Social Security Disability Onset Date

Posted on April 14, 2009 by Dory Sutker

Does anyone, besides me, remember the old tv show, “Let’s Make a Deal”? For those of you too young to have watched this classic game show, it involved contestants being offered prizes for answering a question or guessing the actual price of some common product. The twist was that the contestant could then trade in his/her prize for an unknown object hidden behind a giant gift box or curtain. The unknown prize could be a new car, or a major appliance, or perhaps, an all expenses paid trip to an exotic location, or it could be a baby goat or a rusted out clunker of a car. The interesting thing about the show was whether the person would be enticed to risk the prize in hand in the hopes of getting something much better.

What does this have to do with social security law? More than you would guess. This is precisely the situation you can be placed in when the Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) asks if you are willing to amend your onset date. Amending your onset date can amend the amount of your back benefits due to you. Changing the date means you can get less in back benefits that are actually due to you. Here’s how the situation typically goes down: The ALJ will indicate that he/she is willing to find that you are disabled, but your disabled period of time is actually found to be at a later date than alleged. This situation arises for various reasons. Perhaps the claimant turned 50 or 55 years of age; milestone birthdays in social security law. (See previous blog for further explanation) Or, maybe the judge believes that the evidence doesn’t support finding a disability until a later date. In any event, sometimes the ALJ will make an offer to find a claimant disabled, but the back benefits due to you will be calculated from a later date. When this happens, you have to decide whether the take the offer. If you refuse the judge’s offer, then a full hearing will take place and the judge will enter a decision. In the best case scenario, the ALJ will find that the claimant was disabled as of the alleged onset date. Other possibilities include the ALJ sticking to the offer or finding the person disabled at a different date, either before or after the offered date. But, there is the danger that the ALJ will find the person not disabled at all. Questioning the date allows the judge to review the file over in its entirety and make a ruling on the case, that has the “chance” of you being found not to be disabled at all. Questioning the onset date can be a real danger. So, is a “bird in the hand better than two birds in the bush?” The danger has to be weighed and assessed in each case.

The hearing is not a game show. It’s your life.
To learn more about Social Security Disability Issues, please read our Social Security Disability FAQ page.  To learn more about our Social Security Disability Lawyers, please read about Dory Sutker, or Suja Varghese.
 

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