Richmond, Virginia
Richmond, Virginia Social Security Disability Lawyers for SSDI and SSI Claims
A disability hearing request from Richmond, Virginia is generally handled by the Richmond hearing office at Suite 225, 1100 East Main Street, because the Richmond Downtown, Richmond East, Chesterfield and Petersburg field offices that serve the metro area are all on its list.
Downard & Associates represents adults in Richmond and in Henrico, Chesterfield, Hanover and the neighboring counties 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 Richmond clients by phone or video, and take no fee unless you win.
How we help
What Our Richmond 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 Virginia disability lawyer page.
Downard has no office in Richmond. 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 Field Offices Serve the Richmond Area
Social Security's office locator splits the city and its suburbs among four field offices, and sends two ZIP codes on the western edge of Goochland County to Charlottesville. Each office below is open weekdays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Richmond Downtown, 1834 West Cary Street: most of the city, including 23219 to 23222 and 23224 to 23226, plus western Henrico (23227 to 23230, 23233, 23238 and 23294), Glen Allen, Ashland, Mechanicsville and the rest of Hanover County, most of Goochland County, and Beaumont (23014) and State Farm (23160), near the Goochland and Powhatan county line. Phone 1-866-679-6684.
Richmond East, 245 East Williamsburg Road, Sandston: Richmond's East End and eastern Henrico (23223, 23231, 23250 and 23075), Sandston, and New Kent County. Phone 1-866-218-2307.
Chesterfield, Suite 100, 600 Southlake Boulevard, North Chesterfield: Chesterfield County, including 23234 to 23237, Midlothian, Chester, Chesterfield and Moseley, plus Powhatan (23139). Phone 1-877-773-7231.
Petersburg, 100 Poplar Drive: Petersburg, Colonial Heights, Hopewell, Prince George County and Dinwiddie County. Phone 1-877-803-6322.
Charlottesville, 1st Floor, 1470 Pantops Mountain Place: ZIP codes 23038 (Columbia) and 23065 (Gum Spring), which reach into western Goochland County. Phone 1-866-613-3959.
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 Virginia, Disability Determination Services, a division of the Department for Aging and Rehabilitative Services, generally makes that decision at the application and reconsideration stages; 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
The Richmond Hearing Office on East Main Street
The data behind Social Security's hearing office locator gives the Richmond hearing office's address as Suite 225, 1100 East Main Street, Richmond, VA 23219, phone 1-877-405-3665, and lists Chesterfield, Farmville, Fredericksburg, Lynchburg, Petersburg, Richmond (Downtown) and Richmond (East). Appendix F of Social Security's privacy notice for hearing records gives the same address and the same offices except Lynchburg, which it places under Charlottesville instead.
All four field offices that serve the Richmond area are on the Richmond hearing office's list in both the locator data and Appendix F. The two ZIP codes that reach into western Goochland go to the Charlottesville field office, which is on the list of the Charlottesville hearing office. That hearing office is on the 2nd floor of the same building, 1470 Pantops Mountain Place. Your Notice of Hearing gives the time and how you take part, and names the place if you appear in person or by agency video.
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.
Virginia rules
One Free Electronic Records Copy a Year, and Virginia's Own Medicaid Rules
Virginia law gives you one free copy per calendar year of records kept in an electronic health record for a Social Security claim or appeal. Under Va. Code ยง 8.01-413(B)(7), a health care provider must give a patient or the patient's attorney one free copy per calendar year of the patient's medical records stored or maintained in an electronic health record, when the request supports a claim or appeal under the Social Security Act and comes with a reasonable amount of documentation, such as Social Security's Appointment of Representative form or a notice of or request for a hearing. Further requests that year can carry a reasonable fee.
Virginia also writes some of its own Medicaid rules for SSI recipients. Social Security's operations manual, POMS SI 01715.010, names Virginia as a 209(b) state, which uses at least one eligibility rule stricter than SSI's and must let aged, blind or disabled applicants deduct incurred medical expenses from their countable income. Virginia's Department of Medical Assistance Services directs applicants to several ways to apply, including online at CommonHelp, by phone through the Cover Virginia Call Center, or on paper through a local department of social services.
Local treatment records
Records From VCU Health, Bon Secours and the Richmond 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 known to you that relates to whether you are disabled, so a full list of providers, with your own copies where you have them, helps close gaps.
VCU Health: its release of medical information page offers an online request tool, or an authorization form mailed to VCU Health System, Release of Information/Datavant, P.O. Box 980679, Richmond, VA 23298-0679, phone 804-828-4423, fax 804-828-5344.
Bon Secours: its records request page offers an online eRequest through its release-of-information partner, or a form faxed or mailed with a copy of a photo ID. For St. Mary's Hospital and St. Francis Medical Center it lists 5801 Bremo Road, Richmond, VA 23226, phone 804-281-8135, fax 804-673-9561.
Richmond VA Medical Center: the VA Richmond health care system's medical records office page offers records online, or VA Form 10-5345a sent by mail or fax, or brought in person, to the Release of Information Office (136D) at 1201 Broad Rock Boulevard, Richmond, VA 23249. 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 Richmond 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
Richmond Disability Claim Questions
Is a Richmond disability hearing held at 1100 East Main Street?
Not always. The Richmond hearing office generally handles the case for most addresses 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.
Which Social Security office serves Chesterfield, Midlothian and Chester?
The locator assigns Chesterfield County ZIP codes, including Midlothian, Chester and the 23234 to 23237 ZIP codes, to the Chesterfield field office at Suite 100, 600 Southlake Boulevard in North Chesterfield. Powhatan (23139) goes there too, while Beaumont and State Farm go to Richmond Downtown. All of these offices are on the Richmond hearing office's list.
Why would a western Goochland address go to Charlottesville?
Because the locator assigns ZIP codes 23038 (Columbia) and 23065 (Gum Spring), which reach into western Goochland, to the Charlottesville field office, which is on the Charlottesville hearing office's list. The locator assigns Goochland, Manakin-Sabot, Maidens, Oilville, Crozier and Sandy Hook to Richmond Downtown. Search your own street address in the locator, because a ZIP code can cross office lines.
Do Petersburg, Colonial Heights and Hopewell claims go to the Richmond hearing office?
Generally, yes. The locator assigns those cities, with Prince George and Dinwiddie counties, to the Petersburg field office at 100 Poplar Drive, and Petersburg is on the Richmond hearing office's list in both the locator data and Appendix F, so a claimant assigned to it is generally served by the hearing office on East Main Street.
Discuss your claim
Ask for a Free Review of Your Richmond 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 Richmond clinics and hospitals where you are treated.