There is no particular amount of time that you have to be not working in order to apply for Social Security Disability but the test of disability for Social Security is whether or not your condition is so severe that you will be unable to work for 12 continuous months. What that means is that you don’t have to wait to be off work for 12 months but you do have to have a serious condition. We regularly help people apply for Social Security disability...
There are provisions for people to try to work while they are waiting for their Social Security Disability decision. They’re a little complicated and they’re very technical. If you perform what is called SGA, that’s substantial gainful activity, then that disqualifies you automatically for Social Security Disability even if your disability is severe, it might ordinarily be considered disablling. So you have to be careful about the level...
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Hearings are scheduled by the Social Security hearing office in the order in which the request for hearing was filed. And so, it’s done strictly by dates. That's organized that way in order to be fair. But, there are certain circumstances that will allow a person to be taken out of line and given a more expeditious hearing. One of the reasons is if they're diagnosed with a terminal illness and that can be shown by the doctors’ records. Another...
