Kansas City Social Security Attorney
Applying for Kansas City Social Security Disability Benefits
Individuals living in the Kansas City area who are suffering from a long-term or permanent disability often face serious financial hardship. Not only can a disability interfere with an individual's ability to earn an income, but the medical costs related to the disability often compound the financial hardships experienced by disabled individuals and their families. Many of these people count on receiving Social Security Disability benefits in order to make ends meet. Unfortunately, only about 30 percent of disability claims are approved at the initial stage of the application process. Hiring a Kansas City Social Security attorney to represent you in your disability case may increase your chances of a successful application for benefits or, if necessary, a successful appeal of a denied Social Security Disability application.
Kansas City is the largest city in the State of Missouri. The city benefits from a diverse economy, with transportation, trade, manufacturing, warehousing, utilities, education, health services and government all playing a part in Kansas City's economic well being. The city is home to many major companies including Hallmark Cards and Harmon Industries, Inc. The largest producer of pasta in North America, American Italian Pasta, is headquartered in Kansas City. Sprint and Ford Motor Company also provide some of the area's top jobs. The economic output of the Kansas City metropolitan area is estimated to be approximately $101,000 million.
The population of Kansas City is approximately 452,000. It is estimated that there are approximately 21,000 disabled individuals between the ages of 21 and 64 living in Kansas City. Approximately half of these individuals are employed. The remaining half are unable to work due to their disability and, as such, must rely on disability benefits as a means of income.
The average monthly Social Security Disability benefit payment in the State of Missouri is $1,036.20. The initial stage of the disability application process takes approximately three to four months to complete, and unfortunately only about 30 percent of the applications received by the Social Security Administration are approved at this stage. The remaining 70 percent of applicants must go on to file an appeal in order to obtain the disability benefits they need to make ends meet. The appeal process is complicated and lengthy, which is why it takes an average of 463 days to process a Social Security Disability claim in Kansas City.
Hiring a Kansas City Disability Lawyer
If you are thinking about filing a claim for disability benefits with the Social Security Administration or if your initial application for benefits has been denied, you should to consider retaining the services of a Kansas City Social Security lawyer. A Kansas City disability attorney can help you prepare your application for disability benefits, providing you with guidance regarding how to gather all of the necessary information and present your application properly to the Social Security Administration. If your application for benefits is denied, your Kansas City Social Security Disability lawyer can represent you during the appeal process and can increase your chances of getting the disability benefits to which you are rightfully entitled.
It is crucial that you do everything in your power to have your initial claim for Social Security Disability benefits approved. While most of the applications received by the Social Security office are denied, you can increase your chances of having your application approved if you have a Kansas City disability attorney review your application before submitting it to the Social Security Administration. This will not guarantee your application will be approved, but it will increase your chances of catching any mistakes or omitting any information that the SSA needs to approve your claim for benefits.
If your application for Social Security Disability benefits is denied during the initial application stage, contact your Kansas City disability lawyer as soon as possible to appeal the decision by filing a request for reconsideration. There is a good chance this request will also be denied, however, as more than 80 percent of reconsideration requests are not approved. If you are denied disability benefits at the reconsideration stage, your Kansas City Social Security attorney will file a request for a hearing before an administrative law judge.
The hearing stage of the appeal process is where you have the greatest chance of overturning the Social Security Administration's decision to deny your disability benefits, so it is imperative that everything be handled properly. Often, the actual hearing date will be more than a year off, and you will have only one chance to make your case in from of the judge. You will want to have a Kansas City Social Security lawyer representing you at this stage of the process, as statistics show that applicants who have legal representation are more likely to receive a favorable decision at the hearing stage of the appeal process than those who do not.
If you are worried that you will not be able to afford the services of a Kansas City Social Security Disability attorney, you may be surprised to find out that you do not have to come up with any up-front payment for legal representation for your disability claim. Social Security Disability lawyers work on a contingency basis, collecting 25-percent of the back pay you are awarded by the Social Security Administration. If you are not awarded Social Security Disability benefits, your attorney does not get paid.
If you are interested in obtaining an evaluation of your disability case, click here to be connected with a Kansas City disability attorney.
A Kansas City Social Security Disability lawyer will also handle disability claims in the following cities located in Jackson County, Clay County, Ray County, Lafayette County, Cass County, and Johnson County: Sugar Creek, Independence, Blue Spirngs, Oak View, Raytown, Lee's Summit, Birmingham, Pleasant Valley, River Bend, Lykins, River Bend, Randolph, Avondale, Liberty, and Gladstone.
