Albuquerque, new Mexico
Albuquerque Disability Lawyers for SSDI and SSI
Downard & Associates represents adults in Albuquerque, New Mexico, with Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) applications and administrative appeals. We work with clients by phone and video from Tennessee. Whether you are applying or responding to a denial, your treatment history and work limitations help explain the claim. Start with the providers you have seen, the dates of care, and any Social Security decision you have received.
How we help
Building an Albuquerque Application or Appeal With Downard
For SSI, we help complete the application and its financial disclosures.
A disability claim needs an accurate account of your health, treatment, and work. We help prepare that information and address the questions raised at the stage your case has reached.
Applications: We help file SSDI applications, gather medical evidence, and document work history. For SSI, we help complete the application and its financial disclosures.
Reconsideration: After an initial denial, we review the reasons given, file the appeal, and work on missing or updated evidence relevant to those reasons.
Administrative hearings: We develop the medical record, prepare you for testimony, and present the case before the administrative law judge. Preparation includes reviewing your treatment timeline and the questions you may face.
Our service limits also address matters involving Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) benefits.
We handle SSDI cases for people who currently receive VA benefits, but we do not handle VA claims or appeals. We do not take disability cessation or continuing disability review cases, or new cases involving back-pay issues alone. We refer federal court appeals to a trusted affiliate rather than handling them in-house.
Benefit eligibility
The SSDI and SSI Requirements Albuquerque Adults Need to Understand
Duration rule
12months
SSDI generally requires enough total and recent work covered by Social Security. The work-credit requirements depend on your age when the disability began. Statutory blindness is an exception to the recent-work requirement, although the total-work requirement still applies.
SSI does not require an insured work record. Adults may qualify based on disability, statutory blindness, or age 65 or older, subject to limited income and resources and the program's citizenship, residency, and other requirements. The Social Security Administration (SSA) explains these separate conditions in its SSI eligibility guidance.
For SSDI and adult SSI claims based on disability, SSA evaluates whether a medically determinable condition prevents substantial gainful activity (SGA). SGA generally means work involving significant physical or mental activities of a kind done, or usually done, for pay or profit. SSA's evaluation also considers past work and adjustment to other work when the claim reaches those steps. A diagnosis alone does not establish eligibility.
Both the condition and the resulting inability to perform SGA must generally have lasted, or be expected to last, at least 12 consecutive months, unless the condition is expected to result in death within 12 months of disability onset. This duration requirement does not mean you must wait a year before applying.
For initial SSI eligibility based on statutory blindness, SSA does not use SGA. Statutory blindness has no duration requirement under SSI. Income, resource, and other SSI rules still apply. SSI based on age 65 or older does not require proving disability.
Treatment records
UNM and Presbyterian Records for an Albuquerque Disability Claim
MyUNM Health lets you view, download, and share parts of your record.
If your treatment includes both UNM Health and Presbyterian, keep a separate entry for each system. Record the clinics, treatment dates, and records you already have before starting a request.
UNM Health: patient access and disability releases
UNM Health's medical-records instructions provide separate electronic request links for patients, patient representatives, and attorneys, plus traditional authorization forms. MyUNM Health lets you view, download, and share parts of your record. Check the dates and contents of a download against your treatment list.
UNM also reports an electronic records exchange with Social Security and instructs disability applicants to complete SSA-827, the authorization to disclose information to SSA. Use the current instructions for the request you are making, and continue listing all of your treatment sources.
Presbyterian: request and save your own records
For your own Presbyterian records, the current records-access instructions direct you to log in to MyChart, select Sharing Hub, and follow the prompts. After processing, the records are available in Document Center for download and printing for up to 30 days. Save the files you need while they are available. Requests for someone else's records use the linked authorization form.
Keep a simple record of what you requested and what arrived. Compare the response with your treatment dates, then contact the records department about missing visits or reports. Access to a portal is a starting point for organizing evidence; describe the care you received as well as the files you have.
Get organized
An Albuquerque Treatment and Work Checklist
Use these items to prepare for an application or a conversation about an appeal. SSA's application preparation guidance identifies the medical and work information it asks for.
Treatment sources: List each doctor, hospital, and clinic, with contact information, patient numbers if known, and examination or treatment dates. Include providers outside UNM and Presbyterian.
Tests and medications: Note test names, dates, and the provider who ordered them. List prescription and nonprescription medications, their purpose, and prescribers where applicable.
Record requests: Record the system, dates requested, request date, and response. For Presbyterian MyChart requests, note when the files become available and download the records you need during the stated availability period.
Jobs and limitations: List jobs from the five years before you became unable to work because of your condition, including duties, dates, hours, and pay. Explain when your condition began affecting work and which tasks became difficult.
SSA notices: Keep the full decision and the date you received it together. Save copies of requests or other material you submit.
You do not need to assemble every document before applying for SSDI. SSA's disability benefits instructions say to apply promptly and not delay because documents are missing. Provide the information you have and identify your treatment sources.
Local claim process
Medical Review and Appeal Steps for Albuquerque Claims
Deadline
60days
The New Mexico Division of Vocational Rehabilitation includes Disability Determination Services (DDS), which evaluates Social Security disability cases for New Mexico residents. SSA's claim-process explanation distinguishes the work: field offices check nonmedical eligibility, while DDS develops the medical evidence and makes the initial disability determination.
That distinction helps you understand a request for more information. A medical-records request concerns the disability evidence; SSDI insured-status or SSI financial questions concern other eligibility requirements. Our New Mexico disability page covers the statewide setting.
After an initial SSDI or SSI denial, reconsideration generally must be requested in writing within 60 days after you receive the notice. SSA presumes receipt five days after the notice date unless you show you did not receive it within that period. Keep the notice date and actual receipt date separate.
If the reconsideration deadline has passed, ask for an extension in writing and explain the delay. SSA must find good cause to grant more time; an extension is not automatic. The reconsideration rules for SSDI and SSI explain these requirements.
For a case that reaches a hearing, use our Social Security hearing-office guide for office details.
Common questions
Albuquerque Questions About Records and Representation
Which UNM request should I use for my own medical records?
UNM provides separate electronic links for patients, patient representatives, and attorneys. Use the patient link for your own copy, or follow the traditional authorization instructions. UNM separately instructs disability applicants to complete SSA-827 for its electronic exchange with Social Security.
How long can I download a processed Presbyterian MyChart request?
Presbyterian says processed records are available in MyChart Document Center for download and printing for up to 30 days. Save the records you need during that period and compare their contents with the treatment dates you requested.
Should missing records delay my SSDI application?
No. SSA says not to delay applying for SSDI because some documents are missing. Provide accurate provider names, contact details, and treatment dates, along with the records you already have. Continue organizing the missing information as the claim is developed.
Can I work with Downard while living in Albuquerque?
Yes. We represent adults in Albuquerque with SSDI and SSI applications, reconsideration appeals, and administrative hearings, and we work with clients by phone and video from Tennessee. Begin with your treatment and work history so we can discuss the next step.
Discuss your claim
Discuss Your Albuquerque SSDI or SSI Claim
Tell us how your health has affected work and whether you have already applied or received a decision. We can discuss an application or administrative appeal and the information needed for the next step.