Determining Your Date of Disability for LTD Claims

Author: Disability Attorneys Dell & Schaefer
Published: 2010/09/17 - Updated: 2026/01/11
Publication Type: Informative
Category Topic: Claims - Related Publications

Page Content: Synopsis - Introduction - Main - Insights, Updates

Synopsis: This information, provided by specialized disability insurance attorneys, addresses a frequently overlooked yet critical aspect of long-term disability claims: pinpointing the exact date when disability begins. While catastrophic events like accidents or heart attacks have clear onset dates, chronic conditions that gradually worsen present challenges for claimants who continue working despite deteriorating health. The guidance proves particularly valuable for individuals with disabilities, seniors facing chronic illness, and anyone navigating the complex intersection of medical documentation and insurance requirements. The attorneys explain how proper coordination between the claimant, treating physicians, and medical records can prevent insurance companies from challenging claim validity based on insufficient documentation around the work cessation period, making this resource especially useful for those considering filing disability claims - Disabled World (DW).

Introduction

How Do I Determine My Date of Disability for a Long Term Disability Insurance Claim?

Determining the date of disability can be a complicated process. Obviously, if you've been in a car accident or if you've had a heart attack, it's a little easier to determine that catastrophic event as to when it started. However, most people that do file for long-term disability, they have had a chronic condition that's been ongoing, they may have been suffering with it for years, but they continue to try to work.

Main Content

So determining when the date of disability is a coordinated effort between you as the insured, your doctor, and the medical records, and making sure that your records are really documenting your ongoing problems.

Because if you file a claim four, five, six months later when that insurance company is reviewing that claim, if there isn't good medical documentation around the time when where you're stopping work, where your doctor is maybe advising you to cut back or to stop working at the point, the insurance company is going to challenge whether or not there was enough support to go on disability at that time.

Another thing is your policy may have a residual disability provision and that analysis as to date of the disability is going to be more complicated as financial circumstances are also going to have to weigh into that.

So there's no clear-cut easy way to determine what date you became disabled short of a catastrophic event.

If you're considering filing for disability, it is advisable that you contact us and we can help try to guide you through that or help to provide a road map into how to best position your claim for filing for disability.

Insights, Analysis, and Developments

Editorial Note: The establishment of a disability onset date remains one of the most contentious aspects of long-term disability litigation, with insurers frequently exploiting gaps in medical documentation to deny otherwise legitimate claims. What many claimants fail to recognize until too late is that medical records created months or years before filing can either substantiate or undermine their case, depending on whether physicians documented progressive functional limitations and work-related counseling at the time. The residual disability provisions mentioned here add another layer of complexity, requiring not just medical proof but financial analysis to demonstrate the correlation between declining health and reduced earning capacity. Anyone facing chronic illness should treat every medical appointment as an opportunity to build their potential claim file, ensuring doctors document specific functional limitations rather than just diagnoses - because when the time comes to stop working, retrospective documentation rarely convinces skeptical claims adjusters - Disabled World (DW).