easier way may still be to contact the Social Security attorneys and staff at Syfrett, Dykes & Furr.

• The type of disability you have
• What type of medical evidence is submitted with your application
• How quickly additional medical evidence can be put together that proves your disabling condition
• Whether it is necessary to send you for a medical examination
• Whether your case gets reviewed for quality purposes

This is not true of Supplemental Security Income (SSI) disability. Once financial considerations are undertaken and disability is proven, SSI disability benefits begin the month after the application for disability.

Meanwhile, general taxes fund the SSI program, which serves the needy. SSI eligibility depends largely on limited income and resources as well as meeting the definition of being disabled.

One more important thing. Your living arrangements can affect how much you can get in SSI. If you are considered living in the household of another, you will get less money than if you are considered living alone. To be considered living alone, you need to be paying for your portion of rent or food or both OR have signed an agreement with the person who is helping you pay these expenses obligating you to pay them back.

If you fail to appeal a denial during the required time, you may still be able to appeal if there was good cause for not meeting the deadline (i.e., mental illness, hospitalization, delayed receipt of denial, etc.) If you do not have good cause, you can reapply for Social Security disability or Supplemental Security Income. Please keep in mind that "appealing" and "reapplying" are not the same thing. Reapplying means you have to start the process over again.

Social Security also mails Statements to workers attaining ages 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55, 60 and older three months prior to their birthday if they don’t receive Social Security benefits and don’t have a Social Security account. Workers who do not want to wait for their scheduled mailing can request their Social Security Statement through the website. The Statement will arrive by mail in four to six weeks.

CAL conditions are selected using information received at public outreach hearings, comments received from the Social Security and Disability Determination Services communities, counsel of medical and scientific experts, and research with the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Our attorneys are familiar with CALs and can work with your doctors to put together the proof that is needed.

In a disability hearing, some judges wrongly refuse to award benefits for time periods when unemployment was received. There are legal arguments to establish entitlement to disability benefits for the same time periods as when unemployment was received if the medical evidence supports only an ability to return to work part-time.

• The first is called a TERI case and applies if you have a terminal illness.
• The second is a Wounded Warrior or Military Service Casualty Case (MSCC) and applies if you are a veteran applying for Social Security disability based on a service injury occurring on or after 10/1/2001.
• The third is if your case is flagged as a Compassionate Allowance (CAL) case.
• The fourth type is a “dire need” case. A dire need situation exists when a person has insufficient income or resources to meet an immediate threat to health or safety, such as the lack of food, clothing, shelter or medical care.

• A lack of food (i.e., without and unable to obtain food)
• A lack of medicine or medical care (e.g., the claimant expresses that he or she needs medicine or medical care but is unable to obtain it due to lack of resources)
• A lack of shelter (e.g. shutoff of utilities such that home is uninhabitable, homelessness, expiration of shelter stay, or imminent eviction or foreclosure with no means to remedy the situation or obtain shelter).

Other people will try to work part-time while applying for disability benefits. If it is part-time and sporadic, most judges will agree this is also an "unsuccessful work attempt.” However, if you’ve still managed to work in spite of significant health problems and you are working 25 or 30 hours per week, then most all judges will deny your claim. Unfortunately, those who struggle to work generally will have a harder time winning than those who simply stop early on.

He should also describe your current clinical findings—that is, what he finds when he examines you. Lastly, he should summarize the impact on your ability to work—how these conditions have affected your ability to function. He should describe whether they limit your ability to sit, stand, and walk, to lift, to carry, to work on a regular eight-hour-day basis. If it is an emotional condition or has emotional components, he should describe the impact of stress, working with others, working under deadlines, your ability to concentrate and deal with the general public or coworkers, to remember instructions and learn a job.

Many times doctors are not aware of how to write an opinion about disability for Social Security. It is not enough for your doctor to just say you are disabled. If you have a doctor that is willing to help you, our attorneys routinely review medical records and consult with doctors about the type of language that will help you prove your case.

The Medical Expert will answer questions about your condition and what he/she believes about your ability to function either physically or mentally with your condition. You should have an experienced lawyer familiar with your medical records and condition who can also question the vocational and medical expert based on your limitations. Vocational testimony may sound very bad or good to your case but might actually be quite the opposite. It takes a lawyer who has cross-examined many vocational experts to know the difference and how to approach a given case.

In Florida, if you own a vehicle that is registered in your name in Florida, then by law you are required to have Personal Injury Protection (commonly called PIP) and this takes care of the first $10,000 of your medical bills and lost wages after a car accident. This coverage applies and pays regardless of who is at fault. This is why you hear that Florida is called a “no-fault” state.

If you have any injuries and need medical attention then you should notify your insurance company. This will allow a PIP claim to be established so you can receive medical attention when you need it. If you were not injured and need no medical attention, then there would generally not be a reason to contact your own car insurance company.

ABSOLUTELY! This is something we strongly, strongly recommend for several reasons. First, the damage to your car may become critical later in determining how the crash occurred, where the crash occurred, the speed at impact, and a host of other issues. Pictures are easy, quick, and cheap. In our opinion, there is simply no good reason not to get photographs. We recommend starting at the front of the car and just walking around it and taking 12 good pictures. Imagine you are walking around a clock and taking a photo at 12:00; 1:00; 2:00 and so forth all the way around the car. More pictures can be taken at the site of the damage.

Same answer—ABSOLUTELY! Photos help establish the extent of your injury. They help tie the problems you are having to the wreck. They also become demonstrative evidence of the physical condition you were in following the crash. It will be your job to demonstrate your injuries and because the photos are easy, quick and cheap there is simply no reason not to document your injuries. The old saying a picture is worth 1,000 words still holds true.

If the other driver was at-fault, then his/her Property Damage Liability (PD) should pay to fix your vehicle. If your car is worth (fair market value) $8,000 and the other driver has $10,000 in coverage then you should be fine. The problems come in when your car is worth $25,000, it is totaled, and the at-fault driver only has $10,000 in coverage. In that scenario, the way to make up the difference is with your collision coverage. This is a specific coverage that you purchase on your car insurance policy. Further, if you were at fault in the wreck, your collision would still pay to fix your car for you.

If the wreck was partially your fault, then expect problems in this area. This is because the other driver’s insurance company will have a defense to your claim (your own negligence). If the other driver has insufficient coverage for all the damage they caused, then you can also expect problems. This is because the insurance company is they don’t have enough money to pay for the property damage itself and as a result, they may be unwilling to furnish you with a rental car. In either of these scenarios, you are still protected if you purchased rental car coverage on your own car insurance policy.

Whatever your issue is, remember the insurance company wants to pay the smallest amount possible. As a result, you need some basic information about how to protect yourself because your words can come back to haunt you. Not because you were not truthful or did not do your best, you simply were an amateur playing with the pros.

Generally, a case takes at least six to 18 months. There are several reasons why this is true. First, before you should even consider resolving your claim, you need to know how the injuries you sustained are going to affect you long-term. With only two weeks of treatment, you probably won’t know whether your pain and problems are going to be permanent or not. Until you complete your medical care you will not know if you may need surgery in the future, you will not know how much your medical bills are for all the treatment you will need. You will not know how the injuries are going to affect you on the job, with your family, and with your hobbies. All of these things are very important in evaluating before you resolve your case.

Now the exceptions: my injury occurred, I had surgery two days after the crash and the other driver only has $10,000 in coverage. In this case, it may not be necessary to wait another 6 months because your injuries may already warrant the other driver’s policy limits. Again, each case is different, and naturally, there are always going to be exceptions—especially in the area of law.

Two: Is your injury specific to a certain part of your body—broken arm, torn ligament in your knee—something that is readily identifiable? This is not always required, but it provides a better foundation for explaining your case to the insurance company.

Third: Did you seek medical attention soon after the accident? If the delay in seeking treatment was 10 days or greater, then do you have a very good reason why treatment was delayed?

Fourth: Does the other driver have the “right kind” of insurance and if not, do you have the “right kind” of insurance? The insurance questions are multiple and they are more than can be covered here. For more information on car insurance and what Florida requires and what the different types of coverage please download my book—The Ultimate Consumer Guide to Automobile Insurance in Florida.

There is no set number for the value of any particular case. Case value is affected by many different things:

• How clear is it that the other person was at fault?
• How much do your medical bills total?
• How much do your lost wages total?
• How much will your future medical bills and future lost wages total?
• How has the injury affected your ability to work, play, sleep, run, dance, swim, ride, hunt, bowl, focus, study... this list is endless but what has changed in your life from before the wreck to after the wreck.

Once you know the answers to these questions, then the attorney can begin to place an appropriate range of values for your case.

Most personal injury attorneys work on a contingency fee basis. This means the attorney does not charge you anything to start your case and will also most likely advance any costs necessary to pursue your case. In the event a recovery is made, and only when a recovery is made, the attorney will then receive a percentage of the amount of money recovered as attorney’s fees for his or her services.

The Florida Bar limits the amounts attorneys may charge for personal injury contingency fees in Florida. For case values less than one million dollars, the fees are limited to 33.3% if no lawsuit is filed; 40% if a lawsuit is filed and the defendant files an answer, and potentially an additional 5% if the case has to go on appeal for one reason or another. As with everything, there are some variances to the fees charged and they can be less, but this is a general overview.

One of our goals is to educate our clients about the contingency fee contract, how the attorney’s fees and costs will be paid at the end of the case, and how long the process is expected to take. One of the main reasons for client dissatisfaction is they feel there is a lack of communication with their attorney. To improve client satisfaction, we start at the beginning by thoroughly discussing the case process and we also provide a written handout that gives our clients an overview of a typical personal injury case with a time frame for how their case will likely progress.