Social Security Disability Appeal Deadlines Are Always 60 Days

How to prove you are disabled
and win disability benefits

Social Security allows all disability decisions to be appealed if a disability applicant disagrees with their decision. Social Security has a sixty-day appeal period that begins with the date of the decisional notice. While the actual appeal period is sixty days, Social Security allows an additional five days for the mailing of the decisional notice which, in effect, increases the overall number of days a disability applicant has to get their appeal to their local Social Security offices to sixty-five days. This is the basic deadline for all Social Security appeals.

However as with so many things, nothing is written in stone. For instance, if a person has a good reason for being late with their appeal they may still be able to file their appeal. When a person files their appeal late, they can give a statement of "good cause" with their appeal. A good cause statement should contain a detailed reason as to what has prevented a timely appeal filing.

A Social Security claims representative will evaluate the good cause statement and determine whether or not good cause can be given--if the late appeal does not involve an issue going before an administrative law judge (i.e. disability hearing request). In those cases, the administrative law judge determines whether or not good cause can be given.

So what are some of the acceptable good cause reasons? If a person had a catastrophic event which caused their records and papers to be destroyed (house fire or flood); the person has mental issues that prevented them from completing and returning their appeal timely; a death in the immediate family; a hospital stay, or even non-receipt of a decisional notice. These are just some of the reasons a disability applicant might be given good cause for filing a disability appeal late, of course there are probably others.

While there are exceptions to the sixty-day appeal period, it is most often advisable to return your appeal timely unless there is a very good reason why you are late. Generally, claims representatives are more lenient about granting good cause than administrative law judges; however, a denial for good cause for your disability appeal at any level means that you will have to begin the entire disability process again. This is why it is best to file all appeals on time.

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SSD and SSI are Federal Programs

The title II Social Security Disability and title 16 SSI Disability programs operate under federal guidelines and, therefore, the program requirements--medical and non-medical--apply to all states:

Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming

Recent approval and denial statistics for various states can be viewed here:

Social Security Disability, SSI Approval and Denial Statistics by state

Special Section: Disability Lawyers and unnecessary claim denials