One of the most frustrating situations for a client with disability insurance occurs when you have to access the insurance you have paid into, often for years, and you are denied the support you are owed, the support you anticipated having available should the worst happen. There are so many loops to jump through to successfully claim disability insurance with most insurance companies - and for many people, the process is so difficult, time consuming, and overwhelming that, at the end of the day, when they are denied disability coverage, they think that is the end and have no recourse. This, however, is not necessarily the case. While there may have been a time when a person who was denied his or her disability insurance claim had little or no further options, this is not always the case today. In fact, with proper legal representation from an experienced disability insurance lawyer, the denied disability claims lawsuit can be fought and even won.
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What is Disability Insurance?
Denied disability lawyers come into play for those who have been denied a disability insurance claim, but first one needs to understand the importance of disability insurance. Most of us understand the importance of life insurance, but the reality is that accidents or sicknesses can prevent an individual from being able to work to sustain his or her living. For this reason, disability insurance is just important as life insurance. In fact, a typical 30 year old has 4 times the chance of becoming disabled than of dying before the age of 65.
There are two main types of disability insurance - long term disability and critical illness. Disability insurance will provide a monthly income if an individual is unable to work due to serious injury or illness; critical illness insurance pays out a tax-free lump sum following the diagnosis of an illness noted within the policy. When it comes to filing a claim, the onus is on the claimant to establish that they are disabled within the boundaries of the policy. Proof must be provided by the claimant in order to qualify for the disability benefits, and this proof must hold up to scrutiny. As the reporting on the claim and the interpretation of the said claim is subjective, the potential for denial of said claim can be high in many situations. Once a claim is denied, the recourse is limited to court - denied disability lawyers can help streamline the claimant's reporting, making it far more likely to be approved and win the settlement.
How to choose a lawyer or law firm
Denied disability lawyers may be found throughout the legal industry, but you want to make sure you choose a lawyer and or a law firm with the best chance of getting results for you with the least amount of initial risk. The reality is that while you are vulnerable and could be easily taken advantage of, your resources will be limited, and this must be part of your consideration. You will find that most law firms or lawyers will ask for payment up front, regardless of the outcome of the case or how much it will cost, win or lose - payment that you probably don't have considering you are fighting a denied disability claim as it is. But, there are some law firms that will not require payment up front. Some denied disability lawyers will work on a percentage fee basis, and there will be no fees until the claim is settled. Do your research well before hiring a denied disability lawyer to fight your case.
Lawyers could be compared to doctors when it comes to the various sub niches available. Therefore, lawyers too specialize in particular fields. Hence, if you're in search of a disability lawyer, you need to make sure that you're hiring one who's familiar with this field; because, hiring a criminal lawyer to do his job would be useless.
Picking the perfect disability lawyer
Now that you know that you need disability lawyers, a bit of the work is done; but, the hardest part is yet to be completed - picking the right one for you. There are plenty of steps that you need to take and factors that you need to consider in order to end up with the perfect lawyer.
Step 1: Create a list of disability lawyers in your locality
When you hire a disability lawyer, make sure that they reside in your locality; else communication and meetings would be really hard. There's the internet and telephones, but personal communication is needed when it comes to court cases. Browse through websites and newspaper ads so as to get a list of potential disability attorneys.
Step 2: Elimination time!
Now that you've managed to get a list of lawyers, the next step that you need to take is the reduction of the list. You could do this by visiting the webpages of the lawyers and going through their portfolios and past achievements. This would cut the list and make it really short.
What's the cause of disability? Make sure to hire a lawyer that specializes in a particular cause as well. If at all you were hurt while at work, then you would need a lawyer who works on workers compensation. There are lawyers who also specialize in all sorts of medical malpractices. So in simple words - You need to pick a lawyer that San Francisco disability lawyer could win the case for you and the best way to ensure that this happens is by picking one that has fought and won similar cases in the past.
Step 3: Interviews
Talk to them over phone, skype or in person. Ask them what they've done in the past and how they could help you, take a look at their past achievements and reviews by past clients. This would help you shorten the list even further.
Step 4: Pricing
How is your lawyer going to charge you? Is it going to be per hour, per court session or a percentage of the amount of cash that you receive? The best buy would be to go along with a lawyer that takes a certain percentage, because this way you're surely not paying more than you're receiving and the lawyer has confidence that they'd win the case for you.