Columbia, South Carolina
Columbia, South Carolina Social Security Disability Lawyers for SSDI and SSI Claims
A disability hearing request from Columbia, South Carolina is generally handled by the Columbia hearing office at Suite 215, 101 Executive Center Drive, because the downtown field office and the Sumter, Orangeburg, Aiken and Florence offices that take outlying Midlands ZIP codes are all on its list.
Downard & Associates represents adults in Richland, Lexington, Kershaw and Fairfield counties and the rest of the Midlands 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 Columbia clients by phone or video, and take no fee unless you win.
How we help
What Our Columbia 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 Columbia. 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
Six Field Offices Share the Columbia Area
Social Security's office locator sends Columbia, most of the rest of Richland County and most of Lexington County to one downtown field office, and splits the edges of the Midlands among five others. Each is open weekdays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Columbia, 11th floor, Strom Thurmond Federal Building, 1835 Assembly Street: Columbia ZIP codes such as 29201, 29203 to 29206, 29209, 29210, 29212, 29222, 29223 and 29229, plus Blythewood, Hopkins, Gadsden, Irmo, Chapin, Lexington, West Columbia, Cayce, Gilbert and Gaston, and Winnsboro, Ridgeway and Blair in Fairfield County. Elgin (29045) in Kershaw County also goes here. Phone 1-866-964-7594.
Sumter, 240 North Bultman Drive: Camden (29020), Lugoff (29078) and Cassatt in Kershaw County, and Eastover (29044) in lower Richland County, along with Sumter County itself. Phone 1-877-445-0840.
Orangeburg, 1379 Sims Street: Swansea (29160) in Lexington County and St. Matthews and Cameron in Calhoun County, along with Orangeburg County. Phone 1-866-716-8602.
Aiken, 151 Corporate Parkway: Batesburg (29006), Leesville (29070) and Pelion (29123) in western Lexington County. Phone 1-866-275-8271.
Clinton, 292 Professional Park Road: Newberry (29108), Prosperity, Pomaria, Little Mountain, Chappells, Silverstreet and Whitmire in Newberry County. Phone 1-866-526-9854.
Florence, 181 Dozier Boulevard: Bethune (29009) in northeastern Kershaw County. Phone 1-888-385-1173.
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. In South Carolina, Disability Determination Services, part of the South Carolina Vocational Rehabilitation Department, makes the medical decision at the application and reconsideration stages; at a hearing, the judge decides. Search your own street address in the locator, because assignments can change and a ZIP code can cross office lines.
Hearing offices
The Columbia Hearing Office, and Mauldin for Newberry County
The data behind Social Security's hearing office locator gives the Columbia hearing office's address as Suite 215, 101 Executive Center Drive, Columbia, SC 29210, phone 1-866-399-6950, and lists seven field offices for it: Aiken, Bennettsville, Columbia, Florence, Orangeburg and Sumter in South Carolina, and Augusta, Georgia. Appendix F of Social Security's privacy notice for hearing records gives the same address and the same seven offices.
Newberry County is the exception. Its ZIP codes go to the Clinton field office, which is on the list of the Greenville hearing office at 475 North Main Street in Mauldin, not Columbia's. Your Notice of Hearing names the office handling your case and how you take part, and either office can hold a hearing by phone or video as well as in person.
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 rules
How an SSI Award Connects to South Carolina Medicaid
Social Security's operations manual, POMS SI 01715.010, lists the states that do not have a 1634 agreement with it, and South Carolina is not among them. In a 1634 state, Social Security makes the Medicaid eligibility decision for people who receive SSI and meet certain citizenship or immigration requirements. The state, not Social Security, decides that someone is ineligible for Medicaid; if SSI is denied, Social Security refers you to the state, which makes its own Medicaid decision.
SSDI works differently. Medicare generally begins after 24 months of SSDI entitlement, whatever state you live in, so an SSDI-only award does not bring Medicaid with it, and a separate application to the state is the route to Medicaid for anyone who is not on SSI.
Local treatment records
Records From Prisma Health, Lexington Health and the Dorn VA
Prisma says copy service fees apply to MRO Express requests and printed copies.
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 you know of that relates to whether you are disabled, so a full list of providers, with your own copies where you have them, helps close gaps.
Prisma Health: its medical records page offers records through MyChart, or through MRO Express for patients without MyChart, and printed copies by phone or by an authorization form sent to the Release of Information department at Prisma Health Baptist Hospital, Taylor at Marion Street, Columbia, SC 29220, phone 803-296-5865, fax 803-296-5869, with a copy of a photo ID for requests by mail. Prisma says copy service fees apply to MRO Express requests and printed copies.
Lexington Health: its medical records page offers a free digital copy through MyChart, or a signed release form mailed to 2720 Sunset Boulevard, West Columbia, SC 29169; copies requested outside MyChart carry a charge unless they go straight to another health care facility for continuing care. Records help: 803-791-2264.
Wm. Jennings Bryan Dorn VA Medical Center: the Columbia VA's medical records office page offers records online, in person at Building 100, Room 1B131, 6439 Garners Ferry Road, or by mail on VA Form 10-5345a to Release of Information, Building 100, Room 136D, at the same address; 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 Columbia 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
Columbia Disability Claim Questions
Is a Columbia disability hearing held on Executive Center Drive?
Not always. The Columbia hearing office generally handles the case for most Midlands addresses, 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.
Why does a Lexington County address sometimes go to Aiken or Orangeburg?
Because the locator assigns Batesburg, Leesville and Pelion to the Aiken field office and Swansea to Orangeburg, while Lexington, Irmo, Chapin, West Columbia and Cayce go to the downtown Columbia office. All three offices are on the Columbia hearing office's list, so a hearing request from any of them generally goes to the same hearing office.
Which Social Security office serves Camden, Lugoff and Elgin?
The locator assigns Camden (29020) and Lugoff (29078) to the Sumter field office at 240 North Bultman Drive and Elgin (29045) to the downtown Columbia office. Bethune, in the county's northeast corner, goes to Florence. Sumter, Columbia and Florence are all on the Columbia hearing office's list.
Why would a Newberry County hearing be handled in Mauldin?
Newberry County ZIP codes go to the Clinton field office, and Clinton is on the list of the Greenville hearing office at 475 North Main Street in Mauldin rather than Columbia's. That office can still hold the hearing by phone or video, and the Notice of Hearing names the office and the format.
Discuss your claim
Ask for a Free Review of Your Columbia 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 Columbia clinics and hospitals where you are treated.