Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston, South Carolina Social Security Disability Lawyers for SSDI and SSI Claims
A disability hearing request from Charleston, South Carolina is generally handled by the Charleston hearing office at Suite 300, 3875 Faber Place Drive in North Charleston, because the Charleston field office on Tobias Gadson Boulevard, which takes nearly all of Charleston and Berkeley counties and lower Dorchester County, is on its list, along with the Walterboro and Georgetown offices that take the edges of the area.
Downard & Associates represents adults in Charleston, North Charleston, Mount Pleasant, Summerville, Goose Creek and the rest of the Lowcountry with Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) claims, from the first application through reconsideration, a hearing before an administrative law judge and Appeals Council review. We are based in Lebanon, Tennessee, talk with Charleston clients by phone or video, and take no fee unless you win.
How we help
What Our Charleston Disability Attorneys Handle
Adults are judged by one disability definition in both programs, and you can apply for both at the same time.
SSDI rests on a Social Security earnings record, ordinarily your own, while SSI depends on limited income and countable resources and needs no work history. Adults are judged by one disability definition in both programs, and you can apply for both at the same time. A parent's record can sometimes support an adult whose disability started before 22, and the record of a spouse or former spouse who has died can sometimes support a disabled widow or widower, including a surviving divorced spouse, age 50 to 59; these depend on rules about the family relationship, the worker's record and when the disability began. Statewide rules are on our South Carolina disability lawyer page.
Downard has no office in Charleston. We meet with you by phone or video, and our attorney generally takes part in your hearing from Tennessee in the same way, even if you appear in person. Our clients are adults age 18 and older. We do not take VA claims or VA appeals, continuing disability reviews, cessation cases or cases about back pay alone, and we refer a case that needs federal court to affiliated counsel.
The local offices
One Field Office Takes Most of the Charleston Area
Social Security's office locator sends Charleston, North Charleston, the beach towns, the sea islands and nearly all of Berkeley County and lower Dorchester County to a single field office on Tobias Gadson Boulevard. Two other offices take the edges. Each office below is open weekdays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Charleston, 1463 Tobias Gadson Boulevard: Charleston ZIP codes 29401, 29403, 29404, 29407, 29412, 29414 and 29492; North Charleston (29405, 29406, 29418 and 29420); Mount Pleasant (29464 and 29466), Isle of Palms, Sullivan's Island and Awendaw; Folly Beach, Johns Island, Kiawah and Seabrook (29455), Wadmalaw Island, Edisto Island, Hollywood, Ravenel and Adams Run; Summerville (29483, 29485 and 29486) and Ladson; and in Berkeley County, Hanahan, Goose Creek, Moncks Corner, Pinopolis, Bonneau, Cross, Huger, Cordesville, Pineville, St. Stephen and Jamestown. Phone 1-866-495-0111.
Walterboro, 502 Robertson Boulevard: upper Dorchester County, meaning St. George (29477), Harleyville (29448), Ridgeville (29472), Reevesville (29471) and Dorchester (29437), along with Walterboro and Round O in Colleton County. Phone 1-866-708-2810.
Georgetown, 413 King Street: McClellanville (29458) in northern Charleston County. Phone 1-866-593-1584.
The field office takes applications and appeal requests and checks the non-medical requirements, but it does not decide whether you are disabled or hold hearings. Search your own street address in the locator, because assignments can change and a ZIP code can cross office lines.
Hearing offices
The Charleston Hearing Office Is on Faber Place Drive in North Charleston
The hearing office is named for Charleston but sits in North Charleston.
The data behind Social Security's hearing office locator gives the Charleston hearing office's address as Suite 300, 3875 Faber Place Drive, North Charleston, SC 29405, phone 1-877-405-1467, and lists Beaufort, Charleston, Conway, Georgetown, Myrtle Beach and Walterboro in South Carolina, plus Wilmington, North Carolina. Appendix F of Social Security's privacy notice for hearing records gives the same address and the same six South Carolina offices, and lists Whiteville, North Carolina, alongside Wilmington.
The three field offices named above, Charleston, Walterboro and Georgetown, are all on the Charleston hearing office's list of field offices in both the locator data and Appendix F. The hearing office is named for Charleston but sits in North Charleston. Wilmington also appears on the Fayetteville hearing office's list, which our Wilmington, North Carolina disability lawyer page explains. Your Notice of Hearing gives the time and how you take part, and names the place if you appear in person or by agency video.
Social Security's operations manual says hearing office jurisdiction is determined by the claimant's residence address, though you can ask, in a signed statement giving your reasons that the field office sends along with your hearing request, to have the case transferred, and Social Security decides whether to do it. Social Security's hearings manual also lets it reassign some cases to another hearing office to relieve a temporary workload imbalance or increase productivity, only when the other office can hear and decide them more quickly. Social Security does not reassign a case this way when you have properly objected to both a phone hearing and an agency video hearing, have not agreed to online video, and have not changed your residence. If you move while your hearing request is pending, the hearing-format rules in 20 CFR 404.936 and, for SSI, 20 CFR 416.1436 let Social Security decide again how you will appear, including by phone or agency video, despite the objection, and it considers the move only once you send evidence verifying your new residence. In a workload reassignment, its hearings manual says management will still honor the objection after a move when doing so causes no additional delay and nothing else calls for scheduling you another way. When Social Security moves a case to another hearing office for workload or productivity reasons, the office that receives it is responsible for notifying you and your representative of the reassignment as soon as possible. Our hearing office directory lists every office with its field offices, and our ZIP code lookup shows the field office Social Security's office locator assigns to a ZIP code and the hearing office Social Security links to that field office. Your Notice of Hearing gives the address of the hearing office handling your case and, for an in-person or agency video hearing, the place, so go by that notice for your own case.
South Carolina DDS
South Carolina Disability Determination Services and Consultative Exams
In South Carolina, Disability Determination Services, part of the South Carolina Vocational Rehabilitation Department, generally makes the medical decision at the application and reconsideration stages; at a hearing, the judge decides. The department's August 2026 presentation to a subcommittee of the state House Legislative Oversight Committee lists regional DDS offices in North Charleston, West Columbia and Greenville, and says DDS also processes non-federal claims for Medicaid disability and for the state's Public Employee Benefit Authority.
If your own medical sources cannot or will not give Social Security enough evidence to decide whether you are disabled, 20 CFR 404.1517 (416.917 for SSI) lets it ask you to take one or more physical or mental examinations or tests, which it pays for, after giving you reasonable notice of the date, time and place and the name of the person or facility doing them. It does not pay for an exam that you or your representative arrange without its advance approval. Under 20 CFR 404.1519h (416.919h for SSI), your own medical source is the preferred examiner when, in Social Security's judgment, that source is qualified, equipped and willing to do the exam for the fee schedule payment and generally furnishes complete and timely reports.
Under 20 CFR 404.1518 (416.918 for SSI), an applicant who fails or refuses to take part in a scheduled exam without a good reason may be found not disabled, so tell Social Security as soon as possible before the exam date if you cannot go; with a good reason, it schedules another exam. Its examples of good reasons include illness on the exam date, late notice or no notice, incorrect or incomplete information about the examiner or the time or place, and a death or serious illness in your immediate family, and it considers your physical, mental, educational and language limitations. If one of your own medical sources tells you not to take the exam or test, tell Social Security at once.
Local treatment records
Records From MUSC Health, Roper St. Francis and the Charleston VA
VA records can support an SSDI or SSI claim even though we do not handle VA claims themselves.
With your permission, Social Security makes every reasonable effort to help you get records from your own medical sources, which 20 CFR 404.1512(b)(1) (416.912(b)(1) for SSI) defines as an initial request to each source and, if the records have not arrived, one follow-up request 10 to 20 calendar days later. Before finding that you are not disabled, it develops your complete medical history, generally at least the 12 months before the month you apply. You must still tell it about or submit all evidence known to you that relates to whether you are disabled, so a full list of providers, with your own copies where you have them, helps close gaps.
MUSC Health: its medical records page offers records through MyChart or an online eRequest, or an authorization you mail, email, fax or deliver in person. For MUSC Health Charleston, including the Institute of Psychiatry, it lists phone 843-792-3881, fax 843-792-5460 and email ROIauthrequest@musc.edu, and it posts its copy fees on the same page.
Roper St. Francis Healthcare: its hospital records request process is entirely online. The tool verifies your identity with a photo of your driver's license taken by webcam or smartphone, and sends the records by email or mail.
Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center: the VA Charleston health care system's medical records office page offers records online, by mail on VA Form 10-5345a sent to 106 Bee Street, Charleston, SC 29401, or in person at a Release of Information office at the main campus, 109 Bee Street, or at Suite B, 2424 City Hall Lane in North Charleston, where you bring a signed request and your Veteran Health Identification Card. It says mailed or faxed requests may take up to 20 business days. VA records can support an SSDI or SSI claim even though we do not handle VA claims themselves.
Hearings and deadlines
Hearing Format and Appeal Deadlines for a Charleston Disability Claim
To object in writing to a phone or agency video hearing, after you receive the Notice of Ways to Attend a Hearing
30days
20 CFR 404.936(d), 416.1436(d)
After a hearing request, Social Security sends a Notice of Ways to Attend a Hearing, and its ways to attend page lists four: in person or by agency video at one of its offices, and by phone, or by online video on your own device, either from a private location you choose. Under 20 CFR 404.936 and, for SSI, 20 CFR 416.1436, an objection to a phone hearing, an agency video hearing, or both must be made in writing within 30 days after you receive that notice. If you do not object, Social Security can schedule a phone or agency video hearing, though it can also schedule you in person or, if you agree, by online video; if you object to only one of those two formats, it can schedule you in person, by the other format, or by online video if you agree, and if you object to both, it generally schedules you in person or, if you agree, by online video. Online video is used only if you agree to it in writing, also within 30 days after you receive that notice, and a late objection or agreement needs good cause. If you move while the hearing request is pending, Social Security decides how you appear and can schedule a phone or agency video hearing despite an objection, though it considers the move only if you send evidence of your new residence; it can also use a phone hearing in a few other situations the rule lists. Our guide to hearing formats explains each choice and when Social Security moves a case to another office, and our disability hearings page describes the hearing itself.
A reconsideration request is due in writing within 60 days after you receive the initial denial, under 20 CFR 404.909 for SSDI and 20 CFR 416.1409 for SSI, and a hearing request after a reconsideration denial has its own 60 days under 20 CFR 404.933 and 20 CFR 416.1433. Social Security treats a notice as received 5 days after the date on the notice unless you show it came later, under 20 CFR 404.901 and 20 CFR 416.1401. A late request needs a written request for more time and good cause, so call us the week a denial arrives.
Common questions
Charleston Disability Claim Questions
Is a Charleston disability hearing held on Faber Place Drive in North Charleston?
Not always. The Charleston hearing office at Suite 300, 3875 Faber Place Drive generally handles the case for addresses in the Charleston area, but Social Security can schedule a phone hearing, an agency video hearing at one of its offices, an in-person hearing, or an online video hearing if you agree. You can object in writing to a phone or agency video hearing within 30 days after you receive the Notice of Ways to Attend a Hearing, though in limited cases Social Security can still schedule a phone hearing, and if you move while your request is pending, Social Security decides again how you will appear, including by phone or agency video despite your objection. The Notice of Hearing says where and how you take part.
Which Social Security office serves Summerville, Goose Creek and Mount Pleasant?
The Charleston field office at 1463 Tobias Gadson Boulevard. The locator assigns Summerville (29483, 29485 and 29486), Goose Creek, Mount Pleasant (29464 and 29466), Moncks Corner, Hanahan and Ladson to that office, and it is on the Charleston hearing office's list. Search your own street address in the locator to confirm.
Why does a St. George or Harleyville address go to Walterboro?
Because the locator assigns upper Dorchester County, including St. George (29477), Harleyville (29448), Ridgeville (29472), Reevesville (29471) and Dorchester (29437), to the Walterboro field office at 502 Robertson Boulevard rather than to Charleston. Walterboro is on the Charleston hearing office's list too, so the hearing office is generally the same.
What happens if I miss a consultative exam Social Security scheduled?
If you are applying for benefits and miss the exam without a good reason, Social Security may find you not disabled. If you have a good reason, such as illness on the exam date, late notice or wrong information about the time or place, it schedules another exam, so tell it as soon as possible, before the exam date if you can.
Discuss your claim
Ask for a Free Review of Your Charleston Disability Claim
Call (615) 255-4307 or complete the free review form, and you will hear back within 3 business hours. Have your latest Social Security notice, the date it reached you and the names of the Charleston clinics and hospitals where you are treated.