San francisco, California
San Francisco Disability Lawyers for SSDI and SSI
Downard & Associates helps adults in San Francisco, California, prepare and appeal Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) claims. We work with you by phone and video to gather medical and work-history evidence, address denial reasons, and prepare for administrative hearings. Start with your treatment sources, the work your condition prevents, and any Social Security decision you received. If you also need local financial assistance, San Francisco’s county programs have a separate eligibility process.
How we help
How We Build a San Francisco Application or Appeal
For SSI, we help complete the application and its financial disclosures.
We represent San Francisco adults from Tennessee and communicate 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 examine the denial reasons and address missing evidence. The appeal should respond to the medical, work, or financial 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
WSSDI and SSI Eligibility for San Francisco 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. This means significant physical or mental 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 has 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 financial support
San Francisco County Assistance While You Pursue SSI
Record which agency sent each request and what response it asks for.
San Francisco’s County Adult Assistance Programs (CAAP) provide cash assistance and employment services to eligible low-income residents without dependent children, including people who cannot work. Eligibility depends on the county program’s own rules; starting an SSI claim does not establish CAAP eligibility.
The San Francisco Human Services Agency lists SSI application assistance for people with a long-term disability among CAAP’s support services. Contact CAAP at 833-879-1365 to ask about eligibility and available assistance.
Keep county assistance paperwork and SSA paperwork in separate groups. Record which agency sent each request and what response it asks for. CAAP assistance and federal SSI benefits have separate eligibility decisions. A county assistance application does not replace an SSI application or an SSA appeal.
Get organized
Organize Your San Francisco Treatment, Work, and Agency Records
Use this checklist before completing forms or discussing an application or appeal. It helps you identify evidence and separate requests from different agencies.
Treatment sources: List each doctor, hospital, clinic, and therapist, with contact information and treatment dates. Add medications, prescribers, tests, and records already in your possession.
Work and limitations: Record job dates, duties, hours, and earnings. Describe the tasks your symptoms affected, including lifting, standing, concentration, or completing work on schedule. Follow the reporting period on SSA’s form.
Request log: Keep one row or entry for each SSA, medical-review, or CAAP request. Note the sender, date received, requested information, response date, and submission confirmation.
SSI finances: Gather income, countable-resource, and living-arrangement information. Identify payments from other benefit programs so they can be considered under SSI’s rules.
SSA’s application guidance says not to delay applying because documents are missing. Provide what you have and identify the sources of additional information.
After a denial
Acting on an SSDI or SSI Denial in San Francisco
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. SSA’s rules for SSDI reconsideration, SSI reconsideration, SSDI hearing requests, and SSI hearing requests explain these requirements.
SSA generally presumes receipt five days after the date on the notice unless you show that you did not receive it within that period. Preserve the envelope and evidence of delayed delivery. Do not treat the presumption as an unconditional 65-day deadline.
If a reconsideration or hearing request is late, ask for an extension in writing and explain why you missed the deadline. SSA must find good cause; an extension is not automatic. Identify the decision being challenged before choosing an appeal step.
Hearing arrangements
Checking Your San Francisco Hearing Office and Attendance Instructions
Use SSA’s Hearing Office Locator and our hearing-office guide for general office information. Check your case correspondence to identify the office handling your appeal.
The directory alone does not establish your scheduled hearing site. An in-person hearing may take place at a hearing office or another site designated by SSA. Use 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. Phone or video meetings with our team are separate from your SSA hearing arrangement.
Common questions
Questions San Francisco Adults Ask About Disability Claims
Is CAAP the same as SSI?
No. CAAP is a San Francisco county assistance program, and SSI is a federal program administered by SSA. CAAP lists SSI application assistance among its support services for people with a long-term disability, but eligibility for county assistance does not by itself establish SSI eligibility.
Why is California’s disability-review agency requesting information?
California’s Disability Determination Service Division (DDSD) develops medical evidence and makes initial disability or blindness determinations for Social Security. SSA’s field office verifies nonmedical eligibility. The medical-review agency is separate from the hearing office that may handle a later appeal. Read the request and follow its response instructions.
Can I apply if my condition has not lasted a year yet?
You do not have to wait a year to apply for disability-based benefits when the condition and resulting inability to perform substantial gainful activity are expected to last at least 12 consecutive months, or the condition is expected to result in death. Other eligibility requirements still apply. SSI statutory blindness has no duration requirement.
Does Downard have a San Francisco office?
No. We do not have a California office. We represent San Francisco adults with SSDI and SSI matters and work with clients by phone and video.
Discuss your claim
Talk With Downard About Your San Francisco Disability Claim
Tell us whether you are preparing an application, responding to a denial, or waiting for an administrative hearing. Contact Downard & Associates to discuss your SSDI or SSI matter.