Fort Wayne Disability Attorneys

Start-to-Finish Support in Your Social Security Disability Claim

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When health problems disrupt your life and livelihood, it may be the toughest thing you’ve ever faced.

As a hard worker, a caring family member and a part of our community, you deserve a dedicated legal representative to help you get disability benefits.

The Fletcher Van Gilder (FVG) Social Security Disability attorneys in Fort Wayne make sure you’re treated with respect as you seek disability benefits for a more stable life.

Ask us…

Whether you might qualify for Social Security Disability benefits
Whether you could get Social Security Disability along with workers’ compensation
Whether your personal injury case could also lead to disability benefits
For help applying for Social Security Disability benefits
For help appealing a denial of Social Security Disability benefits

To get disability benefits, your health problems must be serious enough that they affect your ability to work for at least a year. And you have to prove it with evidence through a long, complicated process with the Social Security Administration.

We’re here for you in Fort Wayne, Northeast Indiana, Central Indiana, and Northwest Ohio, ready to guide you through the process, answer your questions, and make sure you have the strongest possible claim for benefits.

You pay no attorney fee until you win benefits.

Talk to us about your Social Security Disability claim.

Why Work with a Disability Attorney in Fort Wayne?

An overwhelming number of people are denied disability benefits at first. Then you must appeal, and often have a hearing with an Administrative Law Judge.

FVG disability lawyers have handled hundreds of disability hearings. We know the entire process, from the initial application to federal appeals.

Appealing involves strengthening your evidence, building your legal arguments for approval, identifying errors in Social Security’s decisions, preparing you to testify for the judge, and presenting your case.

You want a disability lawyer to save you work, avoid mistakes, and give you the best possible chance of winning benefits. Too much is at stake—your financial future—to leave this to chance.

Social Security’s data shows you have a better chance of winning disability benefits with a lawyer.

Social Security is frustrating to deal with. Having a lawyer makes the experience more predictable and more likely to end in a favorable decision.

Because Fletcher Van Gilder works with multiple kinds of claims, including workers’ comp and personal injury, we can look at your whole situation and find every avenue for you to get financial relief.

Benefits Your Social Security Disability Lawyer Can Help You Win

Social Security runs two major disability benefit programs. The disability attorneys at Fletcher Van Gilder can help you with either or both:

Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI): Workers forced to step away from the job because of health issues can get SSDI. You’re covered if you worked and paid Social Security taxes for a significant time.
Supplemental Security Income (SSI): People with limited income or financial resources (like savings, investments, or property other than a primary home) can get SSI. This does not require a record of working and earning an income.

The benefits provide two major sources of support for people with work-stopping medical conditions:

Monthly Checks. Money coming in every month makes it possible to afford the necessities of living. SSDI checks are different for everyone, calculated in part based on your past income. SSI payments are based on an amount pre-set by the government that adjusts every year.
Health Care Coverage. When you get SSDI, you also get access to Medicare health plans after a waiting period. With SSDI, you don’t have to be retirement age to get Medicare like most people. It’s a major help. With SSI, you get into Medicaid as soon as you qualify for disability benefits.

The most important benefit of getting SSI or SSDI help may be the one you can’t put a number on: the feeling of economic stability and dignity, so you can rest, take care of yourself and live a more peaceful life.

You could get either type of Social Security Disability benefit or sometimes both.

To find out what’s right for you, talk to our disability attorneys with a FREE CONSULTATION.

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Fletcher Van Gilder

If You Have an Adult Child with Disabilities, Special Social Security Benefits Can Help

Another form of disability benefits provided by Social Security is for adults who’ve had health impairments from a young age, so they’ve likely never worked much or paid into the Social Security system, but their parents have.

Many parents don’t realize this is available: Social Security Disability for a “disabled adult child.”

If you worked and paid Social Security taxes, giving you credits in the system for either disability or retirement benefits, your child can qualify for benefits based on your Social Security record.

It’s a major difference-maker for an adult with physical or mental disabilities.

These are the key qualifications:

The applicant must have health conditions that impair their ability to work.
They aren’t currently earning more than a certain amount from work.
They are 18 or older.
Their impairments started before age 22.
They are not married.

If you’re a mental health therapist, vocational counselor or any kind of service provider for people with disabilities, you can also point families to this often-overlooked benefit that can improve lives.

The FVG disability attorneys in Fort Wayne help people secure this assistance.

And for families thinking about their children’s financial futures, you can also talk to our lawyers about the estate planning you’ll need to ensure they have support in the future.

We’re here to uphold the dignity and independence of individuals with disabilities and their families.

Contact our disability law firm.

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Do You Want to Know More About Our Fort Wayne Lawyers?

Fletcher Van Gilder is a general practice law firm in Fort Wayne where your lawyer is your partner in protecting your rights, securing your future, and achieving your goals. We’re here for you every day, easy to reach, easy to talk to, easy to work with.

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