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Oklahoma Social Security Disability Attorneys Wyatt, Kingery, Hale & Maldonaldo Are Here to Help You with Your Disability Claims
The process of getting disability benefits from the Social Security Administration (SSA) can be long and difficult. The SSA engages in a five-step sequential evaluation process to determine if you are eligible.
At any point in this complicated five-step process, the SSA can deem that you are not qualified as “disabled” and therefore not entitled to benefits.
Five-Step Sequential Evaluation Process
The five steps that the SSA goes through to determine your eligibility consists of:
- Determining if you are able to engage in substantial gainful activity
- Checking the severity and duration of your medical impairment
- Confirming that your impairment meets or equals an impairment listed in the SSA’s “Listing of Impairments”
- Proving that you cannot perform any of your past work in the last 15 years
- Determining whether you are capable of making an adjustment and performing other types of work that exists in significant numbers in the national economy
If your impairment fits the description of an impairment in the SSA’s Listing of Impairments, the evaluation ends at Step 3. Otherwise, you must go through steps 4 and 5.
How an Attorney Can Help You
An experienced Oklahoma Social Security disability attorney can help you at every point of this five-step evaluation.
- Provide assistance with paperwork. The amount of paperwork required for a disability claim can be staggering. Mistakes and oversights can seriously harm your chances of collecting benefits. Your attorney can help guide you through the process and help you fill out the forms to maximize your chances of getting benefits.
- Gather evidence. You have to prove to the SSA that you are unable to work. This will require gathering evidence such as medical, work, and even school records. While a disability examiner is supposed to obtain these records, some evidence may be overlooked. Your attorney will make sure that your relevant information is considered.
- Prepare you for the hearing. If there is a hearing, you will likely have to explain why you are eligible for benefits. An attorney has gone through this process before and can help prepare you for what to expect.
- Work with your doctors. Doctor’s note and medical opinions are crucial to disability claims. Your disability attorney can prepare questions for your doctors and get the reports and answers to support your claim.
Choosing the Right Oklahoma Social Security Disability Attorneys
If you have been denied benefits or need help with your claim in the Oklahoma, Northern Texas, or Missouri areas, contact a Social Security disability attorney at our firm, Wyatt, Kingery, Hale & Maldonaldo, at 1-800-522-4595.
