Phoenix (Downtown) Social Security Hearing Office: Preparing for Your Disability Hearing

Where is the Phoenix (Downtown) Social Security hearing office?

The office is at Siete Square, Suite 200, 3737 North 7th Street, Phoenix, AZ 85014. Social Security's hearing office locator lists its phone number as (888) 748-1991 Ext. 21651, its fax number as (833) 365-0283 and its office hours as 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The locator also lists a mailing address, PO Box 9090, London, KY 40742-9522, which is not where the office is. When you mail something, use the address printed on your own notices.

Phoenix has two hearing offices. The other, Phoenix (North), is at Suite 430, 18444 North 25th Avenue, and takes the Phoenix North, Glendale, Prescott and Colorado River Basin (Needles, California) field offices. Which one handles your hearing normally depends on the field office that serves your home address, not on which hearing office is nearer.

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Which field offices and areas the Phoenix (Downtown) office serves

The locator lists six field offices for Phoenix (Downtown): Apache Junction, Chinle, Flagstaff, Mesa, Phoenix (Downtown) and Tuba City. Within the Phoenix area, Social Security's office locator assigns ZIP codes this way:

• Phoenix Downtown, 250 N 7th Avenue: central and south Phoenix, including Ahwatukee (85044, 85045, 85048), plus Laveen, Tolleson, Avondale, Goodyear and Buckeye.
• Mesa, 702 W Jerome Avenue: much of Mesa, Tempe (85281 to 85284), Chandler, parts of Gilbert, and Scottsdale ZIP code 85257.
• Apache Junction, 253 W Superstition Boulevard: Apache Junction, east Mesa (85205 to 85209, 85212, 85215), other parts of Gilbert, Queen Creek and San Tan Valley.

Most of Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, Fountain Hills and Cave Creek go to the Phoenix North field office, and Glendale, Peoria and Surprise go to the Glendale field office; both are on the Phoenix (North) hearing office list. The city of Maricopa goes to the Casa Grande field office, which is on the Tucson hearing office list.

Assignments can change, so confirm your field office in the office locator. Our guide to Phoenix Social Security offices lists the ZIP codes in more detail, and our Phoenix disability lawyer page covers the whole appeal.

Social Security's operations manual says hearing office jurisdiction is determined by the claimant's residence address, though you can ask through a field office, in a signed statement giving your reasons, to have a 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. 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 move as soon as possible. Our hearing office directory lists every office with its field offices. For an in-person or agency video hearing, the Notice of Hearing names the place, so go by that notice for your own case.

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What to do when your Notice of Hearing arrives

The Notice of Hearing from the Phoenix (Downtown) hearing office gives the date, time and place or manner of your hearing. Under 20 CFR 404.938, Social Security must mail or serve it at least 75 days before the hearing unless you have said in writing that you do not want to receive the notice; if Social Security sends an amended notice of hearing, or schedules a supplemental hearing after the judge continued the first one, it must mail or serve that notice at least 20 days before the hearing date. It comes with an acknowledgment form, HA-504, to return so the office knows you received it. If you cannot attend at the time or place set, 20 CFR 404.936(f) has you tell the hearing office in writing as early as possible, giving your reasons and the time or place you want, and no later than 5 days before the hearing or 30 days after you receive the notice, whichever is earlier. A later request is considered only if you show good cause for missing that deadline, and the judge decides whether you have good cause to change the time or place. SSI claims follow the same rules in the matching sections of 20 CFR Part 416. Our page on the Notice of Hearing walks through each part of the letter.

Your say in how you appear comes through a separate letter, the Notice of Ways to Attend a Hearing; the Notice of Hearing then sets the manner. You have 30 days after you receive the Notice of Ways to Attend to object in writing to appearing by phone or by agency video, or to agree in writing to appear by online video. Social Security extends that time if you show good cause for missing it, and you can withdraw an online video agreement any time before the hearing starts. Our page on the Notice of Ways to Attend a Hearing explains those choices.

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How to send evidence to the Phoenix (Downtown) hearing office

Send written evidence, or tell the hearing office about it, no later than 5 business days before your hearing date. Under 20 CFR 404.935, the judge may decline evidence that comes later. The judge accepts it if no decision has been issued yet and Social Security's action misled you, a physical, mental, educational or linguistic limitation kept you from meeting the deadline, or another unusual, unexpected or unavoidable circumstance beyond your control got in the way. One example the rule gives is evidence you actively and diligently sought from a source but did not receive, or received fewer than 5 business days before the hearing, so keep a record of when you asked. Earlier is better.

Social Security's hearing process page says you can mail evidence or fax it to the toll-free 833 fax number on your hearing office notices. Its hearing office locator lists (833) 365-0283 as the Phoenix (Downtown) office's fax number; if your own notices show a different number, use the one on your notices. The same page says you and your representative can review your file before the hearing, through my Social Security or encrypted email, on a compact disc, or at a hearing office.

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What happens on the day of your hearing

If your notice sets an in-person hearing at Siete Square, Suite 200, 3737 North 7th Street, Phoenix, AZ 85014, Social Security's in-person hearing page asks you to arrive at least 15 minutes early to check in and, if you want to review your file before the hearing, to call the hearing office to make arrangements; it recommends that representatives meet their clients somewhere else beforehand. The office's number in the locator is (888) 748-1991 Ext. 21651. The page describes a hearing room with the judge, your representative if you have one, and a hearing reporter, with any medical or vocational expert likely testifying by phone.

Social Security's hearing process page describes the hearing this way: the judge explains the issues and may question you and any witnesses, you and any witnesses testify under oath or affirmation, and the hearing is recorded. If you need an interpreter, including American Sign Language, tell the hearing office; Social Security can provide one free of charge. After the hearing, the judge issues a written decision, and the hearing office mails it to you and your representative.

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Travel costs if the hearing site is more than 75 miles away

Social Security's hearings manual says hearings are generally held within 75 miles of your home. If the distance from your home or office, whichever you travel from, to the hearing site, such as Siete Square, Suite 200, 3737 North 7th Street, Phoenix, AZ 85014, is more than 75 miles, Social Security can pay certain reasonable and necessary travel costs under 20 CFR 404.999c, when the judge finds your appearance reasonably necessary for a fair hearing; its operations manual describes the distance as more than 75 miles one way. Social Security's hearing travel page says to send a written request to the judge at the hearing or as soon as possible afterward, listing what you spent with receipts. Meals, lodging and taxis are paid only in some cases, and under the regulation they need approval in advance unless the costs were unexpected or unavoidable.

You can ask for an advance before the hearing. Social Security's in-person hearing page says it advances money only if you show you would not have the money to travel without it, and after an advance you send an itemized list of your actual costs, with receipts, within 20 days after the hearing. If the advance was more than your actual costs, you pay back the difference within 20 days after Social Security tells you the amount. If you asked to move the hearing to a place farther from your home, the added cost is not paid.

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