Please tell me what happens AFTER the hearing (Remastered Legacy Episode)

0:09 This program is brought to you by the Reeves Law Firm, representing you and your Social security and disability needs. If you have a problem or questions regarding social security and disability, call Attorney Anthony Reeves told free at one eight eight eight nine six y two zero zero zero seven. Again that's one eight eight eight nine six y two zero zero zero seven, or go to www dot Reevesfirm dot com.

0:50 Welcome to another edition of Q and DA Social Security Disability Today. My name is Attorney Anthony Reeves. Let's get to your questions. What happens at I leave the hearing? All right, I've actually had this before, but someone wanted me to really go into detail about what happens. Okay, let's take for a second. You've gone to yourself Security Disability of hearing. You've gone before the Administrative law judge.

1:16 They've taken your testimony. There's probably been another expert in the room. They've probably said the work that they think somebody will like you, might be able to do or might not be able to do. The judge says, most judges don't give you a decision right there at the hearing. You walk out the door. The judges like have a good day, I'll get a decision to you. And some judge will say, oh, I'll get your decision about thirty to forty days. Ooh, it's hammertime. What happens next? First and foremost, let me make this point abundantly clear. Do not put all of your faith into the decision being given to you at the exact time the judge said they did. Let me explain why. A lot of judges, and there's a lot of them will when they tell

2:00 you that they're giving you an approximation. But the reality is is that if something happens, it may cause a delay. And you're like, well, what could possibly happen. Well, let's say that when you walked out of the hearing, the judge in indicated they're going to review your file. Well, maybe you have to reviewing their file, you're file, they make a determination that maybe you need to be sent for an evaluation. Well, guess what, You're not going to get a decision in forty five days now, because they've got to notify the state agency. The agency has to find the doctor for you, they have to schedule your appointment.

2:28 You have to go to that appointment, you have to after the appointment. The results of that appartment has to be sent to the Social Security Administration, and then the judge has to determine whether or not he is enough or she has enough to make a decision, or if they need you to come back. All that and in your mind, you're thinking your decision was going to be rendered in forty five days. Here's what I tell people all the time, when you go in there and you leave first and foremost, as if you have your representable representative, they'll help you understand this a lot more. But in some instances that the judge believes there's additional evidence that they need, whether it be you say, well, I'm going

3:02 to go get these records, or maybe you're a representative say oh, there's records that they're outstanding. Can you give us fifteen days? Let me brace you for this. That decision will not get started being worked on until that fifteen days has passed or those records have been submitted. So let's say you have a judge that says I'll give you thirty days to get those records. Well, guess what, I hope you're not sitting here thinking the judge's written the decision. And then once they get those thirty days past passed, and they're going to just plug in those records and just write your decision. It's not how it works.

3:28 They're going to leave the record open for thirty days and they're not gonna do anything with that decision until those records come in. So guess what, your clock hasn't that forty five days or however long it takes for them. The right of decision doesn't run until they get those records, or until that period of time ends, or if the representative asks for more time until that actual end time ends.

3:47 Now that may sound confusing, here's what I mean. Some judges will actually say, I'm gonna give you this amount of time. If you need more, let me know. Well, guess what if the representative thinks that you can some records that may help you, but they need more time getting them, they're gonna ask for that more time. What sucks for you is that it means you've got a longer wait. So if the judge doesn't give you thirty days, and after thirty days, they still haven't gotten the records, and they'll say, can I have another fifteen The jude says, yeah, I'll give you another fifteen, So now it's forty five days.

4:18 Well can I have another fifteen sixty days? You finally got the records. Now the judge is gonna start working on writing your decision. So sixty days has passed and you're thinking, well, it's been sixty days. Why have we had the decision? Because the judge hasn't started writing it yet. He or she won't start until the record is actually closed.

4:35 So as long as the record's open, it's gonna sit there. So let's go best case scenario. You walked out of the hearing. The judge has told you I'm gonna get a decision out, none but left for you to sit back and wait. Okay, what can you do? Wait? Let me tell you what you don't do. Don't get on the phone and call Social Security every day. I've had clients who've done that, and I've told them that never worked out. What O well? And they said why not?

5:01 I said, because first of all, they're not going to tell you when the decision's going out. Second of all, there's no guarantee that message is going to get to the judge. Because the judge has a a lot of clients, a lot of excuse me, claimants that they're writing decisions on. Keep in mind, it's first come, first serve. So guess what if there work, If they've got a you know, fifty or sixty decisions per week or forty per week, guess what the one they started first is going to take precedents over yours if you're number forty. To keep that in mind, So what I tell people is this, when you walk out of the hearing, brace yourself. Brace yourself for at least say two to six months now before you freak out. It almost never takes that long.

5:45 The reason why I tell people two to six is because there is nothing in the regulations, or at least nothing I have found that specifically requires the judges to render a decision within a set time period. So there's nothing that mandates they have to give a decision within a set window. So as such, I know some of you are like saying, so what are you trying to say, turning reeves? Are they're gonna sit on it forever? No, because they understand that you've been there, and trust me, judges are very sensitive to the fat. They know you've been sitting there waiting. You know, you applied two years ago and you've just gotten before them. They're not going to drag this thing out, so please don't have it

6:19 in your mind that's what they're going to do. However, in the same instance, you need to be aware of the fact that it may take a while. Now during that time period, they're making their decision and you're like, well, how can I find out where you know, how far along it is only the grandest scheme of things. You can't The representative can find out whether or not it has been moved from if they're if they have access to the electronics suite, like a lot of representatives do.

6:45 If you can tell when you've had the hearing, If you go into the system, you can see if it's been moved from hearing status to post hearing review or post heeering development. Post heeering development usually means they're waiting for additional medical records or they're thinking about doing some additional other things. Posteering review means the judge is reviewing the decision to make a decision, to reviewing the file to make a decision. Penning decision writer typically means they've made their decision. They've kind of given the bowler plate and they've put it in the queue for a decision writer to write it on behalf of the judge. And then once a decision writer gets it, it goes to the decision writing mode. That means now there's going to

7:21 be somebody who literally sits down and writes the decision on your behalf. And this can take a little bit. Okay, that's why I tell people brace yourself for the window of time that I'm referring to. Now, going from there, you get your decision in the mail. Why is this decision so crucial? It's very crucial for two reasons. One, if you get denied under the law, you're given the opportunity to appeal your decision. However, the only way you can appeal it is to know why they denied you.

7:49 So you want to be able to be able to have a decision enhancer. You can know definitively what the court's reason was for denying you, so that you're a representative or you can and make your determination of whether or not you need to appeal the case. If you get approved, this is the document that gets you paid.

8:08 So keep in mind you want this written decision because social Security, whether it be the local office or the payment center, nothing happens, you see no money until they get this document, because not only does it pay you, it also lays out the parameters of how you get paid. Now, you say, what do you mean by parameters? Well, remember when you apply for disability benefits, you indicated your disability benefits started on a particular date. Well, depending on how the judge writes the decisions, the judge could either agree with you or disagree with you. And what do you mean why I disagree with you? Mean I can get paid, but I'm still he or she can still disagree with me. Yes, how does that work? Well, let's say that you say

8:50 you became disabled January one to twenty ten. Well, the judge may say, I think you became disabled January twenty eleven, so you're entitled to benefits. However, it's not the full period that you ask for. Or even differently, the judge may say, yeah, I believe you are disabled January one, twenty ten, but I think I think you medically improved.

9:08 You're good now March March two, March three, March four, whatever day it is, twenty thirteen. That's a closed period. That means he gave you a lump sum or she gave you a lump sum and then basically said you ain't that bad After that, you want to have that decision in front of you because you want to be able to exercise your rights and the law if you want to appeal that decision. Okay. Now, one other tip that I always put out here because I get this all the time. Do not I repeat, do not analyze, scrutinize, or hypothesize on whether you got approved or denied based on the amount of time it takes for a decision to come out. I get that all the time. If it takes a long time, people think, oh my god,

9:56 I mean the judge is really really contemplating whether I'm disabled. I don't know. That means be a bad thing. Or they'll get a quick decision and you, oh, we got a decision. I look in the system and I say, oh, the decision went out today. Oh man, they made it real fast. That means they must really approve me. And I tell people, don't fall for the ok you know, don't assume that just because it takes a long time, you're gonna get denied. Don't assume just because you get well, get the decision quick, you got approved and vice versa.

10:21 Just because you got approved quick doesn't necessarily mean you got to denial quick. Just because you got approved it's because it took a long time doesn't mean necessarily you won't get approved. What I tell people all the time is this, once you've walked out of that hearing, there's nothing you've done. You're what you're supposed to do. You got all the medical records in, you've major legal arguments, you put everything on the floor. All you can do is sit back and wait. And your best bet is sit back and wait. Stay right here, and when we come back, we'll let you know. We're going to show on our next show we're going to talk about disability reviews as a result of you going back to work.

11:04 Stay tuned to that because you won't want to miss it again. This is Attorney Reeves, and this is your Q and a Social Security disability to