Houston Social Security Attorney
Each and every year more than two-million individuals will apply for Social Security Disability benefits. Of these applications, a mere thirty percent will be approved at the initial level of the application process. The remaining 70 percent of applicants will need to go on to file an appeal to have their claim reconsidered for approval. If you are considering applying for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits in the Houston area, a Houston Social Security lawyer can greatly increase your chances of being approved.
Houston's economy is based primarily on the energy industry and has been since 1901 when oil was first discovered in the region, although aerospace and biomedical research are now playing a larger role in the economic base of the city. Houston is also home to the largest petrochemical manufacturing industry in the world. More than 3,000 energy-related companies headquarter their operations in Houston and the city is also home to the headquarters of twenty-five different Fortune 500 companies. The city's gross metropolitan product is approximately $403 billion. As of 2010, the State of Texas has an approximate population of 15,128,290 people, and of these residents approximately 511,072 were receiving Social Security Disability benefits. The city of Houston ranks fourth for nominal employment growth out of the top most populous metro areas in the United States, and second in employment growth rate.
Despite such favorable economic conditions, the city of Houston experiences a high rate of Social Security Disability denials. Because of this, it is in an applicant's best interest to hire a disability attorney when filing a claim for Social Security Disability benefits.
Applying for Houston Social Security Disability Attorney
Hiring a Houston disability attorney to assist you with your SSDI or SSI claim will provide you with the best chances of having your application approved. Your lawyer will be able to help you prepare your claim and present it in the best possible light, thereby providing you with the highest possible chance of receiving an approval at the initial stage of the Social Security Disability application process. If, for some reason, your benefits are denied at the initial stage of the application process, your Houston Social Security attorney can go on to help you file a successful appeal.
If you have already applied for Social Security Disability benefits and have been denied, you can still hire a Social Security lawyer who may be able to help you appeal the denial. Although there is a “reconsideration” stage of the appeal process and your Houston Social Security Disability attorney can represent you through this stage, fewer than twenty percent of appeals are won at this level. Chances are, you will need to request a Social Security Disability hearing before an administrative law judge, the stage in which two-thirds of appeals are won. This is most likely due to the fact that many applicants are represented by attorneys at the hearing stage of a Social Security Disability appeal.
Your Houston Social Security Disability lawyer can help prepare you for your hearing by advising you on how to answer questions, how to respond to the administrative law judge, whether or not you need witnesses, and what you should and should not say during the hearing. Statistics show that your chances of winning your appeal at the hearing stage of the Social Security Disability application process are significantly increased with proper legal representation.
Many people choose not to hire a disability attorney because they mistakenly believe that they cannot afford legal services due to high attorney fees. The truth is that disability lawyers work on a contingency basis, and therefore will charge only 25 percent of the back pay you receive from the Social Security Administration or $6,000 – whichever is less – only if you are awarded benefits. If you do not win your disability case, your Houston Social Security lawyer does not get paid. This means that it is in your lawyer's best interest to win your case, and Social Security attorneys tend to work very hard to get their clients the benefits they deserve.
Hiring a Houston Disability Attorney
It is important to understand that not all Houston Social Security Disability lawyers will take every single Social Security Disability case. If you do not have a strong case or if a lawyer feels that you may not actually be entitled to Social Security Disability benefits, he or she may refuse to represent you during the application or appeal process. In most cases, however, individuals with a legitimate claim for Social Security Disability benefits will have no problem finding a disability attorney in Houston to represent them during the application and appeals process.
Click here if you would like to request a free disability evaluation of your Social Security case and to learn more about hiring a Houston Social Security Disability lawyer.
A Houston Social Security Disability lawyer will also handle disability claims in the following cities located in Harris County, Fort Bend County, Montgomery County, Galveston County, Chambers County, Liberty County, Waller County, and San Jacinto County: Pasedena, Cloverleaf, Laporte, Channelview, Baytown, Hunters Creek Village, Bellaire, Missouri City, Mission Bend, Aldine, Katy, Pearland, League City, and Humble.
