If you have a disability, and you need to file a long-term disability claim, here are a few tips that will help you have a successful claim and get the assistance that you need by reading your long-term disability claim coverage policy.

Read the Fine Print

The first thing that you need to do is make sure that you read all of the fine print contained in your long-term disability policy. If your disability policy is through the company that you work for, you can request a print out of the entire plan - including all the fine print – from your human resource department.

You are going to want to provide your long-term disability lawyer who is assisting you with your case with the plan details as well as read them yourself. Make sure that you have the most recent version of the plan. Here are the three things you and your attorney what to keep a close eye out for as you review your long-term disability policy:

#1 Identify Deadlines

As you and your attorney read over the plan, make sure that you keep an eye out for any time limits or constraints for submitting an application and for submitting appeals. Once you find the time constraints, make sure that you write down what the deadlines would be for you based on your individual situations and confirm the deadlines with your attorney and long-term disability insurance provider. You don't want to miscalculate the deadlines and miss out on getting the assistance you need because you of a missed deadline.

#2 Understand What Disability Means

One of the tricky things about filing a long-term disability claim is that each insure is able to create their own unique definition of what being disabled means. Generally, the definition centers around an inability to do your job due to either an injury or an illness. However, the definitions can vary greatly. With some long-term insurance policies, you can qualify for benefits if you are unable to do your current job, and with other long-term insurance policies, you only qualify for benefits if you are unable to do any job at your current workplace. Other polices are based on your ability to do any job in any field.

#3 Identify Limitations and Exclusions

Third, you and your attorney want to make sure that whatever condition that you are suffering from does not fall under either a limitation or exclusion. Many insurance companies will not cover pre-existing conditions. What qualifies as a pre-existing condition can vary from anything you have gotten treatment for in the past few months to the past few years.

Other medical conditions fall outside the boundaries of your long-term disability coverage. Long-term disability can be spotty with coverage of mental conditions as well as conditions related to addictive behavior, so read carefully to make sure that your condition is covered before proceeding with your claim

Obtaining your long-term disability insurance claim paperwork, and going over it with a lawyer like Scott E. Shaffman Attorney At Law can help ensure that you don't miss deadlines and that you and your attorney understand the exact definitions and limitations in relation to medical conditions that your coverage applies for. Understanding this information can help you get your claim in on time and ensure that you craft it in a manner that will meet all requirements.