mr doyle

My wife Sarah was hit by a car while crossing the street near our house in LA last April.
Without going into too much detail my wife suffered a Traumatic Brain Injury and has been recovering slowly ever since. Its been a difficult year but we are getting there and she is set to make a full recovery.
Again without going into too much detail I have spent the last 11 months dealing with lawyers, insurance companies etc. But my question is, is there a case here for disability allowance here for my wife. I think we are looking at another 12 months until Sarah is back working again, but these things are hard to know.

We have an LLC Company here and the accident was not work related. My main fear is that any help from the government may affect our status when it comes to things like renewing our Green Card.

I thought it would be good to ask here first as someone may of had a similar situation. Any help is will be much appreciated.

scrubbedexpat099

Any help I think would be from the State not the Feds.

Hotscot

Sorry to hear about that Doyle.

Did the driver have insurance?
Was there a police report.
Was the driver to blame or is there any doubt?

Haven't you made a claim here?
https://www.edd.ca.gov/disability/Ca...nt_Amounts.htm

'My main fear is that any help from the government may affect our status when it comes to things like renewing our Green Card.'
I hear you but this is an unknown at the moment. We don't know how future events/administrations will affect non-citizens however I do not think it will impact you. You're in CA.

Sorry about your wife and hope she keeps improving.

Nutmegger

Sorry to hear about the accident. How far are you from being in a position to become a citizen? If you are able to get the ball rolling on that, you wouldn't have to worry about your green card and eligibility for relief programs.

Pulaski

The only "disability allowance" I know of is a function of the Social Security Administration (SSA), so is federal. It is tough to get accepted, typically takes multiple rounds of applications, and a year or more, and in any case is only available if you and your employer have paid in enough credits for you to be eligible. In other words, you can be bona fide crippled and unable to work, but if your employers defrauded you by not paying your SS contributions to the SSA, you are S - O - L!

It is possible that "progressive" states, such as CA, may have more generous provisions than the federal program.

Giantaxe

State Disability Insurance, but only if the OP's business elected coverage:

https://www.edd.ca.gov/disability/Se...ligibility.htm

Nutmegger

This is so true -- I worked with a woman who had back surgery after back surgery and was in constant pain and could hardly stand up. Her doctors finally advised her to stop attempting to work and to apply for disability, and she was not accepted. (And there were none of the eligibility problems that you describe in this case.)

scrubbedexpat099

So she would have had to have been working?

Hotscot

Yup, already posted that earlier

Giantaxe

Yes, but not the info pertaining to sole proprietor/spouse owned businesses...hence my post.

Hotscot

You're absolutely correct!

Rete

When I was disabled and out of work, I received monies from my firm's disability insurance plan. My accident was not work related. This was New York State.

BEVS

I cannot help in any way at all as I am in New Zealand.

I just wanted to say that I am sorry to read about your wife. Dreadful thing to happen to the both of you. I suffered brain trauma 40+ years ago now from an RTA and it was no fun fighting my way back to good health.

I hope your wife will make a good recovery.

All the best
M

civilservant

SSI or SSDI (depending on your wives contributions) are extremely hard to get, take upwards of 2 years unless you are terminal, and are usually denied at the first attempt. Usually you need to get in front of an Administrative Law Judge before being approved.

I think if it's going to a year, that she would be back at work beforehand, but there's nothing wrong with claiming as they will backdate eligibility (and therefore payments) if accepted.

mr doyle

Thank you for all the thoughtful replies.
Its really just a case of weighing up options at the moment. The important thing is that Sarah is recovering well, all be it slowly.

Marcus