Houston, Texas
San Bernardino Disability Lawyers for SSDI and SSI
Downard & Associates represents adults in San Bernardino, California, with Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) claims. We help with applications, reconsideration appeals, and administrative hearings, working with you by phone and video. Start with a treatment-source list, a description of how your condition affected your work, and any Social Security decision you received. We can review your situation and explain the next step.
How we help
Help With San Bernardino Applications, Denials, and Hearings
For SSI, we help complete the application and its financial disclosures.
We serve San Bernardino adults from Tennessee and work with clients by phone and video. Our California disability representation page explains our service across the state.
Applications: We help prepare and file SSDI applications with the Social Security Administration (SSA), gather medical evidence, and document work history. For SSI, we help complete the application and its financial disclosures.
Reconsideration: We review the denial reasons and address missing or updated evidence. That keeps the appeal focused on the issues identified in the decision.
Administrative hearings: We develop the medical record, prepare you for questions about your condition and work, and present the legal argument at the hearing.
Service limits, including Veterans Affairs (VA) matters
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.
Benefit eligibility
SSDI and SSI Requirements for San Bernardino Adults
Duration rule
12months
SSDI generally requires enough work covered by Social Security, including sufficiently recent work. The work-credit requirements depend on your age when disability began. For SSDI based on statutory blindness, SSA requires fully insured status but does not apply the ordinary recent-work test. Read SSA’s SSDI eligibility explanation.
SSI does not require an SSDI insured-work record. Adults may qualify based on age 65 or older, statutory blindness, or disability, subject to limits on income and countable resources and other requirements, including residency and citizenship or eligible noncitizen status. SSA’s SSI eligibility requirements explain these categories.
For adult SSDI and SSI claims based on a condition other than statutory blindness, a medically determinable physical or mental condition must prevent substantial gainful activity, meaning significant work usually done for pay or profit. The condition and resulting inability to perform that work must have lasted or be expected to last at least 12 consecutive months, unless the condition is expected to result in death. SSA considers past work and adjustment to other work when the evaluation reaches those steps; it can decide a claim earlier. You do not have to wait a year before applying when the expected duration meets the rule.
SSI statutory blindness follows different rules. SSA does not use substantial gainful activity to determine initial SSI eligibility based on statutory blindness, and there is no duration requirement for SSI statutory blindness. SSI’s financial and other eligibility requirements still apply.
Local medical evidence
Bringing Hospital and County Treatment Records Together
Completed forms may go to the clinic currently treating you.
If you received care through Arrowhead Regional Medical Center (ARMC) and San Bernardino County’s Department of Behavioral Health (DBH), list both treatment sources when organizing your claim. Their published records instructions use separate request processes.
ARMC records: The hospital’s medical-records instructions call for a completed, signed authorization and allow drop-off, mail, or fax. ARMC is in Colton. Its MyChart terms caution that information available in the portal may not include your entire medical record.
County behavioral-health records: DBH’s medical-records instructions provide a separate authorization process. Completed forms may go to the clinic currently treating you. If you are no longer receiving services, the request may go to DBH’s Medical Records Unit.
Make a separate entry for each provider, the treatment dates, records requested, and records received. Check for missing visits, hospital stays, or tests. Include treatment from other providers as well. This gives you a way to identify gaps without assuming one portal download contains everything.
SSA’s application instructions say not to delay applying because documents are missing. Provide what you have and identify the sources of additional evidence.
Get organized
A Records and Work Checklist for Your San Bernardino Claim
Use this checklist to connect your treatment history with your work limitations and the information requested by Social Security.
Treatment sources: Write each doctor, clinic, hospital, or therapist’s name, contact details, and treatment dates. Keep ARMC and DBH entries separate if you received care through both.
Records log: Note when you requested records, the date range requested, what arrived, and what is still missing. Keep copies of records already in your possession.
Work duties and changes: Describe the tasks you performed, hours, lifting, standing, concentration demands, and changes made because of symptoms. Follow the reporting period on the form SSA sends you.
Agency correspondence: Keep decisions and envelopes together. Record the notice date, when you received it, which office sent it, and the requested action.
SSI information: Organize income, resources, and living-arrangement information if seeking SSI. Financial eligibility is separate from the medical determination.
After a denial
Acting on a San Bernardino SSDI or SSI Denial
Deadline
60days
After an initial SSDI or SSI denial, reconsideration is generally the next review step. After an unfavorable reconsideration determination, you may request a hearing before an administrative law judge. Both requests must be made in writing and generally must be filed within 60 days after you receive the relevant notice. Read SSA’s rules for SSDI reconsideration, SSI reconsideration, SSDI hearing requests, and SSI hearing requests.
SSA generally presumes receipt five days after the date on the notice unless you show that you did not receive it within that period. Keep evidence of delayed delivery. Do not treat this presumption as an unconditional 65-day deadline.
If a reconsideration or hearing request is late, request an extension in writing and explain why you missed the deadline. SSA must find good cause; an extension is not automatic.
Hearing arrangements
Checking the Office and Attendance Instructions for a San Bernardino Hearing
Use your own case correspondence to identify the office handling your appeal. SSA’s Hearing Office Locator and our hearing-office guide provide office information.
The directory alone does not establish your scheduled hearing site. An in-person hearing may take place at a hearing office or another location designated by SSA. Follow your scheduling notice for the location and attendance instructions.
SSA describes four ways to attend a hearing: in person, by audio using a telephone, by agency video using SSA equipment, or by online video using your own device. Online video requires your agreement. The Notice of Ways to Attend a Hearing explains agreement and objection procedures; objections to audio or agency video are subject to SSA’s rules and exceptions. Respond within the time limits in that notice. Meetings with our team by phone or video are separate from your SSA hearing arrangement.
Common questions
Questions San Bernardino Adults Ask About Disability Claims
Should I list county behavioral-health care separately from ARMC care?
Yes, if you received treatment through both. ARMC and San Bernardino County DBH publish separate records request instructions. Identify each clinic or hospital, treatment dates, and missing records rather than assuming an ARMC portal download includes all county behavioral-health treatment.
Do I need every treatment record before applying?
No. SSA says not to delay applying because documents are missing. Provide the treatment information and records you have, identify missing evidence, and respond to later requests. Organizing your own copies can help you track gaps, but a complete personal file is not a prerequisite to starting an application.
Does an SSA directory listing tell me where my hearing will be?
No. A directory listing does not establish your scheduled site or attendance method. Use your own hearing notices for the location, format, and response instructions.
Can I work with Downard while living in San Bernardino?
Yes. We represent San Bernardino adults with SSDI and SSI matters and work with clients by phone and video. We do not have a California office. Communication with our team is separate from the attendance method SSA schedules for a hearing.
Discuss your claim
Talk With Downard About Your San Bernardino Disability Claim
Tell us whether you are preparing an application or responding to a decision. Bring the treatment-source list and any notice you have. We can review your situation and discuss the next step.