Las vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas Disability Lawyers for SSDI and SSI
Downard & Associates represents adults in Las Vegas, Nevada, with Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) claims. We help with applications, reconsideration appeals, and administrative hearings, working with clients by phone and video from Tennessee. Start with the providers who have treated you and the work your condition has affected. We can discuss your situation and explain how we would help develop your claim.
How we help
How We Build a Las Vegas Application or Appeal
For SSI applications, we also help complete the financial disclosures.
A useful claim connects medical evidence with an accurate account of your work and daily limitations. Our role changes with the stage of your case:
Applications: We help complete SSDI applications, gather medical evidence, and document work history. For SSI applications, we also help complete the financial disclosures.
Reconsideration: We review the reasons for an initial denial, file the appeal, and address missing evidence or other issues identified in the decision.
Administrative hearings: We develop the medical record and prepare you for testimony, including questions about your treatment and limitations. At the hearing, we present the case and explain how the evidence relates to Social Security’s rules.
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.
For statewide information, see our Nevada disability representation page.
Benefit eligibility
SSDI and SSI Eligibility for Las Vegas Adults
Duration rule
12months
SSDI generally requires enough total and recent work covered by Social Security. The work-credit requirements depend on your age when the disability began. Statutory blindness is an exception to the recent-work test, although the total-work requirement still applies.
SSI does not require an insured work record. Adults may qualify based on disability, statutory blindness, or age 65 or older, subject to income, resource, citizenship or qualifying noncitizen status, residency, and other requirements. The Social Security Administration (SSA) explains these separate conditions in its SSI eligibility guidance.
For SSDI and adult SSI claims based on disability, SSA evaluates whether a medically determinable condition prevents substantial gainful activity, or SGA. Under SSA’s SSDI and SSI rules, SGA involves significant physical or mental work that is done for pay or profit or is the kind usually done for pay or profit. If the evaluation reaches the later steps, SSA considers whether you can perform past work under its rules or adjust to other work. A diagnosis alone does not establish eligibility.
Both the condition and the resulting inability to perform SGA must generally have lasted, or be expected to last, at least 12 consecutive months, unless the condition is expected to result in death within 12 months of disability onset. This duration requirement does not mean you must wait a year before applying.
For initial SSI eligibility based on statutory blindness, SSA does not use SGA. SSI statutory blindness has no duration requirement. Income, resource, and other SSI rules still apply. SSI based on age 65 or older does not require proving disability.
Local medical evidence
Requesting UMC Records for a Las Vegas Disability Claim
It also separates radiology reports from radiologic films or digital images.
If you received care at University Medical Center of Southern Nevada (UMC), identify where and when you were treated before requesting copies. UMC’s medical-records instructions direct patients to complete, sign, and date an authorization, include identification, and send the request by mail or fax.
The linked UMC authorization form separates the main hospital campus from Quick Care and Primary Care locations and asks for dates of service. It also separates radiology reports from radiologic films or digital images. Specify the care location and the record types you are requesting rather than assuming one selection covers everything.
Keep a list of care received outside UMC as well. Compare the records that arrive with your treatment dates, and note missing visits or reports for follow-up. Records from one facility should be matched to that facility’s care, alongside the rest of your treatment history.
Get organized
A Las Vegas Treatment and Work Preparation List
Use one list to prepare for an application or a conversation about an appeal. SSA’s disability application instructions identify the medical and work information it asks for.
Treatment sources: Record each doctor, hospital, and clinic, with contact information and treatment dates. For UMC, note whether the care was at the main hospital or a named Quick Care or Primary Care location.
Tests and medications: List test dates and locations, medicines, and prescribers. Describe medication side effects you actually experience.
Copies and requests: Note which records you have, which dates they cover, and what remains missing. Keep a copy of each request and record when the response arrives.
Work and limitations: Record job duties, hours, pay, and when your health affected your work. Use specific examples of tasks you have difficulty doing, such as standing, lifting, concentrating, or completing a task.
SSA correspondence: Keep the full decision, its date, and the date you received it together. Save copies of material you submit.
Do not delay applying because you do not have every document. Provide the information and records you have, identify your treatment sources, and respond to later requests for information.
Claim review and appeals
Medical Review and Denial Notices for Las Vegas Claims
Deadline
60days
Nevada’s Bureau of Disability Adjudication explains that Social Security checks nonmedical eligibility, such as work credits or financial requirements. Eligible claims then go to the bureau for a medical disability determination. The bureau requests information from treatment sources, so accurate provider details help identify the evidence to obtain.
After an initial denial, the SSDI and SSI reconsideration rules generally require a written request within 60 days after you receive the notice. After a reconsideration denial, the SSDI and SSI hearing-request rules generally require a written request for an administrative law judge hearing within 60 days after receipt.
Under the SSDI and SSI receipt rules, SSA generally presumes receipt five days after the notice date unless you show you did not receive it within that period. If a reconsideration or hearing request is late, request an extension in writing and explain the delay. SSA must find good cause; extra time is not automatic.
If your case reaches a hearing, our Social Security hearing-office guide lists office details. Follow the instructions in the notices SSA sends for your case.
Common questions
Las Vegas Questions About Records and Representation
Can I rely on UMC Online Care for every record I need?
UMC describes Online Care access to lab results and appointment scheduling. Its records page gives a separate authorization process for obtaining copies. Check what you have against your treatment history and follow the records-request instructions for additional copies.
Are radiology reports and the actual images the same request on UMC’s form?
No. UMC’s authorization lists radiology reports and radiologic films or digital images separately. Identify the material being requested and complete the appropriate selections. This does not mean every disability claim requires copies of the images.
Should missing medical records keep me from applying?
No. SSA says not to delay applying because some documents are missing. Give accurate provider names, contact information, and treatment dates, along with the records you have. Continue responding to evidence requests as the claim develops.
Can I work with Downard while living in Las Vegas?
Yes. We represent adults in Las Vegas with SSDI and SSI matters and communicate with clients by phone and video from Tennessee. We do not have a Nevada office. Our client communications do not determine how SSA schedules a hearing.
Discuss your claim
Discuss Your Las Vegas SSDI or SSI Claim
Tell us how your condition has affected your work and where you are in the claim process. We can discuss an application, reconsideration, or hearing and explain the next steps in representation.