Hearings for social security disability - how do you file for a hearing

Hearings are an important step in the social security disability and SSI disability claim process for this basic reason: if you were turned down on your disability application, the hearing level represents your best chance for getting approved. While seventy percent of initial claims for SSD and SSI are denied, more than half of all disability hearings are won by claimants (the win rate rises to sixty percent for those who are represented).

How do you file to get a hearing? The process is very simple. After a case has been denied at the first appeal level (known as a reconsideration or review), a claimant may request their second disability appeal. This is called a request for hearing before an administrative law judge. To file this request, you only need to contact the social security office where your originally applied and state that you wish to appeal your most recent denial. They will then send you the appropriate appeal forms which you should immediately file and return.

A hearing must be filed for or requested within sixty days of the date of the reconsideration denial (known in some states as a review). However, you shouldn't wait at all. The hearings process is very slow and you shouldn't allow it be any slower than it already is.






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