Beatrice Whitten

Social Security Disability and Probate Law

Two of our cases which have received media attention involve folks who became homeless during their ordeal of waiting for the Social Security Administration to process their benefits claims. Crisis Ministries frequently turns to us when their clients are having difficulty with their disability claims.One of our clients, D.F., a lady in her fifties, stayed at the shelter for nearly two years. She suffered from multiple medical problems, including spinal disk degeneration, arthritis, swelling of her arms and legs, anxiety and depression. After we were successful in obtaining her disability benefits, she was able to move to her own living quarters in a senior citizen community. P.E., the second client who received some public attention, was a gentleman with bipolar disorder. He became homeless and actually lived in the woods for some time before turning to Crisis Ministries, and us, for help. Not only were we successful in obtaining his benefits, we were able to persuade the Social Security Administration that he had become disabled a full seven years earlier. We were able to have all of these retroactive payments made to our client and his family, seven years' worth. A recent success is C.A., a former salesman disabled by a heart attack, diabetes and a stroke. He had been out of work for so long that at first, he was awarded only SSI payments (which amount to a maximum of $630 per month). Through an action which we took to the Federal District Court for South Carolina, we succeeded in having Social Security pay C.A. his Disability Insurance Benefits (DIB) from his actual date of disability, which dated back to 2001. One of our most memorable clients was Georgina, who never finished school because of learning disabilities and was unable to read and write. She was able to work at simple jobs until she developed serious health problems from arthritis, shoulder bursitis, carpal tunnel syndrome, diabetes and congestive heart failure. Social Security was convinced that she was "faking" being unable to read and write, even though they were provided with her school records, which clearly showed lifelong learning problems. Georgina is now receiving her benefits. We have obtained benefits for individuals disabled from:Herniated spinal discsFibromyalgiaBi-Polar Affective Disorder (BPAD)SchizophreniaSchizo-Affective DisorderArthritisPaget's DiseaseAnd many, many more injuries, illnesses and conditions.