Disability appeals
The letter said no. That is not the same as a decision.
Most initial claims are denied, and most denials turn on paperwork rather than on whether you can work. There is a deadline printed on that letter, and it is the only urgent thing on it.
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What the denial means
A denial is a first pass, not a verdict
You waited months for an envelope that turned out to be three paragraphs of nothing. It is hard not to read that as somebody deciding you are fine, and that is not what happened.
Claims get turned down because a treating doctor's records were never requested, because the work history on file describes a job you have not done in a decade, because a form went to the wrong address, or because an examiner made a call on an incomplete file. None of that is a finding about your ability to work. It is a first pass through a system that says no by default.
You generally have 60 days from the date on the letter. Everything else on this page matters less than that.
The four levels
Where your claim goes from here
Most claims are resolved long before the last of these.
Reconsideration
A different examiner reviews the claim with any new evidence. This is where a properly built medical record often changes the answer.
Hearing before a judge
You appear before an Administrative Law Judge. We prepare you for the questions and present the case, including the medical evidence in the form the judge expects.
Appeals Council
If the judge denies the claim, we can ask the Appeals Council to review the decision for errors.
Federal court
In rare cases, we can take the claim into federal court.
Why us
Three decades of these appeals, in this state
We have appealed thousands of denials for Arkansans over the past three decades. That experience is mostly unglamorous: knowing which records are missing, which questions a judge is going to ask, and what a complete file looks like before it is submitted rather than after.
Bring the denial letter to the free consultation. We will tell you what level you are at, what the deadline is, and what we think the claim needs.
- Reconsideration requests after a denial
- Preparation and representation at ALJ hearings
- Appeals Council and federal court appeals
- Back pay and benefit calculation
What is at stake
The filing date is worth money
Back pay is calculated from dates. Let the 60 days lapse and start over, and you can lose the earlier filing date along with the months you already spent waiting. That is a quiet, expensive way for a claim to go wrong, and it happens to people who did nothing except put the envelope down.
Handled properly, the other version is a decision in your favor, monthly benefits, and back pay covering the stretch you spent waiting on a system that took its time.
Read more about SSDI and SSI claims if you have not filed yet.
Common questions
What people ask after a denial
How long do I have to appeal?
You generally have 60 days from the date on your denial notice to request the next level of review. Miss it and you can be forced to start the claim over, which costs you months and can cost you back pay. If your letter is recent, call before you do anything else.
Why was my claim denied?
Far more often than people expect, for reasons that have nothing to do with whether you can work. Medical records that were never requested, a work history recorded incorrectly, missing forms, or an examiner who never saw the report that mattered. That is what the appeal is for.
What happens at a disability hearing?
You appear before an Administrative Law Judge, usually with a vocational expert present. The judge asks about your condition, your treatment and what you can still do in a working day. We prepare you for those questions beforehand and present your case, so you are not doing it cold.
How long does an appeal take?
It varies with the level and the backlog at the time, and honest answers here are ranges rather than dates. What we can tell you is that the clock only starts when the appeal is filed, which is the argument for not sitting on the letter.
Should I just file a new claim instead?
Usually not. Starting over can cost you the earlier filing date, and that date is what your back pay is calculated from. There are narrow situations where a new claim is the better route, and we will tell you if yours is one of them.
Bring us the letter
Call us for a free consultation. We will work out what level you are at, how long you have, and what your claim actually needs.
Monday to Friday, 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM