San jose, California
San Jose Disability Lawyers for SSDI and SSI
Downard & Associates represents adults in San Jose, California, with Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) claims. We help prepare applications, respond to denials, and present cases at administrative hearings. We work with you by phone and video. Start with the date your condition affected your work, your treatment sources, and any decision you received. We can use that information to review your claim and explain the next step.
How we help
Building Your San Jose Application or Appeal
For SSI, we also help with the financial disclosures in the application.
We serve San Jose adults from Tennessee and work with clients by phone and video. Our California disability representation page explains our statewide services.
Applications: We help complete and file the application, gather medical evidence, and document your work history. For SSI, we also help with the financial disclosures in the application.
Reconsideration: We review the denial reasons, add missing or updated evidence, and address the issues the Social Security Administration (SSA) identified. A medical denial and a decision about income or resources call for different information.
Administrative hearings: We develop the medical record, prepare you for questions about your condition and work, and present the legal argument at the hearing. Preparation helps you explain your limitations accurately.
We handle SSDI cases for people who currently receive benefits from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), 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
Which Federal Benefit Rules Apply in San Jose?
Duration rule
12months
SSDI generally requires enough work covered by Social Security, including sufficiently recent work. Work-credit requirements depend on your age when disability began. For SSDI based on statutory blindness, the recent-work test does not apply, but fully insured status is still required. Read SSA’s SSDI eligibility explanation.
SSI does not require an insured work record. It has separate income, resource, residency, citizenship or qualifying noncitizen status, and other eligibility rules. It may be available based on age 65 or older, statutory blindness, or a qualifying disability. SSA’s SSI eligibility requirements explain the distinctions.
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 physical or mental work generally 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 its evaluation reaches those steps; a claim can be decided earlier. You do not have to wait a year to apply 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 SSI statutory blindness has no duration requirement. SSI’s financial and other eligibility rules still apply.
Local financial support
Santa Clara County Assistance While an SSI Claim Is Pending
Ask your county worker about the terms that apply to your assistance.
Santa Clara County General Assistance provides cash assistance to eligible adults without dependent children who have no other means of support. A county eligibility worker determines eligibility under the program’s income, residency, property, and citizenship rules. Applying for SSI does not automatically qualify you for county aid.
The county identifies an important exception to its usual nonloan rule: if General Assistance is paid while an SSI/State Supplementary Payment (SSP) application is being processed, the county may recover that aid from the initial retroactive SSI/SSP payment after approval. Ask your county worker about the terms that apply to your assistance.
Keep county benefit notices and any repayment authorization with your SSI paperwork. County assistance and federal SSI have separate eligibility decisions. A county application does not replace an SSI application or an SSA appeal.
Get organized
Prepare a Usable Record for Your San Jose Disability Claim
Use this checklist to organize information before completing forms or discussing your claim. Identify missing items and keep copies of what you submit.
Treatment: List doctors, clinics, hospitals, and therapists with contact information and treatment dates. Include medications, prescribers, tests, and medical records already in your possession.
Work: Record job dates, duties, hours, and earnings. Describe the tasks your condition affected, such as lifting, standing, using your hands, concentrating, or finishing work on schedule. Follow the reporting period on SSA’s form.
Agency requests: Record the sender, date received, requested action, response instructions, and submission confirmation for each letter. Separate a county assistance notice from an SSA decision and a medical-information request.
SSI finances: Organize income, resources, living arrangements, and payments from other benefit programs. Keep county assistance records and any authorization concerning reimbursement together.
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 Jose
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. Keep evidence of delayed delivery. The rule is not an unconditional 65-day deadline from the letter date.
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. Have the decision reviewed promptly so the appeal step and the reasons for denial can be considered together.
Hearing preparation
Understanding Hearing Attendance From San Jose
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. Objections to audio or agency video are subject to SSA’s rules and exceptions. The Notice of Ways to Attend a Hearing explains the agreement and objection procedures and includes the relevant forms. Respond within the time limits in that notice.
Follow your scheduling notice for the place and method of attendance. Our hearing-office guide provides office information. Phone or video meetings with our team are separate from the way SSA schedules your hearing.
Common questions
Questions About San Jose Disability Claims
Will the county automatically approve General Assistance if I apply for SSI?
No. Santa Clara County General Assistance has its own eligibility review. An SSI application does not establish county eligibility. If county aid is paid during SSI/SSP application processing, the county may recover it from the initial retroactive SSI/SSP payment after approval.
Why is a medical-review agency asking for information after I applied to Social Security?
SSA’s field office checks nonmedical eligibility. A state Disability Determination Service generally develops medical evidence and makes the initial disability or blindness determination for Social Security. That medical review is separate from county assistance and a later SSA hearing. Read the request and follow its response instructions.
Can a diagnosis qualify me without an explanation of how it affects work?
A diagnosis alone does not establish disability-based eligibility. SSA evaluates medical evidence and functioning under its disability rules. Explain what your symptoms prevent or limit, and connect that description with your treatment and work history. Eligibility based on SSI statutory blindness or age has different requirements.
Does Downard have a San Jose office?
No. We do not have a California office. We represent San Jose adults with SSDI and SSI matters and work with clients by phone and video.
Discuss your claim
Talk With Downard About Your San Jose Claim
Contact Downard & Associates to discuss an SSDI or SSI application or appeal. Tell us what stage you have reached and which medical conditions affect your work. We can review your situation and explain how we can help.