Personal Injury Attorneys Need to Act Quickly

Posted on: 20 April 2020

If you are filing your first long-term disability claim, you want to make sure you get the paperwork right the first time through. Getting the paperwork right the first time will help ensure your claim is processed in a timely manner. Processing your claim promptly will help you get the assistance you need as soon as possible.

Thing #1: Be Accurate and Precise

With the claimant statement, this is your opportunity to explain how your disability has impacted your life. As you create the statement and describe what your physical limitations are, it is important that you use language that is both precise and accurately creates a picture of what you are going through. You can't just use everyday colloquialisms in your statement; you need to state exactly what you mean.

For example, you shouldn't say that can't walk around and enjoy yourself at all anymore. That is a vague statement, and if the insurance company shows you walking around and looking like you are enjoying yourself, they can discredit your claim.

Instead, you need to say that when you walk, about 50% of the time, you feel a shooting pain in your leg. Mention that in order to avoid this pain, you don't walk around as often as you did before you were injured. You may find myself consciously limiting when you walk around, whereas before, you walked around whenever you wanted without thinking about it. You want to use language that is accurate and that describes precisely what you are going through.

Thing #2: Add an Attachment

When you are filling out the claimant statement forms, you will notice that only so much space is provided on each form for you to answer each individual question. Many people wrongly assume their answer has to fit within that space; this is not the case. Although you can start your answer on the claimant statement form, you can add an attachment to the form if your answer exceeds the space on the form. It is better to answer the question with as much detail as possible than it is to write a short and incomplete answer. You want your answers to provide a full picture of how your disability impacts your daily life.

Thing #3: Document Your Days

On the claimant statement, you will be asked what a typical day looks like for you. This isn't something you should try to answer off the top of your head. Spend a week or so documenting what you do during the day, from when you wake up and go to sleep to what activities you do during the day and how you feel throughout the day.

Then, use your documentation to help you come up with a statement of what a typical day looks like for you. In this statement, you can describe how your typical day has changed over time. You should also be sure to note your physical energy levels, mental state, and pain levels throughout the day. You want your statement to demonstrate how your disability has impacted your ability to work in a truthful and detailed manner.

You do not have to file your long-term disability claim on your own. You can hire a long-term disability lawyer to help you with your claim. They will help you with all the statements and paperwork and ensure the claim you submit is full and complete.

To learn more, contact a law firm.