By Charles W. Forsythe - The Forsythe Firm in Huntsville An Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) has made a decision on your Social Security disability appeal hearing. The decision must now be sent to to a process called "Decision Writing" - where an attorney or paralegal will draft the formal binding decision, explaining the judge's legal rationale for the decision and explaining the mandatory 5-Step decision making process. The decision writing process translates a judge's ruling into a formal, legally binding document. It is a vital but time-consuming phase that ensures all medical evidence and vocational factors align with the law. A typical written decision will be 10 to 20 pages, thus very detailed. It takes time to write one. There are many decisions ahead of yours and usually they are written in the order received. The step-by-step process breaks down as follows: The Judge’s Ruling & Instructions: Following your hearing, the Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) r...
You often hear the negative about Social Security disability: how hard it is to get, the long application process, the complicated rules, etc. There is a positive aspect of SSDI, however, that we may loose sight of: Over 50 percent of all claimants will receive benefits IF they follow all appeals to the end. While almost 75 percent of initial claims are denied and 90 percent of "reconsideration" appeals get denied, cases that go before an Administrative Law Judge have a much better success rate. If you persist and take your SSDI claim before a judge, you have between 50 - 58 percent chance of winning and being paid. Most claimants will also collect substantial past due benefits or "back pay." Unfortunately, thousands of claimants give up after the first denial. They receive a letter that says, "You are not disabled under our rules," and they quit. this is a mistake. You must understand from the beginning that receiving Social Security disability bene...