If you’re having to continuously fill out an update form regarding your Orlando Long Term Disability claim, we’re sharing the reason why in the blog below.
Clients often ask us about filling out update forms sent to them by their Long Term Disability insurance carrier after Long Term Disability benefits have been approved. Their doctors have informed them that they are “permanently disabled” and will not be getting any better. Because of this, they do not understand the continuous need to have update forms completed.
“Totally and permanently disabled” is a term of art that applies in across many legal issues, however, for purposes of a Long Term Disability claim it is not, on its own, a designation that Long Term Disability insurance claims representatives accept in place of routine medical check-ins. The point of Long Term Disability benefits is to bridge a claimant’s income in the event of a disability. Because of this, the insurance companies providing these benefits will want to ensure that claimants continue to be disabled. Although you may know the level of interference your condition(s) have on your activities of daily living and ability to work on a day to day basis, and that the status of those condition(s) remains unchanged, the insurance companies do not.
Once Herbert M. Hill, PA becomes your attorney, we are your attorney throughout the term of your claim. Many firms handling these claims do not continue to represent their clients after getting them on claim. However, we know that that approval status can quickly change at any time. We routinely help our clients through the process of having these update forms, Attending Physician’s Statements and the like, completed by your treating physicians and our attorneys review the various forms prior to their submittal to your insurance company. Most of the time, these update forms are fairly routine and not a task to cause much consternation, however, the information that you supply is important and can be used against you. For these reasons, it is very important to have an attorney review any language you or your doctor uses to represent your conditions.
Please keep in mind that the foregoing is not intended as legal advice applicable to any individual person’s unique legal situation. Its sole purpose is to give a general idea of the existing status of the law as it applies to the point of law addressed above. You cannot rely on the foregoing as legal advice. You cannot make legal decisions based on its contents. If you have questions arising out of this point of law, you should contact an attorney who routinely handles claims involving policies of disability insurance. The law offices of Herbert M. Hill, P.A. handles such cases and would welcome the opportunity to discuss your case with you, at no charge. You can contact me at 407-839-0005 or at hmh@herbertmhill.com.
If you would like, 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 me nor would you feel any pressure from me to do so
Herbert M. Hill, P.A. is a law firm located in Orlando, Florida with a practice extending throughout the state of 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 (known and referred to as “ERISA”) for disability benefits, medical benefits, retirement benefits of any sort, including pension, 401k, termination agreements or the like as well as claims arising under private disability policies.
