Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Milwaukee Disability Lawyers for SSDI and SSI
Downard & Associates represents adults in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) claims. We work with you by phone or video from our Tennessee base. We help with applications, reconsideration, and administrative law judge hearings, including gathering medical evidence and preparing for testimony. Start with a list of your treatment providers, the work you have done, and any decision you have received.
How we help
Working with Downard on a Milwaukee disability claim
This gives SSA the information it needs to review your claim.
A claim needs more than the name of a diagnosis. We help you put the medical and work information together so the Social Security Administration (SSA) can evaluate your claim. Our work depends on where you are in the process:
Application: We help file the application, gather medical evidence, and document your work history. This gives SSA the information it needs to review your claim.
Reconsideration: We review the denial reasons and address missing evidence or gaps identified in the decision. The appeal should respond to what SSA actually decided.
Hearing: We prepare you for likely questions about your health, daily activities, and work history, develop the medical record, and present the legal argument to the administrative law judge. Preparation helps you explain your limitations honestly and clearly.
Our service limits also address matters involving Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) benefits.
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.
Our Wisconsin disability representation page provides the broader state context. You can work with us from Milwaukee by phone or video.
Benefit eligibility
SSDI and SSI eligibility for Milwaukee adults
Duration rule
12months
SSDI generally requires enough work covered by Social Security, including recent covered work. The number of work credits needed depends on your age when disability began. Younger workers may qualify with fewer credits. SSA explains these requirements in its disability eligibility guidance.
SSI does not require an insured work record. It requires limited income and resources, plus disability, statutory blindness, or age 65 or older, along with other eligibility conditions. SSA’s SSI eligibility explanation describes those separate requirements.
For adult claims based on disability, SSA evaluates whether a medically determinable condition prevents substantial gainful activity (SGA), meaning work involving significant physical or mental activities of a kind done, or usually done, for pay or profit. When its evaluation requires those steps, SSA also considers whether you can perform past work or adjust to other work. A diagnosis alone does not establish disability.
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. You do not have to wait a year before applying.
SSI based on age does not require disability. SSI statutory blindness has no duration requirement, and SSA does not use SGA to determine initial SSI eligibility based on statutory blindness. SSI’s financial rules still apply, so earnings can affect eligibility and payment.
Milwaukee treatment records
Requesting Froedtert and Aurora records for a Milwaukee claim
The records page has a separate authorization form for patient representatives and third-party requestors.
If your treatment involved more than one Milwaukee health system, keep a separate entry for each provider and location. Two useful records-request pathways are Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) and Aurora Health Care. Use the process for the provider that treated you.
Froedtert & MCW: Its medical-records instructions explain how to request records through MyChart: select Menu, then Request Medical Records under My Record. Patients can also use the patient request form. The records page has a separate authorization form for patient representatives and third-party requestors. Identify the provider, treatment dates, and records you need.
Aurora Health Care: You can view and download medical information through LiveWell. Aurora also accepts its patient request or authorization form, or a signed letter including the required patient details, the information requested, the recipient, and delivery details. Follow Aurora’s medical-records instructions when a download does not provide the records you are seeking.
Wisconsin’s Disability Determination Bureau (DDB) makes medical disability determinations for Wisconsin Social Security applicants. DDB collects medical evidence and may ask about daily activities and work history. Give complete provider information and report new treatment or hospital stays, as explained in the DDB’s determination process.
Get organized
A treatment and work checklist for your Milwaukee claim
Use this checklist to organize information for an application or appeal. It is a preparation tool, not a test that determines whether you qualify.
Treatment list: Record each doctor, clinic, hospital, and therapy provider, with contact information and treatment dates. Keep Froedtert & MCW and Aurora entries separate if you received care in both systems.
Records tracker: Note which visits, reports, or test results you have and which requests are pending. Include the date you made each request and the provider responsible.
Work details: Write down your job dates, hours, duties, and physical or mental demands. Note when you reduced hours, changed duties, or stopped working.
Daily limitations: Describe what happens when you sit, stand, walk, lift, concentrate, or interact with other people. Give concrete examples and explain any help, rest breaks, or changes you need.
Decision file: Keep SSA decisions, the dates you received them, and copies or confirmations of anything you submit. This helps you and your representative identify the next step.
After a denial
Responding to a Milwaukee denial and checking hearing instructions
Deadline
60days
After an initial SSDI or SSI denial, reconsideration generally must be requested in writing within 60 days after you receive the notice. After a reconsideration denial, the written request for an administrative law judge hearing generally has the same receipt-based deadline. SSA presumes receipt five days after the notice date unless you show that you received it later. Read the decision promptly rather than treating this as a fixed 65-day deadline from the letter date.
If a request is late, ask for an extension in writing and explain why you missed the deadline. SSA must find good cause to extend it; an extension is not automatic. The rules cover SSDI reconsideration requests and SSI reconsideration requests, along with the SSDI hearing-request and SSI hearing-request rules.
SSA’s hearing-office locator lists the Milwaukee hearing office as serving several Milwaukee field offices, including Downtown, Mitchell, North, and West. This is directory information, not a determination of an individual’s hearing assignment or attendance location. Check your case notices for the office handling your hearing and the scheduled location or attendance instructions.
Our hearing-office guide provides office information. The hearing notice and related appearance forms provide the instructions for your proceeding.
Common questions
Questions about Milwaukee disability claims and medical records
Should I wait for every medical record before applying?
No. SSA says not to delay applying for disability benefits because you do not have all the documents. Provide the information and records you have, identify your treatment providers, and respond to requests for additional information. See SSA’s application instructions.
Can I request Froedtert & MCW records without a MyChart account?
Yes. Froedtert & MCW offers a patient request form and also accepts a signed, dated letter containing the information listed on its records page. Specify the provider, treatment dates, records requested, and recipient. Follow the current instructions rather than relying on a portal account alone.
Can Aurora send records directly to someone helping with my claim?
Yes. Aurora says your medical records can be sent to a designated recipient. Use its request or authorization process and identify who should receive the records and where to send them. A third-party request may need authorization; follow Aurora’s instructions for the person making the request.
Is a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) report the same as the actual images?
No. Froedtert & MCW’s patient request form separates medical records from radiology images. Identify whether you are asking for the written report, the images, or both, and discuss which records are needed for your claim with your representative.
Does a phone meeting with Downard mean my SSA hearing will be by phone?
No. Our phone or video meetings are separate from SSA’s hearing arrangements. SSA has four hearing methods: in person, audio by telephone, agency video using SSA equipment, and online video using your own device. Online video requires your agreement. Objections to audio or agency video are subject to SSA’s rules and exceptions. Follow the appearance notices and forms for your case. SSA’s hearing-options page explains the methods.
Discuss your claim
Talk with Downard about your Milwaukee SSDI or SSI claim
Tell us whether you are applying, appealing a denial, or preparing for a hearing. We can discuss your claim by phone or video and explain our next steps with you.