Fort worth, Texas
Fort Worth Disability Lawyers for SSDI and SSI
Downard & Associates represents adults in Fort Worth, Texas, with Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) claims. We help with applications, reconsideration appeals, and administrative hearings, and work with clients by phone or video. Start by telling us where your claim stands and which medical conditions limit your work. If you have already received a decision, include it so we can review the reasons the Social Security Administration (SSA) gave.
How we help
Working with Downard on a Fort Worth disability claim
At reconsideration, we review the denial reasons and address missing evidence.
We help prepare an initial application, gather medical evidence, and document work history. At reconsideration, we review the denial reasons and address missing evidence. For an administrative law judge (ALJ) hearing, we prepare you for questions about your treatment, work, and limitations, develop the medical record, and present the legal argument. These steps help connect the information in your file with the issues SSA must decide.
Our client work can take place by phone or video. You do not need a Fort Worth branch office to discuss your claim with us. Our Texas disability representation page explains our statewide service.
VA refers to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
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
Which benefit rules apply to Fort Worth adults?
Duration rule
12months
SSDI generally requires enough work covered by Social Security, including recent covered work. The work-credit requirements depend on your age when disability began. SSA also evaluates whether you meet its medical disability standard; a diagnosis alone does not establish eligibility. See SSA's SSDI eligibility explanation.
SSI does not require SSDI work credits. It has separate income, resource, citizenship or qualifying immigration status, residency, and other requirements. Adults may qualify based on disability, statutory blindness, or being 65 or older. SSA's SSI eligibility rules explain these categories.
For SSDI and adult SSI claims based on disability, SSA evaluates substantial gainful activity, meaning work at a level it treats as substantial and gainful. Its sequential evaluation considers medical severity and, when the claim reaches those steps, the ability to perform past work or adjust to other work. A decision can occur before every step is reached. The condition must have lasted or be expected to last at least 12 consecutive months, or be expected to result in death. You do not have to wait 12 months before applying.
SSA does not use SGA (substantial gainful activity) to determine initial SSI eligibility based on statutory blindness. SSI statutory blindness has no duration requirement. SSI's financial and other eligibility rules still apply.
Local medical evidence
Organizing JPS treatment records for a Fort Worth claim
Use the instructions for the request method you select and identify the records you want and where they should be sent.
If you have received treatment through JPS Health Network, its patient-records instructions explain how to request records through JPS MyChart, email, fax, or mail. JPS also provides authorization forms in English and Spanish. Use the instructions for the request method you select and identify the records you want and where they should be sent. JPS states that disclosure requires a written authorization signed by the patient or legally authorized representative.
Make a list of the JPS clinics or clinicians you saw, the approximate treatment dates, and the tests or hospital stays relevant to your condition. Keep a separate entry for treatment outside JPS so those providers are also identified. SSA asks for treating-source details, medications, and tests; a useful starting point is its disability application checklist and information guide.
Having copies can help you organize your history, but do not postpone applying just because some records are missing. SSA says it can help obtain needed documents. Tell us what you already have and what is still outstanding.
Get organized
A preparation checklist for your Fort Worth claim
Use one folder or list to bring the following information together:
Treatment: Record each provider's name and contact information, visit dates, patient ID if known, medications, and important tests. Note which records you already have.
Work: List jobs and dates, what each job required, when your condition affected those tasks, and any changes in hours or duties. Keep recent earnings information.
Day-to-day limits: Write concrete examples of difficulty standing, sitting, lifting, concentrating, or keeping a schedule. Describe what happens and how often, using your own experience.
SSA correspondence: Keep decisions, envelopes, and other claim letters together. Record when a decision arrived and which review stage it concerns.
Local claim process
What the Fort Worth hearing-office listing tells you
An in-person appearance may be scheduled at a hearing office or another SSA-designated site.
SSA's hearing-office locator lists the Fort Worth and Fort Worth (South) field offices among those served by the Fort Worth hearing office. These are field-office entries, not a statement that every Fort Worth or Tarrant County resident has the same assignment.
The office handling an appeal and the place where you appear are separate questions. An in-person appearance may be scheduled at a hearing office or another SSA-designated site. Follow your actual scheduling notice for the method and location; a directory listing alone does not settle them. Our hearing-office guide explains how to read the office information.
After a denial
Protecting the next review step after a Fort Worth denial
Deadline
60days
For SSDI and SSI, a request for reconsideration of an initial determination, or an ALJ hearing after reconsideration, generally must be filed within 60 days after receipt of the notice. SSA presumes receipt five days after the notice date unless you show it arrived later. Check the stage and instructions in your own decision; do not treat this as an automatic deadline for every SSA letter.
If the request is late, ask SSA in writing for an extension and explain why. An extension requires SSA to find good cause under its rules; approval is not automatic. The SSDI reconsideration rule and SSI reconsideration rule explain those requests.
Common questions
Fort Worth SSDI and SSI questions
Can I request JPS records from particular treatment dates?
JPS asks you to identify the information you want disclosed, and its email instructions ask you to be specific about the copies needed and where to send them. List the dates and record categories you are requesting, then follow its patient-records instructions for the method you use.
Will my disability hearing require a trip to Fort Worth?
Your scheduling notice determines that. SSA hearings can be in person, by audio/telephone, by agency video using SSA equipment, or by online video using your device. Online video requires your agreement. Objections to audio or agency video are subject to SSA's rules, time limits, and exceptions. Read the hearing appearance guidance and respond to your appearance notices.
Can a condition qualify if it has lasted less than a year?
For an adult disability-based claim, the condition can meet the duration rule if it is expected to last at least 12 consecutive months or result in death. You do not need to wait a year to apply. The other program and medical requirements still matter. SSI statutory blindness has no duration requirement.
What if I have already applied without a lawyer?
We can discuss representation at your current stage, including reconsideration or an ALJ hearing. Share the decision you received, any appeal already filed, and the treatment information you have. We review denial reasons and help develop evidence for the administrative appeal; contacting us does not itself file an appeal.
Discuss your claim
Discuss your Fort Worth disability claim with Downard
Tell us whether you are applying, requesting reconsideration, or preparing for a hearing. Include a brief treatment history and the stage of your claim. We work with Fort Worth adults by phone or video and can discuss the next steps for representation.