What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Georgia
My stepdad recently had a massive heart attack and has been in a coma since (he stopped breathing and his brain was w/o oxygen for several minutes). He is showing signs of improving, but we have been told that he will never fully recover - the best case scenario is that he would be "functioning" (be able to feed himself, carry a conversation, etc) and they are only giving him about a 30% of recovering to that point. Right now though, he is still in a coma and it may be a year before we know see the full extent of his recovery.
He does not have any disability insurance and has received his last paycheck from his job so right now he has no income. The social worker at the hospital told me to go ahead and apply for SS Benefits and for me (or my mom) to apply as a representative. As far as I can tell, the Claimant would have to sign a form (SSA 1696) appointing someone a representative. He did not have any sort of POA in place and we have not been able to file for guardianship yet (we've been told it will be an expensive and time consuming process). In the case of my stepdad who is not mentally/physically able to sign anything, how do we apply for SS Benefits?
My stepdad recently had a massive heart attack and has been in a coma since (he stopped breathing and his brain was w/o oxygen for several minutes). He is showing signs of improving, but we have been told that he will never fully recover - the best case scenario is that he would be "functioning" (be able to feed himself, carry a conversation, etc) and they are only giving him about a 30% of recovering to that point. Right now though, he is still in a coma and it may be a year before we know see the full extent of his recovery.
He does not have any disability insurance and has received his last paycheck from his job so right now he has no income. The social worker at the hospital told me to go ahead and apply for SS Benefits and for me (or my mom) to apply as a representative. As far as I can tell, the Claimant would have to sign a form (SSA 1696) appointing someone a representative. He did not have any sort of POA in place and we have not been able to file for guardianship yet (we've been told it will be an expensive and time consuming process). In the case of my stepdad who is not mentally/physically able to sign anything, how do we apply for SS Benefits?