Portland, Oregon
Portland Social Security Disability Lawyers for SSDI and SSI Claims in Oregon and Southwest Washington
A disability hearing request from Portland, Oregon is generally handled by the Portland hearing office at Suite 400, 825 NE Multnomah Street, because Social Security's office records link the Portland Metro, Portland East, Beaverton, West Linn and Vancouver, Washington field offices to it.
Downard & Associates represents adults in Multnomah, Washington and Clackamas counties in Oregon and in Clark County, Washington 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 Portland clients by phone or video, and take no fee unless you win.
How we help
What Our Portland 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 the record of a spouse or former spouse who has died can sometimes support a disabled widow or widower, including a surviving divorced spouse, age 50 to 59; these depend on rules about the family relationship, the worker's record and when the disability began. Statewide rules are on our Oregon disability lawyer page.
Downard has no office in Portland. 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
Six Field Offices Serve the Portland Area
Social Security's office locator divides Portland and its suburbs among four Oregon field offices, sends Clark County to Vancouver, and sends Clatskanie and Rainier to Longview, Washington. Each office below is open weekdays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Portland Metro, 1538 SW Yamhill Street: downtown and most of north, northeast, southeast and southwest Portland, including 97201 to 97206, 97209 to 97215, 97217 to 97219, 97221, 97227, 97231, 97232 and 97239, plus St. Helens, Scappoose, Columbia City, Warren, Deer Island and Vernonia in Columbia County. Phone 1-888-632-6990.
Portland East, 17925 SE Division Street: outer east Portland (97216, 97220, 97230, 97233, 97236 and 97266), Gresham, Fairview, Troutdale and Corbett, and in Clackamas County, Damascus, Boring, Sandy, Estacada, Welches and Government Camp. Phone 1-866-331-6402.
Beaverton, Suite 100, 11975 SW 2nd Street: Beaverton, Hillsboro, Tualatin, Sherwood, Forest Grove, Cornelius, North Plains, Banks and Gaston, the 97223 and 97224 ZIP codes, which include Tigard, and 97225 and 97229. Phone 1-866-964-2036.
West Linn, Suite 150, 1830 Blankenship Road: Lake Oswego, West Linn, Oregon City, Gladstone, Happy Valley, Clackamas, Canby, Wilsonville and Molalla, plus 97222 and 97267 around Milwaukie. Phone 1-866-964-4264.
Vancouver, Washington, Suite 500, 805 Broadway Street: Vancouver, Camas, Washougal, Battle Ground, Ridgefield, La Center, Brush Prairie, Yacolt and Amboy. Phone 1-866-605-8967.
Longview, Washington, Suite 150, 840 Ocean Beach Highway: Clatskanie (97016) and Rainier (97048) in Oregon's Columbia County. Phone 1-866-495-0044.
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. At the application and reconsideration stages, the decision on whether you are disabled generally comes from the state agency where you live: Oregon's Disability Determination Services for Oregon addresses, and the Division of Disability Determination Services in Washington's Department of Social and Health Services for Clark County. At a hearing, the judge decides. Search your own street address in the locator, because assignments can change and a ZIP code can cross office lines.
Hearing offices
One Hearing Office on NE Multnomah Street for Both Sides of the River
The data behind Social Security's hearing office locator gives the Portland hearing office's address as Suite 400, 825 NE Multnomah Street, Portland, OR 97232, phone 1-866-964-6291, and lists Astoria, Beaverton, La Grande, Portland (Downtown), Portland (East), Portland (NE), Salem and The Dalles in Oregon, and Longview and Vancouver in Washington.
The office names differ between sources. That list names no West Linn office, while Appendix F of Social Security's privacy notice for hearing records lists Beaverton, Portland Metro, Portland East, Salem, The Dalles, Warrenton and West Linn in Oregon and Longview and Vancouver in Washington under Portland, and the West Linn office's own record links it to the Portland hearing office too. Your Notice of Hearing names the office handling your case and how you take part, and Portland can hold a hearing by phone or video as well as in person.
Social Security's operations manual says hearing office jurisdiction is determined by the claimant's residence address, though you can ask, in a signed statement giving your reasons that the field office sends along with your hearing request, to have the 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. In a workload reassignment, 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 reassignment as soon as possible. Our hearing office directory lists every office with its field offices, and our ZIP code lookup shows the field office Social Security's office locator assigns to a ZIP code and the hearing office Social Security links to that field office. Your Notice of Hearing gives the address of the hearing office handling your case and, for an in-person or agency video hearing, the place, so go by that notice for your own case.
Oregon and Washington rules
A Free Copy of Your Records for an Appeal, on Both Sides of the River
Oregon law lets you get one free copy, from each provider you ask, of the records created between your alleged onset date and your hearing date once you are appealing a denial of Social Security disability benefits. Under ORS 192.576, in the Oregon Revised Statutes, a health care provider or other covered entity must, on request, give an individual appealing the denial of Social Security disability benefits, or the individual's personal representative, one free copy of the health information created after the onset date alleged in the initial application and before the date of the administrative hearing, on paper or electronically. It may charge for a second copy, or for copies requested by someone else.
Washington has a similar rule. RCW 70.02.030 requires a health care provider or facility to give a patient appealing the denial of SSI or Social Security disability benefits, or the patient's personal representative, one free copy of the patient's health care information, though it need not give another free copy if it provided one free within the preceding two years. The two states also differ on Medicaid: Social Security's operations manual, POMS SI 01715.010, lists Oregon as an SSI criteria state, which makes its own Medicaid decisions for SSI recipients, while Washington is on neither that list nor its list of 209(b) states, which makes it a 1634 state, so Social Security makes the Medicaid eligibility decision for Washington SSI recipients who meet certain citizenship or immigration requirements.
Local treatment records
Records From OHSU, Legacy Health and the Portland 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 help you 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. Before finding that you are not disabled, it develops your complete medical history, generally at least the 12 months before the month you apply. You must still tell it about or submit all evidence you know of that relates to whether you are disabled, so a full list of providers, with your own copies where you have them, helps close gaps.
OHSU: its medical records page takes requests through the MyChart Sharing Hub, or a request form sent by email to HIMReception@ohsu.edu, by fax to 503-494-6970 or by mail to Health Information Management, Mail Code OP17a, 3181 SW Sam Jackson Park Road, Portland, OR 97239. Questions: 503-494-8556.
Legacy Health: its medical records page takes requests online through MRO Corp, or a Patient Request for Medical Records form faxed to 855-892-7124 or mailed to Legacy Health, Release of Information Department, P.O. Box 2868, Portland, OR 97208. Questions: 503-413-2762.
Portland VA Medical Center: the VA Portland Health Care System's medical records office page offers records online, in person at Building 101, Room 123, 3710 SW U.S. Veterans Hospital Road, or by mail on VA Form 10-5345a to the Release of Information Office, mail code P5ROI, at the same address; 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 Portland 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, also within 30 days after you receive that notice, 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
Portland Disability Claim Questions
Is a Portland disability hearing held on NE Multnomah Street?
Not always. The Portland hearing office generally handles the case for an address in the metro area, but 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. You can object in writing to a phone or agency video hearing within 30 days after you receive the Notice of Ways to Attend a Hearing, though in limited cases Social Security can still schedule a phone hearing, and if you move while your request is pending, Social Security decides again how you will appear, including by phone or agency video despite your objection. The Notice of Hearing says where and how you take part.
Does a Vancouver, Washington claim go to the Portland hearing office?
Generally, yes. The locator assigns Clark County ZIP codes to the Vancouver field office at Suite 500, 805 Broadway Street, and both the hearing office locator data and Appendix F list Vancouver under Portland. Before a hearing, though, Washington's state agency, not Oregon's, generally decides whether you are disabled at the application and reconsideration stages.
Which Social Security office serves Beaverton, Hillsboro and Tigard?
The locator assigns Beaverton, Hillsboro, Tualatin, Sherwood and Forest Grove, and the 97223 and 97224 ZIP codes, which include Tigard, to the Beaverton field office at Suite 100, 11975 SW 2nd Street. A ZIP code can cross office lines, so check your own street address in the locator. That office is on the Portland hearing office's list in both Social Security sources.
Why would a Clatskanie or Rainier address go to Longview, Washington?
Because the locator assigns Clatskanie (97016) and Rainier (97048) to the Longview field office across the Columbia River, while St. Helens and Scappoose go to Portland Metro. Longview is on the Portland hearing office's list, so a hearing request from either place generally ends up at the same hearing office.
Discuss your claim
Ask for a Free Review of Your Portland 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 Portland clinics and hospitals where you are treated.