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Four Questions About Social Security Disability Claim Outcomes
Archived press coverage. This entry records a press release distributed nationally by PRWeb on . It is kept here as a record of the original coverage. Some rules, figures and contact details have changed since it was written — see the note at the end, and use our current FAQs for today’s answers.
Most people — and most general-practice lawyers — have never had reason to read the Social Security Administration’s disability statutes. That unfamiliarity is precisely why knowing the legal requirements for winning a case matters so much, and why it is worth retaining a lawyer who does this work and nothing else.
These are the four questions I am asked most often.
1. What is my case worth?
There is no single answer, because a disability award is not a settlement figure. What you receive depends on several things working together:
- How long you have been disabled. Past-due benefits accrue from your established onset date, so the length of the claim matters.
- The prognosis for your capacity to work. Whether you are expected to return to work, and when.
- Your monthly benefit amount, which is calculated from your own earnings record.
- Whether you have dependents who also qualify. Eligible children can draw benefits on your record.
Two people with the same diagnosis can end up with very different awards for these reasons alone.
2. Which conditions qualify?
People expect me to hand them a list. There is no definitive list, and looking for one leads claimants down the wrong road entirely.
Disability cases are won based on your limitations, not your symptoms.
Stephanie Lake
That distinction is the whole game. The question is never simply what do you have — it is what can you still do. Two claimants with an identical diagnosis can have completely different outcomes, because one can still sit, concentrate and stay on task for a full workday and the other cannot. Build the case around function, and the diagnosis takes care of itself.
3. Does my disability have to be permanent?
No, and this misunderstanding keeps people from filing who should have filed months ago.
You have to become disabled or expect to be disabled for at least one year.
Stephanie Lake
The test is duration, not permanence. A condition expected to keep you out of work for twelve months can support a claim even if you and your doctors fully expect you to recover afterward. You do not have to accept that you will never work again in order to qualify.
4. How long do I have to wait before filing?
You can file for benefits immediately.
Stephanie Lake
There is no waiting period before you are allowed to apply, and no reason to sit on a claim. Because the process itself takes time, filing early works in your favor — every month spent waiting to start is a month added to the end.
Why any of this matters
Each of these four answers points the same direction. What a case is worth, whether a condition qualifies, how long the disability must last, and when you may file are all governed by statute and regulation rather than by common sense. A claimant who assumes otherwise — or a lawyer who handles disability cases occasionally between other matters — is guessing at rules that are written down and knowable.
This firm handles Social Security disability claims and nothing else.
A note on this archived entry. This coverage was published in January 2018, when the firm practiced as the Law Offices of Stephanie Lake, P.C. at 3737 N 7th St, Suite 100, and used the website stephanielake.com. We are now American Disability Law, in Suite 260 of the same building, at americandisability.com. The phone number, (602) 200-9090, has not changed.
The general principles above still hold, but Social Security’s fee caps, benefit amounts and processing times change from year to year, and Arizona’s appeal steps changed in 2020. Nothing on this page is legal advice or a guarantee of any outcome. For current information, see our FAQs or read the original January 2018 release (opens in a new tab).