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SO YOU ARE GOING TO REPRESENT YOURSELF?

It's perfectly alright to represent yourself before Social Security.....if....you are well prepared and know what you are getting into.

Here Are 6 Questions To Answer Before Appointing Yourself Representative On Your Own Case:

6.  What is Your Alleged Onset Date (AOD)?

Getting this wrong will cost you thousands of dollars in back pay and will delay the start of your Medicare coverage. It will also cost you money for every child or dependent eligible for benefits under your claim.  Also, is your alleged onset date legally feasible and defensible?

5.  What Was the Exertion Levels of All the Jobs You Held During the Last 15 Years?

  At Step 4 of the hearing, you must prove that you cannot perform any of the full-time jobs you performed during the past 15 year period.  To do this, you need to understand their exertion levels according to the Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT).  Exertion levels are:  Sedentary, Light, Medium, Heavy, and Very Heavy.

4.  What Was the Skill Level of Each Past Job, According to the DOT? 

Jobs are classified as Skilled, Semi-Skilled and Unskilled.  They have SVP codes ranging from 1 to 7, showing the amount of "specific vocational preparation" required to do the work.  You should know both the exertion level and SVP code for each job.  This information comes from The Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT).

3.  Do You Have Any Transferable Skills to Light or Sedentary Work? 

Most claimants go into this aiming to prove that they can't do their past work.  But for most claimants, this will NOT get you approved.  A crucial question is whether you have learned any skills in your past work that qualify you to perform easier work on the skilled level?  (A vocational expert will testify to this at the hearing; be ready).

2.  Do the Medical Vocational Guidelines (Grids) Direct a Finding of Disability?

Which one?  These rules are found in 20 CFR, Part 404, Subpart P, Appendix 1.  These rules may or may not affect you, but you should know before you walk into a hearing.  If they do apply to you, one of them may direct the judge to find you disabled based on a combination of your age, education, residual functional capacity, past work experience and lack of transferable skills. Which rule are you going to hang you case on?  If you do not meet a grid rule, what is Plan B?

1.  What is Your Current Residual Functional Capacity (RFC)?  Can You Prove It?

I have placed this as the No. 1 Question to consider.  Your case will win or lose mostly on the answer to this question.  This is an integral part of Question 2.  It ties in very closely with your age, education, and work experience.

Once you have satisfied yourself that you know what your RFC is, the next question is:  Can you prove it?  What exhibits in the medical file prove or support that you are confined to a certain level of work?

You should go in with a list of Exhibits to prove your disability at specific exertion levels.  For example:  Exhibits 2F, page 16; 4F, page 39; 7F, page 101, and 15F, page 306 support my theory of my RFC.

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You may read this and say, "What in this world is he talking about?"

I want to say this kindly, but if that's what you say, then you are not ready to represent yourself in a Social Security disability case--because you don't possess even the basic, elementary knowledge it takes to win a case.  And this is YOUR case we're talking about. On-the-job training is fine, unless you only have one shot at it and you have to get it right the first time!  And that's the situation when your client is yourself.  You get one chance to get it right.






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