Legal Question in Social Security Law in Florida

Illness forced my retirement from medicine in March 1997. Since that time, I have been unable to work at any job or profession; my only source of income has been derived from my tax-exempt personal disability policy I carried whilst in practice . I have recently applied for SS disability and have several questions: 1. Should I ultimately receive SS disability, will that monthly stipend be subtracted from the amount received from my personal disability? It is my impression that "regular" SS retirement benefits are subtracted by the private disability insurance company, hence this question.

2. After submitting my application, I was notified that the most pertinent and important medical records date from 1997-2002. As this period is beyond the 7 year requirement for physicians to keep medical records, what will happen should these records not be available? Note that I have continued to see physicians every 1-2 months since I withdrew from practice.

3. I applied for SS disability in March 1997, but was turned-down as I had just become disabled. I did not reapply until recently. Am I entitled to retroactive back payments? If so, for what period of time?

4. As I suspect my application will be turned down, will you handle my appeal?


Asked on 9/08/09, 11:38 am

2 Answer from Attorneys
Michael Tobin Michael M. Tobin, P.A.

Most individual professional policies are written without the Social Security Offset. Most Group Disability does have the offset. If your benefits are tax free that is also a sign there is no offset. You had a good agent that sold you the policy. Read the policy carefully. It will say an offset or simply be silent on that subject.

If you were previously denied SSDI but have been disabled for 10 years you should have reapplied before and appealed if denied.

The issue is whether you are now disabled from any gainfull occupation. Your policy was called an "own occ(upation)". It is important to know if you are over or under 50 as the SS standards change. You probably need a good SS lawyer to properly present your case such as Binder & Binder who work nationally from New York.

My firm only handles Individual Professional Own Occ claims- if that Company gives you trouble.

You can be sure that your own Company obtained copies of your medical records when they approved your claim and are required to give copies on your written request.

305-445-5475

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Answered on 9/08/09, 12:20 pm


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