You may have recently been made the victim of a catastrophic personal injury accident that has, sadly, left you with a life-altering physical, mental, or emotional disability. Or, you may have had a long history of struggling with your health, only to have newly been diagnosed with a disability by your treating medical professional. Whatever your specific circumstances may have been, the Social Security Administration (SSA) may have a program to support you financially during this debilitating time in your life. Namely, the program for you may be the Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits program. However, eligibility for this program is not automatic or guaranteed. So, continue reading to learn what you should do in the days after incurring a disability and how an experienced New Jersey SSDI benefits lawyer at The Law Offices of Sheryl Gandel Mazur can guide you through the proper steps.
What should I do in the days after incurring a disability?
Understandably so, you may be hyper-focused on your recovery in the days after incurring your physical, mental, or emotional disability. But you must be realistic in figuring out how all these medical treatments will be paid. This is especially important to ask if your disability has pushed pause on your ability to work and make a living for yourself.
This is all to say that you must work on your SSDI benefits application as soon as possible. More specifically, you may only have 30 days from the date you become disabled to file your claim. And this may not be as much time as you initially anticipated. That is, it may take time to gather all the evidence necessary to supplement your claim, such as copies of your medical records, doctor’s notes, test results, and more.
What should I do after receiving SSDI benefits?
It is nothing less than great news to hear that the SSA approved you for its SSDI benefits program. With this, you should expect to receive your back pay and first monthly check anywhere from 30 to 90 days after receiving the award letter. In the meantime, you should confirm that your contact and direct deposit information are updated to avoid any complications with receiving your money.
Also after becoming an SSDI benefits recipient, you should note the continuing disability reviews you are required to attend later on. If the SSA categorizes your disability as “medical improvement expected,” this review may take place once every six to 18 months. For the “medical improvement possible” and “medical improvement not expected” categories, this may occur every three years or every seven years, respectively.
There is a lot more to be mindful of while collecting monthly SSDI benefits payments. So, you must deeply reflect on the gravity of the matter at hand. Once you do, you must drop everything and reach out to a skilled New Jersey SSDI benefits lawyer at The Law Offices of Sheryl Gandel Mazur.
