How Long Is The Social Security Appeal Dateline?When a person is dealing with being unable to work because of a disability they are usually frustrated about the issue of money. This is why they are apt to apply for social security disability insurance as soon as possible. This is actually a great idea as the time spent waiting for a reply can reach into several months. If at the end of that time, the claim is denied, the individual will need to realize that the majority of the social security appeal dateline is spent waiting. The social security disability office is obviously very busy. They are responsible for looking over thousands of claims each and every month. Typically this means that a person who applied for a claim will need to wait several weeks to several months for a reply. It can become discouraging when there is no word for weeks on end; however in this case, no news isn't always good news. Many individuals who have waited months for a decision on their claim will be faced with a letter that states they were denied. Once a denial is received, the individual will likely want to consider filing an appeal. This has to be done within sixty days of the claim being denied. However, it's best to try and file the Request for Reconsideration as soon as possible. The documents required for an appeal differ somewhat from those filed for an initial claim. The Request for Reconsideration should be as detailed as possible and should include any and all medical documentation up to that point. Once the appeal has been filed, it's again a matter of waiting with baited breath for a reply. Within a few months another letter will be received by the claimant that explains whether or not their appeal was successful. If it was they may actually be eligible for SSDI back payments. If this is true they are done with the appeal process. Others are likely to get a letter that again explains that their claim has been denied. For them they now face another long wait. The last step in the process is asking for a hearing. Many people reach this point in the process years after they started their initial claim, simply because of all the time spent waiting for replies. Waiting for a hearing can also take months and the claimant is likely to not have much advance warning before their claim is heard. It's wise to have a lawyer present when a hearing is scheduled. The main reason is that the time given to each claimant being heard that day usually amounts to about an hour. Therefore it's obvious that having someone who knows the ins and outs of social security disability appeals would be priceless. |