APPEALS COUNCIL
From applying to appealing, Levine Benjamin Law Firm has helped 100,000 people win disability benefits.
What is the Social Security Appeals Council?
When you’re appealing a denial of disability benefits, petitioning the Social Security Appeals Council to reverse the decision is an advanced step. This part of the process can be intimidating
Most people get denied when they first apply for Social Security Disability benefits, but applicants get multiple chances to appeal.
Once you reach the Appeals Council, you’ve already been denied once and asked for a reconsideration and gotten denied again and gone to a hearing with a disability judge.
If you’re not used to making highly technical legal arguments, you’re going to struggle to convince this council at Social Security that you need benefits.
The Detroit disability lawyers at Levine Benjamin Law Firm know what to do.
We’re highly experienced with the disability appeals process. We know how to convince the Social Security Administration (SSA) that our clients deserve the financial lifeline that disability benefits provide.
The disability attorneys at the Levine Benjamin Law Firm have helped 100,000 people in Detroit, Lansing, Grand Rapids, Flint, Toledo, South Bend and across Michigan, Ohio and Indiana win benefits.
The goal is to persuade the Appeals Council to overturn your disability judge’s ruling, which requires close analysis of what the judge may have gotten wrong.
Let us help.
From applying to appealing, we help you every step of the way.
What would you like to do?
How the Appeals Council Works: A Guide from Our Detroit Disability Lawyers
You can’t ask the SSA Appeals Council to review your application for disability benefits at any time.
First you have to ask Social Security to reconsider your initial denial. Another examiner reviews your claim.
Then you go to a disability hearing, where you make your case to an administrative law judge, offer updates about your health, add new evidence for your disability claim, and answer questions about your day-to-day life with health limitations.
When you’re denied by the disability judge, now you’re facing the Social Security Appeals Council.
To keep your disability claim alive, you’ll need to file Form HA-520 (Request for Review of Hearing Decision) within 60 days of your hearing denial notice.
This part of your appeal is about legal or factual errors. You will argue in documents you file with the Appeals Council that there were flaws in the judge’s decision making.
You may be able to introduce limited new evidence that you didn’t have in your file before, but you can’t add updates on changes to your health situation in the time since your hearing.
This is all done with legal filings. We recommend getting a skilled Social Security Disability lawyer who can analyze your case and identify the issues to raise with the Appeals Council.
The Appeals Council can do one of three things when it reviews your case:
- Agree with the hearing decision denying you
- Send you back for another disability hearing
- Grant you benefits outright
If you’re at this stage of the appeals process, you’ve been waiting a long time to get approved for benefits.
Getting your initial application evaluated can take months, and then you have to wait for each step of your appeal to play out.
Waiting for a reconsideration decision and the scheduling of a disability hearing both take months.
The SSA Appeals Council wait time isn’t any better. You don’t want to wait for months or years just to get denied again.
Work with a disability lawyer who will do everything in their power to give you the best odds of finally getting approved for Social Security Disability benefits.
How Can a Social Security Disability Lawyer Support My Appeals Council Appeal?
Our Michigan disability appeal lawyers help you at every stage of your appeal. Having representation when you ask the Social Security Appeals Council to review your case is especially beneficial.
A disability attorney can:
- Review your hearing transcript and decision letter
- Analyze everything in your Social Security file
- Identify overlooked evidence and potentially appealable errors
- Prepare and submit legal briefs and written arguments
- Respond to arguments and requests from the Social Security Administration
- Keep you updated on the progress of your appeal
- Answer any questions that you have at any point in this process
Levine Benjamin Law Firm is the top disability law firm in Michigan measured by the amount of benefits we’ve won for our clients
Even if you’ve applied for disability and gone through other stages of appeals on your own or with help from someone else, Levine Benjamin can look at your case and your options to still win payments that make your life easier when health problems force you to stop working. Contact Us Now!