How Many Disability Hearings are Won?

How to prove you are disabled
and win disability benefits

For individuals who have been denied for disability benefits, the best route to take will be to initiate the appeals process. This begins by filing a request for reconsideration. This first appeal is handled, again, by a disability examiner, and most reconsiderations are denied. However, after a reconsideration denial has been received, a claimant may file a request for hearing before an administrative law judge.

How many hearings are won?

Forty percent of claimants who go to hearings unrepresented will typically win their claims. What is the benefit of representation then? Up to sixty-two percent of claimants who go to hearings with representation will win their claims, which is a fifty percent improvement in the odds of winning versus going to a hearing alone.

Hearings represent the best opportunity for winning disability benefits for those who are not lucky enough to be approved at the initial claim level. However, disability hearings cannot be requested until a disability application has been denied, and a reconsideration appeal has also been denied.

When do you actually get to see a judge for a social security disability or SSI claim? After the hearing request has been made (if you are represented by a lawyer, your lawyer will submit the hearing request and take care of all the hearing related matters that occur along the way such as obtaining a copy of your file and submitting evidence updates), it will usually take many months for the process to play itself.

This means that the hearing request will need to be processed at the local social security office where it was submitted and then it will need to be transferrred to the hearing office that has jurisdiction (hearings offices are known as ODAR, which stands for Office of Disability Adjudication and Review) for the case.

At that point, the case will simply go into a queue waiting to be assigned to an ALJ whose staff will do the workup on the case (marking exhibits for the hearing) and then scheduled as the administrative law judge's schedule permits. All told, it can often take one year or longer to get a hearing date.

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Topics and Questions

How much does Social Security Disability or SSI pay?

If you get denied for disability do you have to file a new application ?

How does social security disability define work quarters ?

Doing the SSDI Appeal Online

Does Social Security offer Partial Disability Benefits?

To get Social security Disability or SSI do you have to have Total Disability?

Applying for disability benefits in Massachusetts

Can you file for disability when you lose your job?

To get a Social Security Disability or SSI Award do you have to have a Permanent Disability?

Should you get a Statement from a Personal Physician for your SSD or SSI Disability Case?

Social Security Medical Exam - the purpose

The Social Security Disability SSI List of Impairments

The blue book listings, the social security disability impairment list

How are Social Security Disability Decisions made?

Social Security Disability Requirements

Application Requirements For Disability - What Do I Need To Start The Claim?

How to Claim Disability

Hiring a Qualified Disability Lawyer in Ohio

How Do I Apply For Disability- What Is The First Step?

Social Security Disability Tips — how a claim gets worked on

How do I check the status of my Social Security disability claim ?

How does Social Security Disability decide that you cannot work?

Who qualifies for disability benefits ?

Qualifying for disability benefits with the social security administration

Is there a trick to qualifying for disability benefits with social security?

Will I Qualify For SSI and How Do I Get Approved?

How much does Social Security pay in disability benefits ?

Applying for disability benefits in Utah

Filing for Social Security disability- what to bring when you apply

What is the difference between Social Security disability and SSI ?

Social Security Disability--Permanent Disability

Can I Get SSDI Disability If I have Not Worked Before?

If you get denied on a disability appeal can you get another appeal?

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