At a Social Security disability hearing, sometimes it is very clear that the claim should be granted. In such cases, a bench decision is available to the administrative law judge. A bench decision must be a fully favorable decision.
For a bench decision, the judge sets forth his reasons for granting the claim orally "from the bench"…
I received a fully favorable decision today for one of my clients. It was an unusual case, because I never spoke with the client until just before the hearing.
The client found me in March through my Maine Social Security lawyer website, and emailed me. She has such severe anxiety that she does not use the…
Social Security News has published the allowance and denial rates for Social Security disability claims (including SSI and concurrent claims) for fiscal year 2007. You can see the state by state breakdown here and here. These statistics are remarkable. As Charles Hall says in his post, note the disparities in the allowance/denial rates among…
My clients often have questions about the disability claim process. So here is a description of the claim process in Maine and New Hampshire from start to finish.
A Social Security disability claim may be filed in person at the nearest Social Security office, online, or by telephone. The location of every Social Security office in Maine is here (the same information for New Hampshire is here). Continue Reading Social Security Disability Claims Process
