The Rotunda
Suite 319
711 West 40th Street
Baltimore, MD 21211
Telephone:
410-889-8677 Toll Free:
1-800-677-8678 Fax:
410-592-7629
E-mail:
paul@paulwnolan.com
 | Unsuccessful claimants often ask me what they have to do to win their cases. The best advice I can provide is DON'T GIVE UP! Just because Social Security has denied your claim does not mean that you are not entitled to benefits. There are still several appeals after the first denial and many people have to go through all of them before their disability claims are approved. What to Do First You definitely must appeal the decision. To improve your chances for winning the appeal you should take some time and prepare properly by: Calm yourself. Certainly, a denial is a very upsetting experience. You have money problems and unpaid bills. You don't know how you are going to get by with what you have. You are afraid that you will lose your savings or your house. The stress is enormous. This is precisely the time that you must be calm. The stakes are too high to make a mistake. Read the Notice of Denial very carefully. Note the reason for the denial of your claim. If you were denied for not having enough earnings, do you know if all your earnings were correctly reported? If you do not know, ask your local Social Security office for a copy of your earnings record. The notice should list all the evidence used to decide your claim. Note if any of your doctors are not listed. Have you seen any new doctors since your application? Have any of your doctors failed to send in your medical records? Make a list of all missing medical evidence. The notice should also list all of your medical conditions which were consider by Social Security. Do you have any other illnesses or injuries that you did not tell Social Security about? This is not the time to be embarrassed about any of your illnesses. Although illnesses such as obesity, incontinence, depression, anxiety, and many others are difficult to talk about, it is absolutely essential that you tell Social Security about ALL your illnesses even if you think they have nothing to do with your disability. Likewise, if you developed any new illnesses while your claim was pending, list all of them. File your appeal on time. You must file your appeal within 60 days of the day you received the Notice of Denial. Otherwise, you will have to start all over by filing a new application, which may not be possible in some cases.
Although there are exceptions to the 60-day deadline, never assume that an
exception will apply to your case.
How to File Your Appeal
You must file your appeal in writing or over the internet, you cannot file it by
telephone. You can either visit your local Social Security office to fill out the forms, or you can call Social Security at 1-800-772-1213 and ask them to mail the forms to you so you can fill them out at home and mail them to your local office.
You can file it over the internet at www.ssa.gov. If this is your first denial, then you must file a Request for Reconsideration; if it is your second denial, you must file a Request for Hearing. (In a few states, you file the Request for Hearing immediately after the first denial.) Also you will have to fill out a Form SSA-3441, Disability Report - Appeal. Click here to see a copy of that form. If you mail the forms, you should send them by certified mail, return receipt, so that you have proof that they were received by Social Security. Then you will have to be patient; it can take several months for Social Security to decide a Request for Reconsideration and, depending upon where you live, a couple of years to decide a Request for Hearing. |
