Legal Question in Social Security Law in Michigan

Re: Is this true??

The SSA looks at a person ability to perform Substantial Gainful Activity (SGA) to determine if a person is disabled or not for SSA purposes. If one can only work a few hours a day or less, then he/she is likely to be determined to be disabled. However, it depends upon what your disability is and what your physician says about it.

Your disability date will be the date that SSA determines you were unable to perform SGA. Usually that is one's date of last employment. However, there is a five month waiting period from the date of your disability until the date of your entitlement to your benefits. (ie. If you became disabled on June 14, 2004, your first month of disability payments would be December 2004.)

Depending upon the Office of Hearings and Appeals for SSA, it may be as little as a few weeks for a written decision or as much as a few months. It depends upon the backlog of cases in the office and the number of personnel helping to write decisions for the Administrative Law Judges (ALJ).

Lastly, there is another 8 to 10 week wait after you receive the ALJ's decision until SSA will send you an award certificate and start making monthly payments to you.

I know that it all sounds confusing and difficult. However, if you have further questions, please do not hesitate to contact my office. Furthermore, it probably would be in your best interest to have an attorney or representative, who specializes in Social Security Law or has done it for a long time to help represent you at the hearing. Good luck!