The process can take anywhere from one month to three years, depending on where you live and the complexity of your case. It typically takes up to six months to receive a decision when you initially apply for disability. If you are denied, you have the right to a Request for Reconsideration.
Full Answer
According to the SSA, the shortest wait times as of January 2022 are in: Akron, OH: 5 months ( 188 days) Evansville, IN: 5 months ( 195 days) Columbia, SC: 5 months ( 211 days) Peoria, IL: 6 months ( 224 days) Minneapolis, MN: 6 months ( 232 days) In certain parts of the US, wait times can be as high as a year or more.
Jun 07, 2010 · The process can take anywhere from one month to three years, depending on where you live and the complexity of your case. It typically takes up to six months to receive a decision when you initially apply for disability. If you are denied, you have the right to a Request for Reconsideration. This stage takes approximately two to seven months.
Sep 22, 2018 · How long it takes to get disability with a lawyer can go from months to years. It all depends on the complexity of your case and where you reside. For you to receive a decision for your initial claim application, it can take up to six months. If the decision is a denial, you have the right to appeal for Reconsideration.
Wait Times for Appealing a Denied Disability Claim. Depending on how understaffed or busy your local Social Security Administration office is, you could wait up to six to nine months to receive a reply regarding a reconsideration appeal. Since the majority of reconsideration appeals are denied, you can expect to wait a full year to receive a ...
The Social Security Administration (SSA) website claims that applicants typically wait three to five months to receive a decision—but how long real...
Getting your SSD benefits claim approved by the SSA is a lengthy process full of questions: What goes on behind the scenes during the Social Securi...
While there may be ways to speed up the approval process for your SSD benefits, waiting for SSD eligibility can take months—and even longer if you...
While there may not be a concrete answer as to how long it will take for a Social Security disability approval, there are ways to possibly speed up...
Most claimants have to appeal their initial denials, especially if they don’t have a lawyer handling their cases. Appealed disability claims have four steps before you should attempt to reapply for benefits. The SSA may approve your claim at any point in this process: Reconsideration.
The SSD application process doesn’t end if your first claim’s denied. Instead, you have 60 days from the day your denial letter arrives to file an appeal. However, where you live largely determines how long you’ll wait for an appeals hearing. See average appeals hearing wait times in your state or region here. Currently, the national average wait time for an appeals hearing is 11.8 months. In other words, you’ll wait at least 1.5 years from the date you apply if you win SSD benefits on appeal.
The ODAR is the department that schedules and holds disability hearings and fields all SSA applications, including retirement and survivors benefits. Because there is a limited number of judges and the ODAR’s two case-processing divisions have only a few hundred offices across the country, this part of the process can take up a large chunk of time.
Appealed disability claims have four steps before you should attempt to reapply for benefits. The SSA may approve your claim at any point in this process: 1 Reconsideration 2 A hearing with an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) 3 An appeals council review 4 Federal court
You should also provide names of all doctors who treat you, facility addresses (including hospitals, doctor’s offices and anywhere else you go for treatment) and your appointment dates. Offering all necessary information from the start saves the disability examiner from having to track it down later. In fact, those steps are often most responsible for slowing down the entire process.
According to Tim Moore, a former disability examiner for the SSA, the first step in the long claims approval process is to send your Social Security disability benefits application to a state disability agency, which is also called Disability Determination Services (DDS).
While there may not be a concrete answer as to how long it takes for Social Security disability approval, there are ways to possibly speed up the process. 1. Consult a Lawyer. An attorney or advocate who specializes in Social Security disability cases knows exactly what you need in terms of documentation, ...
It typically takes up to six months to receive a decision when you initially apply for disability. If you are denied, you have the right to a Request for Reconsideration. This stage takes approximately two to seven months. If you are denied again, you have the right to Request for Hearing before an Administrative Law Judge.
In the DC, Maryland, and Virginia areas, it takes roughly one to two years to get a hearing date with the Judge.
Many disabled people hope that if they retain an attorney, they will get Social Security Disability more quickly.
Otherwise, the Federal law says Social Security attorneys get paid a fee of 25% of your retroactive benefits, or $6,000.00, whichever is less, and only if you win your case.
What a lawyer can do is to make sure that you don’t make procedural mistakes that will slow the process down. So, in that regard, a lawyer can help you speed up your case. But, hiring a lawyer does not mean your case will be sped through the line over others without a lawyer.
Your attorney can ensure that you follow the standard required to get your claim legally. When you follow the normal procedure, you will never make mistakes that may eliminate your chances of getting the disability claim. In short, your lawyer will help you avoid the pitfalls which in turn can fasten your case.
The waiting time for hearing on Disability cases are all back to back with each other especially around the US, Washington, Maryland, Northern Virginia, and DC areas. This is due to many reasons like;
The first process is the initial claim or the application for the disability level. At this level, it can take you a minimum of 100 days for your initial claim to get a decision. Majority of the initial claims are rejected by the state’s disability examiners of course.
The fastest way for you to start receiving disability benefits is to get your initial claim approved on the first round of review. When this happens, you do not have to wait for an appeal, which can take years.
Most people receive denials in the first round of review and the next step, or the first appeal, is called Reconsideration. At this stage, you can request an on the record (OTR) decision, but only with the help of an experienced Social Security Disability attorney, do you realistically have a chance of getting approved at this level.
If you are denied at the Reconsideration level, your case will proceed to a hearing in front of the ALJ. The average waiting time for a hearing is currently in in the 15 – 20 month range from the time the Request for Hearing is filed with the SSA.
Hiring a disability lawyer to file a reconsideration appeal following receipt of a first-time denial will shorten the time it takes to get approved. Disability attorneys like Joel Thrift specialize in: 1 Completing disability claims that concisely prove you have met SSA criteria for being disabled and unable to perform work 2 Gathering medical documents to clearly demonstrate all your impairments 3 Communicating expeditiously with your physicians in ways that will bolster your claim
Depending on how understaffed or busy your local Social Security Administration office is, you could wait up to six to nine months to receive a reply regarding a reconsideration appeal. Since the majority of reconsideration appeals are denied, you can expect to wait a full year to receive a reply from the SSA after sending your denied claim to an administrative law judge.
Prepare arguments that for the disability hearing. Challenge the job expert at the hearing if they argue you can perform different types of work. Prepare a brief for the administrative law judge outlining the case.
What can the Disability lawyer do? 1 Review your medical records and get more information if they feel that your current medical documentation is not sufficient to prove you cannot perform substantial gainful activity. 2 Send additional information to the administrative law judge prior to the hearing. 3 Prepare arguments that for the disability hearing. 4 Challenge the job expert at the hearing if they argue you can perform different types of work. 5 Prepare a brief for the administrative law judge outlining the case.
If you have submitted your appeal for reconsideration (the first step in the appeals process in most states) the SSA states it could take 30 to 90 days to hear back from them. Unfortunately, this is just an estimate and it could be more or less in certain states.
Many SSDI applica nts assume that having a disability lawyer will allow them to bypass the thousands of other disability applicants and somehow catapult their disability application to the front of the disability processing line. Unfortunately, that is beyond what the disability attorney will be able to do with your SSDI case.
Although a disability lawyer will not be able to expedite your disability application they will give you a better chance of winning at every appeal step, thereby potentially saving your time. For instance, if you are scheduled for a SSDI disability hearing the disability lawyer can do the following, which can give you a better chance ...
If it took eight months for your claim to be approved , you can expect to receive back pay for those six months.
The onset date is also very important because of the potential five-month waiting period the SSA may impose after the onset date before you are eligible for benefits.
It can take anywhere from two weeks to three months or more.
If your lawyer is familiar with the judge, he or she may have an idea of how long that judge is known to take to issue a decision. The average is eight weeks. You can also call your hearing office to ask about the status of your particular case.
In a survey we took of our readers who had gone to a Social Security disaiblity appeal hearing, it took on average about seven weeks to get an approval letter after the hearing, and almost ten weeks to get a denial letter.
Answer. New York's hearing offices are experiencing long wait times for hearings, and the Buffalo office in particular has a long backlog of disability cases. Long wait times for hearings also generally mean longer than usual wait times for the final decision letter. That said, it does often take longer to get a denial decision from a judge ...