Get everything you'll need to succeed in a disability claim with an insightful overview of the laws, definitions, procedures, and tactics involved in researching and proving impairments. This course will walk you through the major steps of the claim procedure and offer time-tested methods for selecting cases, presenting them with the SSA and coordinating SSDI with claimants' other sources of income. Build a solid foundation for your practice – order today!

1. Overview of the Law, Operating Terms and Procedure
2. First Steps and the Search for Claim-Supporting Evidence
3. Mental Impairment Claims
4. Effective Hearing Tactics
5. Strategies for the Appeals Council and Federal District Court
6. Avoiding Ethical Pitfalls
7. Handling Changes in Benefits
8. Coordination of SSDI with Workers' Comp and Other Benefits and Income Sources
9. Attorneys' Fees – Sources and Methods of Recovery

OVERVIEW OF THE LAW, OPERATING TERMS AND PROCEDURE
8:30 - 9:15, Eric L. Bolves

• Key Term Definitions and Abbreviations
• Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) vs. Supplemental Security Income (SSI)
• Eligibility Rules: Medical vs. Nonmedical Requirements
• How Disability is Measured – The Grids and Residual Functional Capacity
• Governing Law (POMS, HALLEX, SSRs, ARs, Case Law, CFR and SS Act)
• SSDI Claim Procedural Steps

FIRST STEPS AND THE SEARCH FOR CLAIM-SUPPORTING EVIDENCE
9:15 - 10:00, Eric L. Bolves

• Client Intake and Claim Evaluation – Conflicting Information in the File and Other Red Flags
• The Five Steps of the Sequential Evaluation
• Reopening a Prior Application – How Far Back Can You Go?
• SSA/ODAR Communications (Including specific forms to complete and SSA response to case backlog)
• Difference in Evaluating Physical vs. Mental Claims
• Obtaining Case Supporting Documentation
• Determining the Onset of Disability (Including Date Last Insured)
• Proving Pain
• Medical History and Treating Doctors' Opinions
• Employment History
• Functional Exertional and Non-Exertional Limitations
• Daily Activity Diaries
• Special Considerations in Child Disability Claims

MENTAL IMPAIRMENT CLAIMS
10:15 - 11:00, Eric L. Bolves

• Should You Survey Listing 12.00 or Focus on One Particular Listing?
• Personality Disorders – Are They Real, How Can You Prove Your Case?
• Can Your Client Meet Listing 12.08?
• Faking or Response Distortion in Personality Assessment
• Affective Disorders (Listing 12.04)
• Intelligence Quotient (IQ) – Can You Prove the Client's Listing IQ?
• Social Security Listing of Impairment: 12.05
• What Limitations Does a Low IQ Cause?
• Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF)
• Changes in the Diagnostic and Statistics Manual (DSM-5)

EFFECTIVE HEARING TACTICS
11:00 - 11:45, Eric L. Bolves

• Preparation
• Pre-Hearing Briefs and Other Submissions
• Amended Onset Dates and Wages Recorded after Onset Date
• Effective Exhibits
• Direct Examination of the Claimant
• Cross-Examining Medical and Vocational Experts

STRATEGIES FOR THE APPEALS COUNCIL AND FEDERAL DISTRICT COURT
12:45 - 1:30, Enrique Escarraz III

• Procedure
• Effective Arguments
• Brief Writing Tactics
• Timing Considerations

AVOIDING ETHICAL PITFALLS
1:30 - 2:30, Enrique Escarraz III

• Representative Misconduct
• Client Misconduct
• Judicial Misconduct
• Guarding Confidentiality
• Addressing Negative Evidence

HANDLING CHANGES IN BENEFITS
2:30 - 3:00, Enrique Escarraz III

• Death of the Claimant during Litigation
• Representative Payees
• Benefits Modification Based on Rate of Recovery
• Return to Work Considerations

COORDINATION OF SSDI WITH WORKERS' COMP AND OTHER BENEFITS AND INCOME SOURCES
3:15 - 4:00, Enrique Escarraz III

• With Workers' Compensation
• Disability Definition in Workers' Comp vs. SSDI
• What the Offset Applied to and How Much is Calculated
• “Average Current Earnings” – Exclusions from Offset Formula
• Changes in the Amount of Workers' Compensation
• Different Impairments Can Cause the Same Disability
• “Periodic” Benefits
• Overpayments of SSDIB
• Sharing of Evidence
• With a Personal Injury Settlement
• With Trust Distributions and Other Sources of Income
• The Effect of SSD/SSI Receipt on Medicaid Eligibility
• Why File for SSDI and Social Security Retirement at the Same Time
• Is the Claimant Applying for Unemployment Benefits too?
• Veteran's Service-Connected Disability, Non-Service Disability and/or SSDI and SSI

ATTORNEYS' FEES – SOURCES AND METHODS OF RECOVERY
4:00 - 4:40, Enrique Escarraz III

• From Federal Government
• From the Back Due Benefits
• Fee Petition
• Fee Agreement – When Can You Get More than the Fee Cap?
• In a Partially Favorable Ruling Case
• Pursuing Unpaid Fees
• Fees in Federal Court
• Seeking Fees under the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA)

ERIC L. BOLVES is an attorney with the law firm Bolves & Associates, PA, where his areas of practice include bankruptcy, foreclosure, real estate and Social Security disability. He specializes in translating complicated legal topics into plain English. Mr. Bolves has practiced law since 1983 and has been appointed as attorney ad litem by judges in more than 1500 foreclosure cases over the last 15 years. He has filed more than 4000 bankruptcies since 1988. He is a member of The Florida Bar, the National Organization of Social Security Claimants Representatives, the National Association of Bankruptcy Trustees (former member) and the National Aviation Safety Foundation (founding director and legal counsel). Mr. Bolves earned his J.D. degree from Holland Law Center, University of Florida. His published books include The Homeowners' Foreclosure Manual, 2008, and Grandma's Recipe For Debt Free Living, 2009.

ENRIQUE ESCARRAZ III is a sole practitioner in St. Petersburg, Florida. He began representing Social Security claimants as part of a general practice. He handles Social Security cases at all levels, from initial application through appeals to the Federal Courts, including the 11th Circuit. Mr. Escarraz handles appeals for a number of other attorneys and claimant representatives in the area along with an active Social Security trials (hearings) practice. He has testified and consulted as a Social Security expert in state worker's compensation hearings. Mr. Escarraz was a co-presenter of a course in child SSI benefits sponsored by the St. Petersburg Bar Association. He is a member of The Florida Bar (Appellate Section), the American, Federal and St. Petersburg bar associations and the Community Law Program. Mr. Escarraz earned his B.A. degree from the University of Florida and his J.D. degree from the University of Florida Law School.

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Phone: 866-240-1890

Email: credit@nbi-sems.com