Articles Tagged with Social Security Disability Benefits

According to a recent article from Everyday Health, there are many myths that mislead people, in terms of applying for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits and what will happen after being awarded disability benefits.

This first myth listed is that it is not worth applying because you will just be rejected anyway. While it is certainly true that a large number of claimants will have their applications denied initially, this does not mean you should not bother to apply. Continue reading

Brown-Hunter v. Colvin, an appeal from the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, involved an interesting issue about what an administrative law judge (ALJ) is and is not allowed to do with respect to denying Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits.

An ALJ is supposed to an independent hearing officer, but, in reality, they work for the Social Security Administration (SSA), hold hearings at an SSA hearings and adjudication office, and maintain a working office at the same site. For this reason, it should come as no surprise that ALJs will often side with SSA in denying benefits to a claimant, even if that claimant is suffering from a truly debilitating condition or set of conditions. Continue reading

Same-sex marriage has been recognized in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts since 2004, when the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) issued its opinion on the landmark case of Goodridge v. Department of Public Health. While this was a great stride forward for same-sex couples, it did not mean that they could file joint federal tax returns or claim other federal benefits as a married couple since the Defense of Marriage Act allowed the federal government and other states to not recognize same-sex marriages, even if they were entered into in a state in which same-same sex marriage was legal.

In other words, it was a law that overturned the full faith and credit clause of the constitution with respect to same-sex couples and their marriages. It was not until the United States Supreme Court released its opinion in Obergefell v. Hodges, that the Defense of Marriage Act, was struck down as unconstitutional for a variety of reasons, including the Full Faith and Credit Clause, as well as reasons involving equal protection for all Americans. Continue reading

Those who watch the Discovery Chanel or National Geographic on a regular basis know that fishing reality shows have become very popular. First, there was the Deadliest Catch, which started the craze for these types of shows, and, since then, there have been numerous other similar shows about sword fishing, lobster fishing, and, of course, tuna fishing.

Wicked Tuna, a popular reality show filmed largely off the Coast of Gloucester, Massachusetts, in which boat crews compete with each other to see who can catch more tuna during season recently had one of its fisherman making headlines; but, unfortunately, the reason was not related to tuna fishing. According to a recent news article from the Star Tribune, Paul Herbert, Wicked Tuna fisherman from Gloucester allegedly accepted more than $40,000 in Social Security disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits at the same time he was televised hauling in fish that weigh hundreds of pounds using a huge deep sea fishing rod. Continue reading