Social Security Administrative Law Judge

Your best chance of winning your disability case is to get it before a Social Security Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) but Social Security does not make it easy to get to that point.

First, you have to file a claim. Sounds easy but I lot of people get discouraged and take months or years to ever file a disability claim. Then, you must wait for an initial determination. Social Security turns down about two-thirds of all disability claims. You then file a request for reconsideration with Social Security. Then, you wait for a reconsideration determination. Social Security turns down almost 90% of all reconsideration requests. Only after the reconsideration denial can you file a request for a hearing before a Social Security Administrative Law Judge (ALJ).

Is it worth it to jump through all these hoops to get a hearing before a Social Security Administrative Law Judge? In a word, yes. Social Security Administrative Law Judges approve around 60% of the cases they hear. That is far better than at any other level.