So you have spoken with one of our intake specialists, they gathered your information, and booked you in for a call with the disability claim specialist — that’s me! Since I handle these calls, I’m going to tell you exactly what to expect during a free consultation.
What do I need to do before the call?
Some things you can do before the call could be preparing any questions you may have for me and writing them down. Some people even send them to me in an email beforehand. No matter how much you prepare, when you’re on the live call you can forget things! This can be a helpful way to ensure you get the most out of your consultation.
Another thing you could do is send any correspondence or documents you feel would be helpful for me to see. For example, if you have been denied your disability claim, you could email me your denial letter in advance.
Some people may not be comfortable sending things along before we speak, and that’s okay. We will need these letters eventually to proceed in an appeal situation, but it is your choice if you want to send them in advance of the call or not.
There isn’t any other prep necessary! Next, you just show up for the call.
What to expect on the free consultation call
I will call you for the appointment at the scheduled time. All of our calls are recorded for training and quality purposes. Usually, the free consultation is a 20-minute consultation where I will answer your questions and address your concerns. Depending on your situation and your questions, we might move forward in different ways. Here’s what you can expect on the free consultation.
General questions
During the free consultation, I can answer any general questions you have about disability programs and benefits. For example, you might be looking for information on how the application or appeal process works, the eligibility criteria, or how programs interact with each other. These are all things I can help with on the call.
Representation
If you are calling to ask about hiring a lawyer, the free consultation is also the way to go! On the call, I will gather some more detailed information about your claim. If you’re looking to hire representation, I will need information beyond what you gave in the first intake call.
Unfortunately, we aren’t able to take every case. So, we have to gather enough information to determine if we can help get your claim approved. After that, if your claim has been denied, I will want to see your denial letter to ensure we have all of the information. I may need to do an outside meeting with the rest of my team to discuss the best way to move forward.
Specific questions
It gets trickier if you have more specific questions that are based on your own situation — questions that aren’t the same for every claim. For those questions, we may need to move into a paid service — either a document review or legal advice consultation. In those situations, I will gather the necessary information, process the payment, and book the paid service.
Some examples of this would be if you have specific questions about terms in your benefits policy; if you want to know what will happen to your benefits when presented with a severance package; if you have a specific legal question about your claim; or if you want to have a lawyer review something. These types of questions might require you to share more documents and information with our legal team before we can answer. So, the free consultation is not a good fit for you. I will help move you along through to the next steps!
If your claim is complex, I may have to reach out to the team before we can move forward with assistance or advice. In this situation, you might qualify for an amazing service we have called a claim review! This is a free service our firm provides. We take details about your claim and review your denial letter and/or claim information, free of charge. Our legal team reviews it to see if we can represent you in your appeal or help with your most promising strategy moving forward.
Further Reading: What’s the difference between a free consultation and a free claim review?
What happens after the call?
Now that you know what to expect during the free consultation, you might be wondering what happens after. Well, that’s dependent on what we talk about on the call. Every call is so situational, it is impossible to state exactly what will happen in any given situation!
If you just had a few questions, I will have answered them on the call. Afterwards, I will send you some information to assist with your next steps. You can reach out at a later date if you need additional help or information. If not, then the call is completed.
You may want to move forward with a paid consultation. In that case, I will process the payment, collect your documents and information, then set the consultation for that service.
If I am setting you up for a claim review, then I will start by collecting any documents and information needed from you. Next, I will send you a form to sign for the claim review service. Essentially, you will be “hiring” us for this service, so we have to sign a contract to protect your information. Within 1-2 business days you will get an email with a recorded video from the member of the legal team that performed the review. They will explain their findings to you. After that, I become your main point of contact again. You can reach out to me with any further questions or to move forward with the hiring process!
In all situations, I will still remain available to you if anything comes up in the future. That means any additional questions or any issues with your claim moving forward. We don’t just provide one free consultation then leave you on your own. And we don’t expect payment or hiring afterward. Our team is always here to help you move forward with your claim. Call us any time to get started.
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