Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City Social Security Disability Lawyers for SSDI and SSI Claims in Missouri and Kansas
A disability appeal from Kansas City, Missouri is generally handled by the Kansas City hearing office at Suite 910, 2300 Main Street, because the four field offices that serve the Missouri side of the metro, Kansas City South, Kansas City (Gateway), Kansas City North and Independence, are all linked to it in Social Security's office records. Across State Line Road, Kansas City, Kansas and Johnson County addresses are generally handled by the Topeka hearing office instead.
Downard & Associates represents adults in Jackson, Clay, Platte and Cass counties and across the state line 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 Kansas City clients by phone or video, and take no fee unless you win.
How we help
What Our Kansas City 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 a late spouse's record can sometimes support a disabled widow or widower age 50 to 59; each depends on rules about marriage, dependency, the worker's record and when the disability began. Statewide rules are on our Missouri disability lawyer page.
Downard has no office in Kansas City. 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
Four Missouri Field Offices Divide Kansas City
Social Security's office locator sends Kansas City, Missouri addresses to one of four Missouri field offices, and the same four take most of the Missouri suburbs. Each is open weekdays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Kansas City South, 6320 Euclid Avenue: downtown, Midtown and the Plaza area, including 64105, 64106, 64108, 64111 and 64112, plus south Kansas City ZIP codes such as 64114, 64131, 64132, 64137, 64138 and 64145 to 64147, and Grandview (64030). Phone 1-888-488-9417.
Kansas City (Gateway), 1800 East Truman Road: the east side, 64109, 64120, 64123 to 64125, 64127 and 64128. Phone 1-888-221-3612.
Kansas City North, 8620 North Green Hills Road: north of the Missouri River, including 64116 to 64119, 64150 to 64158 and Liberty (64068), plus Kearney, Smithville, Excelsior Springs, Platte City and Weston. Phone 1-877-805-6671.
Independence, Suite C, 3520 South Noland Road: Independence, Blue Springs, Lee's Summit, Grain Valley, Oak Grove, Raymore, Belton and Pleasant Hill, plus 64133, 64136 and 64139 in the city's southeast corner. Phone 1-866-864-1517.
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 Missouri the medical decision at the application and reconsideration stages comes from Disability Determination Services, part of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education; at a hearing, the judge decides. At least one outlying ZIP code goes elsewhere: Creighton (64739), in southern Cass County, goes to the Nevada, Missouri field office, which is on the Springfield hearing office's list. Search your own street address in the locator, because assignments can change and a ZIP code can cross office lines.
Hearing offices
The Kansas City Hearing Office, and Topeka for the Kansas Side
Euclid Street is the office the locator calls Kansas City South.
The data behind Social Security's hearing office locator gives the Kansas City hearing office's address as Suite 910, 2300 Main Street, Kansas City, MO 64108, phone 1-888-488-7742, and lists seven Missouri field offices for it: Chillicothe, Gladstone, Independence, Kansas City (Euclid Street), Kansas City (Gateway), Maryville and St. Joseph. Euclid Street is the office the locator calls Kansas City South.
That list names a Gladstone office and no Kansas City North office. Appendix F of Social Security's privacy notice for hearing records does name Kansas City North under the Kansas City hearing office, and the Kansas City North office's own record in Social Security's office data links it to the Kansas City hearing office as well, so Clay and Platte County claims generally go there too.
Kansas City, Kansas is different. The locator assigns Wyandotte County ZIP codes to the Kansas City, Kansas field office at 850 Nebraska Avenue and Johnson County ZIP codes to the Johnson County office in Lenexa, and both are on the list of the Topeka hearing office, at Suite A, 3712 SW Burlingame, Topeka. Our Overland Park disability lawyer page covers the Kansas side. Your Notice of Hearing names the office handling your case and how you take part, and a hearing handled by an office in another city can still be held by phone or video.
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.
Missouri rules
MO HealthNet and Missouri's Separate Medicaid Decision
Missouri is one of the states that sets its own Medicaid rules for people who get SSI, so an SSI award on the Missouri side does not by itself put you on MO HealthNet. Social Security's operations manual, POMS SI 01715.010, lists Missouri among the 209(b) states, which use at least one eligibility rule stricter than SSI and must let applicants deduct incurred medical expenses to qualify, called a spend down. Missouri's Department of Social Services takes MO HealthNet applications online, by phone, by mail or in person, and asks people who are blind or disabled or get Social Security to submit a supplemental form along with the application.
Medicaid is run state by state, so a household that moves across State Line Road should expect to apply again under the other state's rules. Our Missouri page explains spend down in more detail.
Local treatment records
Records From Saint Luke's, University Health and the Kansas City 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 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. You must still tell it about or submit all evidence you know of, so a list of every provider and your own copies help close gaps.
Saint Luke's Health System: its medical records page takes requests through mySaintLuke's, an online request tool, or a signed authorization form sent by mail, email or fax to Release of Information, 901 East 104th Street, Mailstop 6N, Kansas City, MO 64131, fax 816-932-3415.
University Health: the system formerly known as Truman Medical Centers uses one release of information form for UH Truman Medical Center on Holmes Street, UH Lakewood on Lee's Summit Road, UH Behavioral Health and the other University Health locations the form lists.
Kansas City VA Medical Center: the VA's medical records office page says you can get records online through your VA account, or request copies on VA Form 10-5345a by mail to Release of Information, 4801 Linwood Boulevard, Kansas City, MO 64128, or in person there; mailed 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 Kansas City 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, 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
Kansas City Disability Claim Questions
Is a Kansas City, Missouri disability hearing held at 2300 Main Street?
The Kansas City hearing office at Suite 910, 2300 Main Street generally handles the case for a Missouri-side address, but handling a case is not the same as holding the hearing there. 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. The Notice of Hearing says where and how you take part.
Which hearing office handles Liberty, Gladstone and Northland claims?
Generally Kansas City. The locator assigns Liberty (64068), Gladstone's 64118 and 64119 and the other Northland ZIP codes to Kansas City North, and Appendix F and that office's own record place Kansas City North under the Kansas City hearing office. The hearing office locator data lists a Gladstone field office instead of Kansas City North; SSA's office data file has no Gladstone office and does list Kansas City North. Go by the office named on your notices.
I live in Kansas City, Kansas. Why is my hearing office in Topeka?
Because the Kansas City, Kansas field office at 850 Nebraska Avenue is on the Topeka hearing office's list, not Kansas City's. The Kansas City, Missouri hearing office lists only Missouri field offices. Topeka can still hold your hearing by phone or video, and your Notice of Hearing names the office and format.
Where do Lee's Summit and Blue Springs claims go?
The locator assigns Lee's Summit and Blue Springs ZIP codes to the Independence field office at Suite C, 3520 South Noland Road, which is on the Kansas City hearing office's list. Raytown is split: 64133 goes to Independence and 64138 to Kansas City South.
Discuss your claim
Ask for a Free Review of Your Kansas City 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 Kansas City clinics and hospitals where you are treated.