Learn strategies for maximizing Long Term Disability benefits and ensure you receive the full coverage to which you are entitled. Contact our Orlando attorneys for guidance on your claim.
Getting Started With Your Claim
Our law office is different from most, which handle Short Term Disability or Long Term Disability claims, in that we represent clients from the beginning to the end. Sometimes, even before the beginning, when a client is deciding when to go out on disability. Most firms only want to get involved with your benefits so they can have a pot of money to go after. We try to walk you through your claim in a way that maximizes results for you.
Setting the Goal: Regular Monthly Benefits
The starting point is to understand that the highest and best possible result for Long Term Disability benefits for a claimant is to get on and stay on regular monthly benefits. This will be our goal from the day you hire us, whether it be for help with the application process or if benefits have already been applied for and denied.
Understanding Pre-Disability Earnings
The critical first step is to get the insurance company to acknowledge the obligation to pay benefits. The next step is to determine whether the amount of benefits being paid is correct. This is done by reviewing the Long Term Disability insurance policy in effect on the date of disability.
What Are Pre-Disability Earnings?
Most policies include a definition of “pre-disability earnings,” which is the amount earned prior to the date of disability. Some policies refer to this as “Basic Monthly Earnings” or similar terms.
What Counts Toward Pre-Disability Earnings?
The definition will indicate whether items such as bonuses, commissions, overtime, and similar income are included. It is crucial to maximize this number because the Long Term Disability benefits calculation is based on a percentage of Pre-disability Earnings, generally around 60%.
Gross Monthly Benefit and Employer Documentation
The calculated amount is known as the “Gross Monthly Benefit,” which represents the monthly benefit owed by the Long Term Disability insurance company before any offsets. We carefully review documentation from both the client and the Employer.
Employers typically report this on the “Employer Statement” section of Short Term or Long Term Disability applications. Our goal is to ensure that the Pre-disability Earnings figure is correctly stated at the highest possible amount.
Gross vs. Net Benefits and Offsets
The “Net Monthly Benefit” is the amount the claimant will receive every month. This is the Gross Monthly Benefit less “offsets.” Offsets include Social Security benefits, whether disability or retirement, received as well as other payments received which vary from case to case. These might consist of workers’ compensation benefits, proceeds from a related personal injury claim, pension benefits, and others. We carefully review these matters to ensure the insurance company only takes the offset to which it is lawfully entitled.
Contact Us for Help With Your Claim
If you have any questions about your Short Term Disability or Long Term Disability claim, please contact Herbert M. Hill, P.A., and we will be glad to answer any questions you may have. After discussing your case, we can set a conference. In most circumstances, that conference would be free of charge, but in no circumstance would you be under any obligation to hire us, nor feel any pressure from us to do so.
Herbert M. Hill, P.A., is a law firm based in Orlando, Florida, with a statewide practice throughout Florida. While the vast majority of cases handled are for disability insurance benefits, areas of practice include employee benefit claims of all sorts. The firm handles any claims arising under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (“ERISA“) for disability benefits, medical benefits, retirement benefits of any kind, including pensions, 401 (k) plans, termination agreements, or similar arrangements, as well as claims arising under private disability policies.
