It seems the judge has finally approved my husband’s disability claim, and some time in the near future we should expect a lump sum payment for 2-1/2 years (1-1/2 years since the claim was filed, and 1 year retroactive prior to the claim.) Does anyone know if in Texas they deduct income taxes from the payment? Also, how long after the judge approves it before he gets his check? He’ll probably be contacting his lawyer about this in the near future, but I’m too impatient.
Thanks for your help!
I have no idea about taxes but I was wondering about S.S. disabilities.
How disabled do you have to be to get full diablility pay? How do they determine a portion of disability?
How about if you can work, just not in your normal profession?
Maybe this ought to be another thread altogether.
Texas has no State Income Tax so there would be no deduction for taxes for the State of Texas.
Generally federal taxes are not withheld from Social Security (disability related or not) payments. You may end up with taxes due depending on the amount of other income you receive.
You need to review IRS Pub 915 www.irs.ustreas.gov/forms_pubs/pubs/p915toc.htm to determine if you should take the lump sum election.
Pub 915 also has some contact numbers to call for questions.
If the Attorney you are using deals with alot of disability claims, they should know much of this information.
Have no idea on the timing.
Thanks for the link, barker!
justwannano, they have different criteria for every affliction, I believe. Texas, and particularly Houston, has been under investigation for the seeming carte blanche rejection of every claim. You get turned down three times, and finally get a court date for appeal after about 16 months, at least in our case, and also in my co-worker’s case. It’s like they’re waiting for you to die so they don’t have to pay! My husband has congestive heart failure. My co-worker’s wife had a cancer that caused permanent paralysis of her vocal cords. Both conditions should never have been rejected. It’s not like a bad back where it can be faked.
I don’t really know the other answers to your questions. I’d say it varies for each individual.
I used to work in long-term disability for a major insurance company. Needless to say, with the name of our department having “long term disability” in it, we were pretty famillar with the SSD.
We used to say that if you were able to fill out the forms correctly you wouldn’t be considered disabled enough to qualify. If you couldn’t fill them out, you were disabled but you’d be rejected for incomplete paperwork. The system IS rigged against the disabled. People dependent on oxygen 24 hours a day were denied, people paralyzed from the neck down were denied… it was almost as if the system was designed to require a lawyer who would (after the award was final) siphon off a portion of the lump sum award. Meanwhile, due to the delay between disability onset and money coming in, people would wind up in horrible debt or bankruptcy because, during the time they couldn’t work and were fighting for SSD the bills would pile up. God help you if you had no family or close friends to help you fight - we actually had a couple people found dead because they were legitimately disbled, had no money coming in, no one around to help them, and… well, it was really, really ugly.
Why does this happen? Because, by and large, the able-bodied folks don’t want to deal with it. Very few people consider that they might become disabled and, unless they know someone who has been through the mill, they have no clue just how horrible it is to go through applying for disability payments.
So any clues as to what we CAN do about it? Who controls the Social Security Disability? Congress? Or is it by state? I would send letters. Where do we send them?
The Social Security Act was passed by Congress, and is the source of retirement benefits. In the 1970s, it was amended to include disability benefits, and then, what is called “supplemental security income” (Title XVI) to cover “disabled” people who don’t have the requisites earnings to be entitled to “Title II” benefits. The Act is implemented by Regulations passed by the administrative body known as the Social Security Administration, which used to be part of Health & Human Services, but is now an independent agency. The interpretation of its regulations is promulgated by its Rulings. The Act and the Regulations (insofar as the regulations are consistent with the Act) are binding on the courts, not only the Administration. The Rulings are not binding on the courts.
I use “disabled” in quotation marks, because it has a special meaning under the Act. (Whenever I refer to the Act, I’m also including the corresponding regulations.) In order to be “disabled” one must be so “disabled” for 12 continuous months or have an impairment which resulted in death before that time. This eliminates all of the acute disorders, which resolve within 12 months.
To be “disabled” there is a “sequential evaluation” which includes five steps. (1) Engaging in substantial gainful activity (sga), you cannot be “disabled.” If you engaged in sga within 12 months you will usually be found not “disabled.” There are exceptions involving a trial work period after five months, but I’m not going to go into all the technical details. (2) Not “severe,” as that term is defined in the Act, you’re not “disabled.” “Severe” means significant limitations on the ability to work. (3) Impairment meets a Listed impairment in the Listing of Impairments, you will automatically be found “disabled.” There are listings for impairments which involve over a dozen generic types of disorders, such as osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, blindness, cardiac problems, systemic disorders, mental impairments, etc. (4) If the impairment does not meet a Listing, you will be found “not disabled” if you can return to the requirements of your “relevant past work” as that term is defined in the Act. (5) If you are unable to return to the type of work you did within the vocationally relevant past (last 15 years) and you cannot make a vocational adjustment to other work considering your education, age, vocational factors, and your “residual functional capacity” then you will also be found “disabled.” So you will be found “disabled” if (1) the impairment or combination of impairments meets a Listing, or (2) you cannot return to your past work, and you cannot make a vocational adjustment to other work.
If your impairment(s) is only exertional, the Admn has enacted regulations in a grid fashion, establishing whether you are disabled at step five, which is dependent upon the factors I noted. That grid was upheld by the US Supreme Court as being constitutional, since it is based on data supporting it. If you have a “severe” non-exertional impairment, a vocational expert must be used at the hearing.
Which brings us to the hearing. After you file your application, a determination is made by a state agency whether you are “disabled.” If the determination is unfavorable, you can request a reconsideration by the state agency. If that too is unfavorable, you can request a hearing before an administrative law judge. If that too is unfavorable, you can appeal to the Appeals Council. That is the last step in this administrative process. Having exhausted your administrative review, you can now, and only now, file a suit in the appropriate District Court. (The Commissioner of Social Security is the defendant, so it must be brought in a federal court.)
So, under Social Security, there is no such thing as “partially disabled” or “totally disabled.” You are either “disabled” or not. Disability benefits will be that you would have if you were able to retire, computed as if you were age 62. (20% reduction - 5/9% a month from age 65 [36 x 5/9 = 20%)
If you have any questions, let me know.
Thanks, barbitu8.