Indianapolis Social Security Lawyer

Earlier this month, the Veteran’s Administration announced changes to their regulations on veterans receiving disability benefits for suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.  Previously, veterans with PTSD had to produce military documentation of a diagnosis of PTSD to file for disability benefits with the VA.  Now, veterans only need documentation of an honorable discharge and proof they served in a war zone.

The expansion of benefits is expected to be especially beneficial to military personnel without direct combat experience, but who have still experienced traumatic and terrifying incidents while serving.

Officials from the Department of Defense estimate that almost twenty percent of veterans suffer from some degree of PTSD.

If your or someone you know is a veteran considering filing for disability benefits, contact the Indianapolis Veterans’ Affairs Disability Attorneys of Hankey Law Office P.C. at 317-634-8565 to learn more about your rights.

A woman in Utah has filed a lawsuit against the Socail Security Administration, in an effort to get survivor’s benefits for her son who was born three years after his father died.

Gayle Burn’s first applied for Social Security benefits for her son Ian in 2005 as her late husband Michael’s survivor. She was turned down twice before she hired an attorney, and got a court order acknowledging Michael’s paternity. Michael had terminal cancer and donated sperm before he died.

In August 2008 a judge ruled that provisions in Utah’s Uniform Parentage Act specifically recognize an after-conceived child if the deceased spouse “consented in a record” to assisted reproduction in the event of death.

The Social Security Administration’s Appeals Council ruled that the Burns’ marriage ended when Michael died and that Ian could not be considered his dependent.

The Utah Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case.

If you are having difficulty receiving social security or disability benefits that are due, you need the help of an experienced Indianapolis social security and disability attorney on your side. Contact the law offices of Charles D. Hankey, P.C. today by calling (317) 634-8565 and receive a free initial consultation

Nortel Networks Corp. has moved to halt health care to retirees and payments to disabled employees in the United States.

The company filed papers in a U.S. Bankruptcy Court seeking to end health care and life insurance benefits on August 31 for more than 4,000 retired people and their dependents, as well as cut off long-term disability payments completely. According to the filing, each program costs $1 million per month which the company can no longer afford.

Financial records obtained in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Delaware show pensions and other “post-retirement obligations” account for more than $700 million of Nortel’s estimated $5.5 billion in “liabilities subject to compromise.” Almost  $3.9 billion of that category is bond debt.

Nortel’s Chapter 11 plan is due July 14 and is facing the 18-month limit set by Congress on companies operating under Chapter 11 protection.

If you are applying for Social Security disability benefits, contact the Indianapolis Social Security attorneys of the Hankey Law Office, P.C. at 317-634-8565 today.

Indiana based company Your Friends and Neighbors, a group home for adults with developmental disabilities, is no longer eligible to receive medicaid funding after an embezzlement case was discovered. The company’s chief operating officer was sentenced to two years in prison for stealing from his client’s trust funds and using the money to fund he and his ex-wife’s $300,000 salary.

Your Friends and Neighbors was founded in 1985, and has been existing as a beneficiary of Indiana’s Family and Social Services Administration. Due to the recent discoveries, however, they are no longer affiliated with or supported by the state’s Bureau of Developmental Disability Services. All clients of Your Friends and Neighbors have been notified that, should they wish to continue their partnership, they must pay out of pocket for their services.

If you are having difficulty receiving social security or disability benefits that are due, you need the help of an experienced Indianapolis social security and disability attorney on your side. Contact the law offices of Charles D. Hankey, P.C. today by calling (317) 634-8565 and receive a free initial consultation.

A New Jersey woman was relieved earlier this month to find out that the letter she received from Social Security demanding she repay them $59,000 was in error.

According to the letter from the Department of Social Security, the organization had been overpaying the woman for at least a decade. She was given 30 days to repay $59,000 or she would be taken to court.

The question at hand was whether or not the woman, who works part time at a job that pays $8.76 an hour, was earning too much to qualify for disability benefits.

Her attorney successfully showed that while the woman may have gone over the limit on single months, her overall yearly average income was within the acceptable range for the benefits she received. The department dropped their claims.

This kind of problem is not uncommon. There is often a delay between the payments Social Security pays and the arrival of a beneficiary’s earnings records, but usually only for a year or two. In this case, the organization went back over ten years to reach the figure of $59,000.