 SSDRC What is the Application Process for Social Security Disability and SSI? How do you Win Benefits under Social Security Disability or SSI? If I am determined disabled, how far back will Social Security pay benefits? How do you prove your disability case if you have a mental condition? What Can I Do to Improve My Chances of Winning Disability Benefits Common Mistakes after Receiving a Denial of Social Security Disability or SSI Benefits How to File for Disability - Tips for Filing If You Get Approved For SSDI Will You Also Get Medicare? How much does a Social Security disability attorney get paid? Social Security Disability SSI Criteria and the Evaluation Process How long does it take to be approved for SSI or Social Security disability? What do you Need to Prove to Qualify for Disability Benefits? Social Security Disability SSI and Fibromyalgia Social Security Disability SSI and Degenerative Disc Disease Can I Qualify For Disability and Receive Benefits based on Depression? Answers to questions about SSD and SSI disability What Disabilities Qualify for SSI and Social Security Disability Benefits? Social Security Disability Status Social Security Disability Tips — how a claim gets worked on Social Security Disability, SSI Disability - Terms, Definitions, Concepts |
How long does a request for a disability hearing appeal take?How to prove you are disabled and win disability benefits There are two aspects to this question: how long it takes to get a hearing scheduled, and how long it take to get to get a decision after a hearing has been held. How long does it take to get a disability hearing scheduled? Due to backlogs, and depending on which part of the country you live in, it can take well over a year. In the recent past, waits of two years or longer, from the time a request for hearing has been submitted (usually via a disability attorney), were not unheard of. Depending on how well the SSA disability system is funded and staffed in the future, such extreme wait times could conceivably return. How long does it take to get a decision from a social security administrative law judge? Again, this varies. Some judges will get the decision notice out fairly quickly. Others will take an inordinate amount of time. Much of this has to do with the fact that judges make decisions but do not actually write the lengthy decision notices themselves. Notices of decision (unfavorable, partially favorable, fully favorable) are written by decision writers at hearing offices (who are usually staff attorneys). There are instances in which a disability judge will actually indicate at the hearing what the decision is This is known as a bench decision and the judge would only do this if the decision was a fully favorable approval). However, even in these cases, the actual decision notice may not come for many months, again because the decision-writer needs to compile the decision notice...and the decision-writer may be as backed up as the judge due to how backlogged the system is in general. As someone who has previously been a disability examiner, and as someone who has been involved in claimant representation, I can state that there are cases in which it can take as long as nine months to receive a decision from a judge following a hearing. However, these cases are the minority. Usually, a claimant can expect to get a decision after a disability hearing has been held in ninety to one hundred twenty days. Without a doubt, the wait for a decision notice following a hearing can be very frustrating. While the case is pending (waiting for a decision), the claimant, can periodically call for a status update. Generally, a claimant who has been to a disability hearing will be represented so the representative's office will make the occasional status update call to the hearing office. How useful are such calls? While most calls to the hearing office will simply get a response similar to "no decision has been made yet", there are instances in which a judge's clerk will notify the claimant's attorney (or the attorney's assistant) that certain medical evidence still needs to be entered into the file. Typically, this would have been evidence that was requested by the disability attorney and which had not arrived by the time the hearing was held (Judges will ordinarily hold the hearing "open" for a certain period to allow the claimant's lawyer time to obtain the records from the medical provider). However, there are cases in which "something has fallen through the cracks", meaning that the evidence in question was not received by the judge's clerk...or the evidence was received and the judge's clerk failed to realize this. So, for this reason alone, status update calls are always a good idea. And this applies to other levels of the disability appeal system as well. 
Return to: SSDRC, or the Questions, Answers, Tips, and Advice page Topics and Questions 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 |