Baltimore, Maryland
Baltimore Disability Lawyers for SSDI and SSI
Downard & Associates represents adults in Baltimore, Maryland, with Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) applications, reconsideration appeals, and administrative hearings. We work with clients by phone and video. If your health is limiting your ability to work, begin with a list of your doctors, treatment locations, and recent jobs. If you have already received a denial, note when it arrived so the next appeal step and deadline can be reviewed.
How we help
Working With Downard on a Baltimore Application or Appeal
For SSI, we also help organize the financial information the claim requires.
The work we do depends on where your claim stands. We help put the medical evidence and work history into the context Social Security needs.
Initial application: We help prepare the application, gather medical evidence, and document your work history. For SSI, we also help organize the financial information the claim requires.
Reconsideration: We review the reasons for the denial and address missing evidence or gaps identified in the decision.
Administrative hearing: We develop the medical record, prepare you for testimony, and present the case to the administrative law judge.
Our Maryland disability page provides the statewide overview. Our hearing-office guide explains the relationship between field offices and hearing offices.
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
SSDI and SSI Eligibility for Baltimore Adults
Duration rule
12months
SSDI generally requires enough recent work covered by Social Security. The work-credit requirements depend on your age when disability began. The Social Security Administration (SSA) explains these requirements in its disability eligibility guidance.
SSI does not require an insured work record. It requires limited income and resources, along with other eligibility conditions. Adults may qualify based on age 65 or older, statutory blindness, or a qualifying disability. Read SSA's SSI eligibility requirements for the additional conditions.
For adult claims based on disability, SSA evaluates whether a medically determinable physical or mental condition prevents substantial gainful activity, meaning work involving significant physical or mental activities that is done, or usually done, for pay or profit. SSA considers past work and adjustment to other work when its evaluation reaches those steps; it can decide a claim before reaching every step.
Both the condition and the resulting inability to perform substantial gainful activity 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 expected-duration rule does not require waiting a year before applying.
SSI 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. Income, resources, and the other SSI requirements still matter.
Treatment records
Requesting UMMS and Johns Hopkins Records for a Baltimore Claim
If your care involved both hospital and FPI practice settings, you may need separate requests.
If you received care through the University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS), identify the hospital and any separate physician practice on your treatment list. UMMS's medical-records instructions allow personal-use hospital records requests through MyChart, formerly called MyPortfolio.
UMMS explains that neither it nor University of Maryland Medical Center is the records custodian for University of Maryland Faculty Physicians, Inc. (FPI) clinical practices. If your care involved both hospital and FPI practice settings, you may need separate requests. A hospital name alone may leave part of your treatment history unaccounted for.
Johns Hopkins Medicine's records instructions describe MyChart requests and requests through Health Information Management. Its patient request form asks for the dates of service and the specific records requested, and its instructions identify where to send a request for the facility that provided care.
For each treatment location, record the provider, visit dates, records already available, and any request still pending. Keep hospital and physician-practice entries separate when they have different records custodians. Use the same list to identify treatment sources on your disability forms.
Get organized
A Records and Work Checklist for Your Baltimore Claim
Start with a working list you can update as new records arrive. Keep the original documents alongside it.
Treatment sources: List each doctor, hospital, clinic, and therapist, with contact details and approximate treatment dates. Include care outside Baltimore. Separate UMMS hospital care from FPI practice care when applicable.
Medical information: Note medications and prescribers where applicable, along with tests and the providers who ordered them. Mark which records you have and which are still being requested.
Work and daily limits: Record your recent jobs, duties, hours, and when your condition affected the work. Describe concrete limits, such as needing to change position, difficulty lifting, or trouble concentrating. Follow the questions on the forms SSA sends you.
SSI information: Organize income, resources, and living-arrangement information if you are applying for SSI. Keep it separate from your treatment timeline.
Decisions and receipt dates: Save each SSA decision and record when it arrived. Identify whether it concerns the initial application or reconsideration.
SSA's application guidance says not to delay applying because documents are missing. Provide the information you have and continue responding to requests for additional information.
After a denial
Responding to a Baltimore SSDI or SSI Denial
Deadline
60days
After an initial SSDI or SSI denial, reconsideration is generally the next review step. After an unfavorable reconsideration determination, you may request an administrative law judge hearing. For either stage, the written request is generally due within 60 days after you receive the relevant decision notice.
SSA generally presumes you received the notice five days after its date unless you show that it arrived later. Record the actual receipt date rather than treating the date printed on the notice as the start of every appeal period.
If either request is late, ask for an extension in writing and explain why it was delayed. SSA must find good cause; an extension is not automatic. Its reconsideration rules for SSDI and SSI explain the written-request requirement. The hearing-request rules for SSDI and SSI set out the hearing-stage requirements. Follow the decision notice for the review step that applies to your case.
Common questions
Questions About Baltimore Disability Claims
Can Downard represent me while I stay in Baltimore?
Yes. We represent adults in Baltimore and work with clients by phone and video. Client meetings with us are separate from SSA hearing attendance arrangements; follow the hearing notices for your case.
Will a UMMS hospital request include my FPI practice records?
Do not assume it will. UMMS says neither it nor University of Maryland Medical Center is the records custodian for FPI clinical practices. When care involves both settings, you may need records from both the hospital and the practice. List each treatment source separately.
Should I wait until I have every medical record to apply?
No. SSA says not to delay applying because documents are missing. Identify your treatment providers and give SSA the information already available. Continue organizing the remaining records and respond to later requests.
What should I write if my symptoms vary from day to day?
Describe the variation accurately. Note how often symptoms occur, how long they last, what activities they affect, and any medication side effects. Use concrete examples from your own experience rather than describing only your diagnosis.
Does a long-lasting diagnosis automatically qualify me?
No. For an adult disability-based claim, SSA considers medical evidence, work activity, and the limits caused by the condition. Both the condition and the resulting inability to perform substantial gainful activity generally must 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. SSI based on age or statutory blindness follows different rules.
Discuss your claim
Discuss Your Baltimore SSDI or SSI Claim
Contact Downard & Associates to discuss your application, denial, or upcoming administrative hearing. We can review where your claim stands and explain the next step by phone or video.