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Curious how long you’ll have to wait before hearing a decision on your own Social Security disability appeal case? As of December 2021, at the national level, most people wait 8.6 months total for their hearing date. According to the latest SSA data, here’s what to expect:
According to the FY 2021 report, the agency’s average hearing wait time was around 340 days. The latest SSA chart shows 326 days is the average hearing processing time as of December 2021.
It sounds like you’ll be getting good news, but the amount of time to get an actual decision following a hearing varies case by case and hearing office by hearing office. It can take anywhere from two weeks to three months or more.
After you've attended your disability hearing before an administrative law judge (ALJ), your disability file will remain at the hearings office (the Office of Hearings Operations, or OHO) until the ALJ makes his or her decision.
Requesting an Expedite of the Hearing Based on Dire Need If your financial situation has declined so severely that you do not have the money to meet your basic living needs, you can request a “Dire Need” letter to the SSA's ODAR. If the SSA agrees that you are in dire need, your appeals hearing will be expedited.
The Social Security Administration (SSA) can expedite processing for disability applicants who have certain medical conditions, face especially trying personal circumstances or served in the U.S. military.
about four to six monthsThe reconsideration process for disability claims takes about four to six months from start to finish. After you file your request for reconsideration, the file is sent to a different person at Disability Determination Services.
about three to four monthsIt takes Disability Determination Services (DDS), the state agency that makes the initial disability determination, about three to four months to decide an initial application, from the application date.
1. Arthritis. Arthritis and other musculoskeletal disabilities are the most commonly approved conditions for disability benefits. If you are unable to walk due to arthritis, or unable to perform dexterous movements like typing or writing, you will qualify.
The earliest payments can start is five months from the date that Social Security determines your disability began, based on the medical evidence you provide. This is the case even if your application is fast-tracked and approved during those months. There is no such waiting period for SSI payments.
4 Steps to the Social Security Disability Determination ProcessStep 1: Initial Application. To be awarded disability benefits, you first have to assert your right to them. ... Step 2: Reconsideration. ... Step #3: Hearing. ... Step #4: Appeals Council and Beyond.
Typically, claimants can expect to receive Social Security disability award letters within one to two months from the date they're approved, but in many instances, the wait may be significantly shorter, or longer. The timing of award letters depends on what stage of the process you're at—initial application or appeal.
If the claims examiners find that you should have been approved, that your denial was mistaken or inappropriate, you will be awarded your benefits. However, this is rare – only 12% to 15% of applications are approved at Reconsideration.
At step 5, the applicant's RFC is considered, along with vocational factors—specifically, age, education, and work experience—to determine whether he or she can work in jobs other than those previously held.
Making Statements That Can Hurt Your Claim – Unless you are specifically asked pertinent questions, do not talk about alcohol or drug use, criminal history, family members getting disability or unemployment, or similar topics. However, if you are asked directly about any of those topics, answer them truthfully.
Retroactive benefits might go back to the date you first suffered a disability—or up to a year before the day you applied for benefits. For SSI, back pay goes back to the date of your original application for benefits.
You might ask the attorney or paralegal you spoke to for details on why they don't think you have a good case. If it has to do with your medical records, recent work, substance use, or receipt of unemployment benefits, you can address these issues before continuing with your claim.
If you aren't currently seeing a doctor, and don't have a history over the past several years of seeing a doctor, you'll have a harder time finding a lawyer to take your case. Good medical records are probably the most important factor in getting an approval for benefits, and this is especially true for mental claims.
Here are some of the factors lawyers consider when they decide to take a case. Some of the factors, such as age or medical condition, you can't change, but with other factors, you might be able to take actions to make your case more attractive to a disability attorney.
Because medical records are complicated, and a lawyer isn't always in the best position to assess whether Social Security is likely to grant a medical allowance for a complex medical condition, lawyers often focus on other factors when deciding to take a case.
Some disability lawyers won't take your case until you've been denied benefits. They'd rather not help out at the application stage, but they'd be more than willing to represent you at the appeal hearing.
Having what appears to be a severe medical condition will obviously help convince a lawyer to take your case, but there are certain conditions that some lawyers don't like to see in your medical file. Fibromyalgia is one of them. Historically it's been difficult to get benefits for fibromyalgia, though it's gotten easier since Social Security published a ruling on the subject. Also, applying for fibromyalgia along with similar conditions, especially a lesser known condition like Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, may signal to Social Security that you still haven't received the proper diagnosis.
Whether There Is Substance Abuse. Most lawyers will not take clients with a current substance abuse problem, unless their medical conditions are extremely severe and quitting the alcohol or drug use very clearly wouldn't make their problems less disabling.
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 ...
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.
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.
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.
The On the Record Review allows them to request the judge look at your case without a hearing. There are advantages and disadvantages, and a lawyer will not do this unless they think you have a great case. Talk to them about this option if you think it could benefit your case.
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 ...
What is The Wait Time For a Disability Hearing Decision? Once you have been through a Social Security Disability hearing with an Administrative Law Judge, you need to wait for your decision to come in the mail. Six weeks to 3 months is the usual time that should be expected.
It is their job to handle your case but you also need to communicate with each other regarding the status of your case. Most often if you call the hearing office you will be told that your case is pending.
This is good because more evidence may help your case even if it does slow down your decision.
There is no set rule that says the ALJ must respond with your decision within a certain amount of time. However, the average decision is received within 90 days of the hearing date. If you have passed 90 days and have not received a decision or any other communication about your case, you can contact the hearing office.
Some of the time factor is due to the judge, but it also depends on if the office is under-staffed and how heavy the case load currently is at your specific office. The Administrative Law Judge makes the final decision on each case that comes before them.
The Notice of Award letter gives you the deadline for appealing an ALJ decision: 60 days after you receive the hearing notice.
If you were approved only for SSDI (Social Security Disability Insurance), your file will then be sent to a payment processing center and you should start to receive payments within a month (assuming the judge agreed your onset date is more than five months before the approval date).
If the Social Security representative at the district office doesn't find anything wrong with your eligibility, you will be sent a Notice of Award letter telling you whether the judge gave you a fully favorable or partially favorable decision.
After you've attended your disability hearing before an administrative law judge (ALJ), your disability file will remain at the hearings office (the Office of Hearings Operations, or OHO) until the ALJ makes his or her decision. Once the administrative law judge has made his or her decision, the decision is actually written by staff decision ...
Did you receive the hearing acknowledgement letter and its enclosure (s)?
I understand my right to representation at the hearing. I voluntarily waive this right, and I request to proceed without a representative. I also acknowledge that I received a list of organizations that provide legal services prior to receiving the Notice of Hearing.
I have requested a postponement of my hearing so that I may obtain a representative to help me in my claim for benefits.
According to the FY 2019 report, the agency’s average hearing wait time was currently around 515 days. The latest SSA chart currently shows 395 days is the average hearing processing time as of August 2020.
In 2008, the SSA transferred just 14% of SSD appeal cases to reduce office workloads. That’s about 100,000 cases in 2008 alone. In 2017, that number grew to 450,000 cases transferred with an average wait time of 605 days. In other words, 43% of SSD appeal cases pending that year got transferred to a different office. And some offices reported wait times of 750 days or more for transferred cases. That’s more than two years!
According to the OIG’s analysis, this trend began when the last major economic recession started in 2008. As more Social Security disability appeal cases moved from offices with backlogs to less-busy ones, wait times for claimants grew longer.
There are many disabled individuals hoping that by retaining the services of a disability lawyer, they can quickly get Social Security Disability benefits.
A Supplemental Security Income ( SSI) or Social Security Disability Insurance ( SSDI) process can take a long time.
Many variables potentially affect your disability benefits process and how long it will take for you to get your benefits or approval.
Here is what a disability attorney may do to help you speed up (to a certain extent) your disability claim: