I recently received a question from a woman named Carol who wants to know if she should wait to file for benefits because she is planning on moving to a different state.  She writes:

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Social Security disability cases often interface with workers' compensation and short term or long term disability cases.  I recently received a question from a lady named Helena, who asks the following:

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I recently received an email question from a blog reader about the eligibility of a convicted felon for Social Security disability benefits.  There is a simple answer here – you may not collect disability benefits during the time you are incarcerated.  Social Security ruling 83-28 addresses this situation directly.

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In my last post, I described Social Security's new "paperless file system" that utilizes scanned documents rather than paper documents.  You may be wondering how written records get into the system.

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Over the past year, Social Security has made meaningful strides in reducing hard copy paperwork and improving the efficiency of the disability adjudication process.  One of the most noticeable changes has been the gradual elimination of cardboard and paper files, which are being replaced by compact disks.  Social Security personnel now scan medical records and burn the files to compact disc.   Employees at the hearing office mail the discs to the attorney for pre-hearing review.  From the perspective of an attorney the CD system avoids the hassle of scheduling time to review the files or hiring someone to physically photocopy the files.

Read more on Social Security Hearing Exhibit Files Now on Compact Disk…

A common question that I see has to do with part time work.  As I have written previously, I am not a big fan of part time work, as you will see from my answer to this question that I recieved by email:

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Earlier this week, the New York Times published an enlightening article about the practice of Long Term Disability (LTD) carriers requiring LTD beneficiaries to apply for Social Security disability.  This practice is commonplace and the reason for it is simple economics.  Most employer paid LTD policies provide that (1) any SSDI benefits received will offset the LTD carrier's policy obligations and (2) the claimant must "repay" the LTD carrier any lump sum received for past due SSDI benefits.

Read more on Long Term Disability Insurance Carriers Faulted for Forcing Claimants to Apply for SSDI…

I have a question about being able to work.  I recently started having headaches every day and have been seeing a doctor and having tests done. There is no way I can work under these circumstances.  What should I do?
–Richard

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In 1972 at age16 I sustained head injuries from a motorboat propeller resulting in lobectomy to my right frontal and parietal lobes. I was left with epilepsy, which has been controlled with medication from '81 to 2004 when I had 2 seizures after I was let go from my last place of employment. The main reason I was given was a lack of flexibility. I turned 50 on July 17th. I didn't go to a neurologist as I couldn't afford to pay a doctor to tell me I had an accident. My medical records consist of my annual check-up so I could continue to get my medication and initial surgical procedure. As I have aged my attention span has shortened as well as my focusing ability. Am I facing too large of an ordeal?

Read more on Survivor of Traumatic Brain Injury Considers Applying for Disability 35 Years After Accident…

Ii just got custody of my nephew from cps and he has been in residential treatment centers in fort worth, we had him tested thru the school system and discovered that he is emotional disturbed and has adhd and boplar disorder2 and also has obsessive defiant disorder we also learned that we had to put him in special education classes because of an issue that he was acting out inappropriately in class(taking his clothes off in front of the other students in the class) The school system suggested that we try to apply for benefits. He is only five years old.
–Felicia

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