Bakersfield, California
Bakersfield Disability Lawyers for SSDI and SSI
Downard & Associates represents adults in Bakersfield, California, with Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) claims. We help with applications, reconsideration appeals, and administrative hearings, working with clients by phone and video. Start with your treatment-provider list, a description of the work you performed, and any Social Security decision you have received. We can review your situation and explain the next steps in your claim.
How we help
How We Help Bakersfield Adults Prepare and Appeal a Claim
That work connects the information on your forms with the treatment and job details in your file.
We work with you by phone and video, so getting help with your claim does not require a trip to Tennessee. Our California disability representation page covers our service across the state.
Applications: We help prepare and file the application, gather medical evidence, and document your work history. That work connects the information on your forms with the treatment and job details in your file.
Reconsideration: We review the reasons for the denial and help address missing or updated medical evidence. The response should address the issues in the decision, rather than repeat the application without examining what was denied.
Administrative hearings: We develop the medical record, prepare you for questions about your condition and work, and present the legal argument at the hearing. Preparation includes explaining your limitations accurately, without overstating or understating them.
We handle SSDI cases for people who currently receive benefits from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), 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
SSDI and SSI Eligibility for Bakersfield Applicants
Duration rule
12months
SSDI generally requires enough recent work covered by Social Security. The work-credit requirements depend on your age when your disability began. For SSDI based on statutory blindness, fully insured status is required, but the usual recent-work test does not apply. SSI does not require an insured work record. It has separate income, resource, and other eligibility rules and may be available to people who are 65 or older, statutorily blind, or have a qualifying disability. The Social Security Administration (SSA) explains the programs in its disability eligibility guidance and SSI eligibility requirements.
For adult claims based on disability, SSA generally requires a medically determinable physical or mental condition that prevents substantial gainful activity, meaning work involving significant physical or mental activity that is ordinarily done for pay or profit. The condition and qualifying inability to work must have lasted or be expected to last at least 12 consecutive months, unless the condition is expected to result in death. SSA considers past work and adjustment to other work when its evaluation reaches those steps. You do not have to wait a year before applying when the condition is expected to meet the duration requirement.
SSI eligibility based on statutory blindness follows different rules. SSA does not use substantial gainful activity to determine initial SSI eligibility based on statutory blindness, and there is no duration requirement for SSI statutory blindness. SSI’s financial and other eligibility rules still apply.
Local claim process
Separating Bakersfield Medical Review From Hearing Assignment
Your scheduling notice provides the attendance instructions for your case.
A Social Security field office checks nonmedical eligibility requirements. California’s Disability Determination Service Division develops medical evidence and makes the initial determination about whether an applicant meets Social Security’s disability or blindness standard. A hearing before an administrative law judge is a later, separate stage of review.
Use your SSA case correspondence to identify the office handling your appeal. Our hearing-office guide provides office information, but a directory listing is not a substitute for the instructions in your own case.
The directory alone does not tell you where a hearing will occur. An in-person hearing may take place at an SSA hearing office or permanent remote site. Your scheduling notice provides the attendance instructions for your case.
SSA describes four ways to attend a hearing: in person, by audio using a telephone, by agency video using SSA equipment, or by online video using your own device. Online video requires your agreement. Objections to audio or agency video are subject to SSA’s rules and exceptions. Respond to the Notice of Ways to Attend a Hearing within its stated time limits, and distinguish those choices from phone or video meetings with your attorney.
California’s Disability Insurance program, administered by the Employment Development Department (EDD), provides short-term wage replacement to eligible workers. It is separate from SSDI and SSI. Identify which agency issued a letter before deciding how to respond; an EDD notice and a Social Security notice concern different programs.
Get organized
A Preparation Checklist for Your Bakersfield Disability Claim
Use this checklist to organize information for an application or a discussion about your claim. Keep the information you already have and identify what still needs to be obtained.
Treatment sources: List each relevant doctor, clinic, hospital, and therapist, with contact information and treatment dates. Include care outside Bakersfield as well as care close to home.
Medical evidence: Note medications, tests, and the records you already have. Describe how your symptoms affect activities such as sitting, standing, lifting, concentrating, or completing tasks.
Work history: Begin with jobs held during the five years before your medical conditions prevented you from working. Record duties, hours, tools, physical demands, and why each job ended. Follow the instructions on the work-history form SSA sends you.
Agency correspondence: Separate SSA, medical-review, and EDD letters. Record the date on each notice, when you received it, the requested action, and the stated response date.
SSI financial information: Organize information about your income, resources, and living arrangements if you are applying for SSI. Those requirements are separate from the medical review.
SSA’s application instructions say not to delay applying because documents are missing. Starting the application does not remove the need to respond to later requests for information.
After a denial
Responding to a Bakersfield SSDI or SSI Denial
Deadline
60days
After an initial SSDI or SSI denial, reconsideration is generally the next review step and must be requested in writing. If reconsideration is denied, you may request an administrative law judge hearing in writing. For both requests, the general deadline is 60 days after receiving the relevant notice. SSA’s reconsideration rules for SSDI and SSI and hearing-request rules for SSDI and SSI explain these requirements.
SSA normally presumes that you received the notice five days after its date unless you show that you did not receive it within that period. Keep the notice and any evidence of delayed delivery. Do not treat this presumption as an unconditional 65-day deadline.
If a reconsideration or hearing request is late, ask for an extension in writing and explain why you missed the deadline. SSA must find good cause; an extension is not automatic. Have the decision reviewed promptly so the reasons for the denial and the available appeal step can be assessed together.
Common questions
Questions Bakersfield Disability Applicants Ask
Does the hearing office’s address tell me where I must attend?
No. A hearing office’s address does not, by itself, establish your scheduled hearing site or attendance method. Follow SSA’s hearing notice for the arrangements in your case. An in-person hearing may be held at a hearing office or permanent remote site
Should I send an EDD denial as my Social Security appeal?
No. California EDD Disability Insurance and Social Security’s SSDI and SSI are separate programs. Follow the appeal instructions for the decision you received. An EDD appeal does not substitute for an SSA appeal, or the other way around. If SSA denied your SSDI or SSI claim, tell us what the notice says.
Do I need every medical record before applying?
No. SSA says not to delay an application because documents are missing. Provide the treatment-provider information and records you already have, and identify missing information. You still need to respond to later evidence requests.
Can I work with Downard while living in Bakersfield?
Yes. We represent adults in Bakersfield with SSDI and SSI matters and work with clients by phone and video. We do not have a California office. Communication with our team is separate from the attendance instructions SSA gives you for a hearing.
Discuss your claim
Talk With Downard About Your Bakersfield Disability Claim
Tell us whether you are preparing an application, responding to a denial, or getting ready for a hearing. We can review your medical and work history and explain how we would handle your SSDI or SSI claim.