Social Security
The hearing room, in the order things happen
Who sits where, what the judge asks, and the one question to the vocational expert that decides many cases.
Leontine Merrow8 min read
Social Security and VA disability, Bangor, Maine
A disability claim is won on what the file says
Most of the files people bring me after a denial weren’t lost on the facts. They were lost on what the paperwork left out.
I take Social Security disability and VA claims one at a time, from the first request for records to the decision, and I read every page myself.
Leontine Merrow
Attorney, Merrow Law Office
Listen
to the whole story, the bad weeks included.Prove
it with what a doctor wrote, not what you remember.Stay
through the appeal most people never file.
A note before the details
From the records room to the hearing room
Before I practiced, I worked in the records room of a county office, where the same shoebox arrived every spring: pay stubs, pill-bottle labels, a letter that began “We regret to inform you.” I learned what a file looks like when its owner has given up on it.
I became a lawyer to read those files properly. A disability claim isn’t decided by how sick you are. It’s decided by whether a stranger, with forty pages and twenty minutes, can see it. My job is to make it visible: the treating doctor’s opinion on the form the agency reads, a work history that says what your body used to do, a gap in treatment explained before anyone asks.
I work alone, on purpose. You’ll talk to me, not to an intake line, and the person who knows your file is the one sitting beside you at the hearing.
Below are two guides I wrote, a short talk on the hearing room, and three claims added up in dollars. The people are invented. The arithmetic is the kind that really decides things.
Guides
Read these before your next form
I wrote them for people in the middle of a claim, at the kitchen table, with a letter in hand.
VA claimsYour first VA decision, and the year after it
What the letter’s four parts mean, and the three ways to disagree without losing your start date.
Leontine Merrow7 min read
Worked examples
The arithmetic of three claims
These people are invented and the figures are rounded; the rules are real, but amounts change every year and your claim will have its own numbers. Past results don’t predict the outcome of any claim.
- SSDI
Walt, 58, a lineman whose shoulder gave out
Walt stopped work in February and applied in April. Social Security pays nothing for the first five full months, so his benefits start in August. If his monthly amount is $1,900 and the decision comes the next July, he is owed eleven months at once: about $20,900.
Off work from February
Five-month wait: March to July
Back pay: August to June
- VA
Dennis, 71, a Navy machinist with a 50 percent rating
Dennis has a 50 percent rating for migraines and files for his back, which the VA rates at 30. Ratings don’t add up to 80. The VA takes 30 percent of what’s left after the first 50, which is 15, for a combined 65 that rounds to 70. The higher rating pays from the date he filed.
50 and 30 do not make 80
Combined: 65, rounded to 70
Pay runs from the filing date
- SSI
Joan, 49, who cleaned offices until her lungs gave out
Joan never worked long enough to qualify for SSDI, so she applies for SSI. A disability plan from her old employer pays $320 a month. SSI ignores the first $20 and subtracts the rest. If the federal monthly rate is about $970, her SSI is about $670, on top of the plan’s $320.
Plan pays $320 a month
SSI ignores the first $20
SSI covers the difference
Watch
Twelve minutes on the hearing room
I walk through what the judge has already read, what the vocational expert is asked, and where everyone sits.
If you’d rather read than watch, the written guide covers the same ground and adds the deadlines.
Leontine Merrow on what happens in a Social Security hearing room
Before you call
Questions people ask before they hire me
Do I need a lawyer to file?
No. Anyone can apply to Social Security or the VA without one. Most people call me after a denial, when the question has changed from how to apply to why the first answer was no. I can also help before you file, if your records have gaps you can see coming.
What does it cost?
Social Security sets the fee by rule and pays it out of back pay, so there is no fee if there is no back pay. The VA lets a lawyer charge only after it has made its first decision on the claim. Fees are set by federal rules and paid out of back pay, and the VA allows one only after its first decision. Costs, such as the fees some doctors charge for records, are separate, and you may owe them even if a claim is denied.
How long will it take?
Months, and sometimes more than a year. It depends on the office, the level of appeal and how quickly records arrive. I’ll tell you which stage you’re at and what’s next, and I won’t promise a date I can’t control.
Can I work while I wait?
Some work is allowed, and some earnings can end a Social Security claim. Ask me before you accept a job or increase your hours, not after.
Do you take every kind of claim?
No. I take Social Security disability, SSI and VA disability claims. For workers’ compensation, long-term disability insurance or anything outside these programs, I’ll say so on the first call and point you toward someone who does.
Bring me the letter, and the date on it
Most Social Security denials can be appealed within 60 days of the notice, and a VA decision keeps its start date if you challenge it within a year. If a date is close, say so when you call.