You have worked your entire life and suddenly through no fault of your own you become disabled, what do you do? I hear this scenario over and over again in Tennessee, it is a difficult situation to find oneself in. The first thing that you need to do is get your initial Social Security Disability application filed, you can do this by dialing 1 (800) 772-1213, I would recommend calling on the days of Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, it seems these days are less crowded.
What happens after that? Usually in Tennessee your case is decided within a couple of months, unfortunately many people are denied. After you are denied you have a deadline to meet to appeal your claim, this is called the reconsideration stage, the Department of Disability Services will review your claim again, if you are denied at the reconsideration stage you will again have a deadline to meet, should you fail to meet any of these deadlines your claim can be dismissed.
What is after the reconsideration stage? This is when you request a hearing before a Federal Administrative Law Judge. You will need to have all of your relevant medical records for the Court to review, and testify before the Judge and the Vocational expert, each district in Tennessee has their own hearing office, such as Chattanooga, Nashville, Memphis, Knoxville, other states have the same scenario, each part of the state is split into districts. After the hearing at the Office of Hearing and Appeals, what is next? The Social Security Judge will generally issue an opinion about your claim in writing, you and your attorney will receive a copy of the decision in the mail.
As an attorney who has been in the courtroom since my third year of law school in Mississippi I have enjoyed my time representing good hard working people, being an Attorney doing Social Security Disability Law allows me to help out people, who through no fault of their own have become disabled. I would be pleased to help you out during your application for Social Security Disability, feel free to call the office at toll free 1 (877) 271-2633 or local at (615) 308-2633.
Daniel L. McMurtry, Esq.