I Won my Case! What Happens Next? - YouTube

Hi there.

This is Jonathan Ginsberg, and this is a video I'm preparing for

my client's post-hearing.

These are cases where you're going to be approved.

And so, of course, first of all, I want to tell you

congratulations.

Obviously, we've talked about it after the hearing, but

it's not easy to win disability these days, so congratulations on your win.

Of course, you want to know what's going to happen next, and that's what I

want to tell you, so first of all, what's going to happen is the judge will

issue a written decision.

And that decision should say 'fully favorable decision.

Notice the decision "fully favorable."

It comes in the mail.

I get a copy.

You get a copy.

Comes in the mail, in about, anywhere from two

to six weeks and there's really no control we have over that.

The way decision-making works is that the judge writes out a decision,

checks off some boxes, and makes some notes, then they send it to a writer.

Somebody who's not at the hearing, and is back at the office.

That person writes it up into the form of a written decision.

The judge has to approve it, then they mail it out.

Judges try to get these things out quickly, because they know people are real anxious.

Sometimes it can be two or three weeks.

Sometimes it can be six or eight weeks, so they don't want you

calling Social Security.

What I do is, if I haven't heard anything in two

to two and a half months, I'll start calling, but I don't like to bug the

judges, but it's going to take a little while, so assume it's going to be a

month or more to get that written favorable decision.

Once we get the decision, I would urge you to read it.

I read them to make sure that the information they're contained

in, is the same as my notes when it comes to the onset date, when it comes

to other information, because again, I want to make sure that if

for some reason there's a problem down the road, that we have an accurate

written decision.

Once the decision's issued, then you'll start getting a series of letters.

If you're case is disability or SSDI only, it will come from Social

Security disability.

What they'll tell you is that they've reviewed the

file and that this is how much you're going to be paid, this is when your

payments are going to start.

And sometimes it will say how much you're going to get.

They'll talk about the attorney's fees.

Typically they approve my fee agreement.

What they will do is they will withhold 25 percent of the past due benefit, but they'll

send me a fee agreement case of $76,000.

So sometimes people get confused because it says we're

withholding $25,000, but they only pay $6,000.

So any questions about that, of course, call my office but in a fee agreement

case, which is most of the cases I take, it's going to be, at most, $6,000.

Even though they're withholding more, they will actually send

you the difference.

They will only send me $6,000.

But again, any questions about that, let me know.

And if it's an SSI case, or there's SSI involved, there will be a whole

nother series of letters.

It can get very confusing, because the SSDI will

offset the SSI, so you may see an approval note from SSI, and the next day

a denial notice from SSI.

Again, we can answer those questions, but the

bottom line is that if there's SSI involved, you'll probably have to go

through an income and resource interview, because SSI is a welfare program.

Basically the resource interview will determine how much offset from you

SSI benefit will be in your case.

And so then these letters start coming a week or two after the decision,

then it may take another 20 to 30 days before the first check comes.

Typically, the lump sum will be deposited, and then after that the monthly

checks will come.

They don't do checks anymore by the way.

It will be done either as a debit card or directly into your

bank account.

If it's directly into your bank account, make sure that you

segregate that account with your bank so that it's a sub-account of your main

bank account, or that only Social Security money is going in.

The reason for that is, if you have other money going into an account with Social

Security and somebody should sue you, try to garnish or levee on that account,

you could lose your Social Security money.

It's hard to get them back.

But if the bank knows, this is only Social Security money, then you

won't ever lose it because it is, other than for child support and taxes,

SSDI money will never be taken.

No judgment, creditor, nor credit card company can ever get it.

SSI money, which is welfare money, nobody can get it.

Child support, taxes, nobody can get it.

So it's really important to make sure that your account is

segregated as a sub-account or as a separate account with your bank and

that they know that they should not honor any kind of judgments or any kind

of levees on that account, because this money is... my statute is

protected.

So that's what you need to know about the next process, about that process

after that.

I want you to also be aware that under the current environment

you can expect your case to be reviewed in a year or two.

That means you got to continue going to the doctor.

That means you got to keep being comply with medical treatment, with dye, with

medicines, and so forth, and be aware that our continuing disability review

is something that we're starting to see more of, because Social Security

is running out of money.

They're looking for ways to get people off the system, and I will tell you

that they're continuing review is one where people call me about them

sometimes, and the censors know [inaudible 00:05:37]have to charge for

them.

So you're not looking at $2,000, $3,000, so again, if you think that

your case is one that might be reviewed, it might not be a bad idea to set

aside some money that you might need to pay an attorney to defend you if

Social Security tries to cut you off.

And hopefully that won't be the case, but I think the day's when once you got on

Social Security, you were on it forever, I think those days are coming to

a close.

So be aware of that.

And finally, I would ask you, if you're happy with the work that we did in

my office, myself, my staff, then give us a favorable review.

I'll give you some links here, to a page on one of my sites,

where you can give me a review.

It's very helpful to me and let's other people know that I work

hard on behalf of my clients and my staff works hard, and it helps my

search engines, and so forth, so if you're inclined, and you've got a

couple minutes, I'd really appreciate it if you gave me a favorable

positive review and let me know what you think.

If there's something you weren't happy with, let me know that as well.

I'll look at that personally.

Just send me an email on that one and we'll try to make it right.

So again, we work real hard with our clients.

We believe in our clients.

We think that the disability process is legitimate

for those who are truly disabled and cannot work and we fight real hard for

them.

Again, if you've been happy, please let us know.

So that's it for the post-hearing checklist.

Any questions let me know.

Let my staff know.

We're happy to help you.

Happy to answer those questions.

We're here for you.

After the case is over, if you need something a year

from now, call us.

We keep our files electronically so if you need your

records, for example.

Actually if you want your records let us know, we'll

get you your records back.

Afterwards we can give them electronically.

So again, we're here for you.

We hope that you will consider us to be your lawyers and anything you need in the future

you'll let us know.

So that's it for right now.

Again, Jonathan Ginsberg here.

And again, congratulations on your victory and hopefully it will be smooth

sailing from here on out and regardless either way we're here for you.

Until next time, talk to you soon.