First Decision

The first decision on a disability claim usually takes 2-4 months from application.

Second Decision

If you are denied at the first level, you can file a request for reconsideration. Your attorney will help you with the appeal. Your case will be sent back to the same place that made the first decision and assigned to a different person. This second decision can take several more months from the time the request for reconsideration is filed.

Third Decision

Many claims are denied at the first two levels. Some of the decisions are correct and some are not. If you lose at the second level, you can file a “Request for Hearing by Administrative law Judge”. In Iowa and Western Illinois it can take up to a year or longer to get a hearing, once requested. Your hearing will be held by a Social Security judge who is an employee of the Social Security Administration. This person is generally a lawyer with special training and experience in deciding disability claims. You will generally testify. The judge will make a decision based on medical and vocational evidence. Your attorney will help you prepare for this hearing. If you have done substantial work during the year you have waited for a hearing, this may weaken your claim that you have been unable to work since the date you told Social Security (in your application) that you became unable to work. If you have an ongoing use of alcohol or street drugs that affect your ability to work, this may weaken your claim or result in a finding that but for the use of drugs or alcohol, you could work, resulting in a finding that although you are unable to work, because drugs or alcohol played a part in this inability to work, you are not entitled to benefits. If you have access to medical care but don’t follow the doctor’s advice or fail to take your medications that could help, this may weaken your claim. Your finances or medical insurance coverage must be taken into account in assessing this. You cannot be found “non-compliant” if you cannot afford it, or if you decide not to have a certain surgery or procedure.

Fourth Decision

If you lose after the hearing with a Judge, you can file a “Request for Review of ALJ Decision”. This appeal is sent to Virginia and is a “paper review”. There will be no hearing at this level. This review can take up to 18 months from the time you request the review. Very few Judge Decisions are overturned at this level. In most cases, the “Appeals Council” in Virginia will approve the Judge’s Denial. This is the last decision of the Social Security Administration on your claim.

Fifth Decision

If the Appeals Council denies your claim, you have a choice. You can not appeal it, file a new claim, and start all over again. Or you can appeal the decision to Federal Court. The Social Security Act gives Federal Courts the authority to review final decisions of Social Security.

There are some limitations on whether or not you can file a new claim and start over, so discuss this with your attorney. If you file a Federal Court Appeal, it can take up to a year from the time you file your complaint in federal Court. A complaint is a written statement telling the court why the final decision of Social Security is incorrect and why it must be overturned. There is no hearing at this level that you will appear at. The appeal is decided on the basis of written legal arguments presented by your attorney and the United States’ attorney (who represents Social security in Federal Court). Some Federal Judges will schedule “oral argument” at which the two attorneys appear to discuss the case and answer any questions the judge may have.

Many cases are not successful in Federal Court. Federal Courts do not look at all of the evidence and re-decide the case. The findings of fact made by the Social Security Judge will generally not be disturbed. If there is “substantial evidence” to support what the Social Security Judge decided, the Court will not overturn the decisions. If the Social Security Judge made mistakes of law, or if there is not “substantial evidence” to support the Social Security Judge’s decision, the Court may overturn the Social Security decision. The Court can affirm the Social Security decision, they can reverse it and send it back for another hearing or new decision, or they can reverse it and order that you be paid benefits.

Very few cases are appealed to federal Court (out of all the applications that start out when a claim is filed). Our firm is careful in deciding which cases to appeal to the Federal Court, but we do maintain an active Federal Court practice.

Sixth Decision

A denial in a Federal Court Case can be appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Circuit in which the Federal Court sits. Our firm has a long history of doing those appeals but no longer does these cases.

Let Us Help You

So… this can be a very long process and there is no guarantee of success. Some people win quickly. Other cases take a long time. Some people never win. Some die during the process. Some peoples’ health situation improves, they are able to go back to work, and they decide to dismiss their claim or ask Social Security for a closed period of disability of at least a year, but dismiss their claim for ongoing disability. There are few guarantees in life and the Social security application and appeal process is no exception. An attorney can help in this often complicated and lengthy process.

Bowman, DePree & Murphy has been in business for over twenty years specializing in disability; and before joining this firm its attorneys were practicing Social Security disability law. Remember that we do not receive any fee out of your past-due benefits unless you win.

Often there is success for some, there is not.