WHEN YOU GET A TOUGH JUDGE IN YOUR SSDI CASE

What can you do when you get a

tough Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) in your SSDI hearing?

Let's face it. All judges are not created equal.

In the same hearing office, award rates may vary by 20 to 30 percentage points among the judges. You may walk into one hearing room and sit before a judge who pays 65 percent of her claims. But walk into a different hearing room, in the same building, and sit before a judge who only pays 20 percent of his claims.

Since you can't choose your judge, how can you deal with a tough judge?

1. Prepare Well. Inundate the judge with objective medical and vocational evidence that can't be reasonably denied. Prove your case!

2. Don't stop with just medical records. Get one or more of your treating doctors to provide a detailed Residual Functional Capacity (RFC) form.

One judge with whom I am familiar will take one (or both) of the following approaches on a functional capacity form:

A. Judge: Were you present when the doctor filled out this form? Claimant: No. Judge: Then how does he know what your restrictions are?

B. Were you present when the doctor filled out this form? Claimant: Yes, I was. Judge: Did he ask you how much can lift, or long you can stand, etc.? If he did, then these are YOUR opinions, not your doctor's opinions.

3. Know the rules and regulations of the Social Security
Administration. All judges are bound by these regulations.

4. Be sure you have adequate legal representation at your hearing. This is probably your only way to be well prepared or to know the rules and regulations.

A 2017 study by the US government (GAO) found that 60 percent of represented claimants are approved, but only 30 percent of unrepresented claimants get approved.

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Contact The Forsythe Firm in Huntsville for a free consultation. You will never pay us a fee unless you win your case and collect past due benefits. Call (256) 799-0297.

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