What Your Notice of Hearing Says and What to Do Before Your Disability Hearing

When does the Notice of Hearing arrive?

The Notice of Hearing comes after the hearing office has set a date for your hearing. Under 20 CFR 404.938, Social Security mails it to your last known address, or hands it to you, at least 75 days before the hearing date, unless you have said in writing that you do not want that advance notice. SSI follows the same rule in 20 CFR 416.1438. Social Security's hearing page says you can waive the 75 days on Form HA-510, Waiver of Timely Written Notice of Hearing, and the hearings manual accepts any signed written waiver, which can matter when an earlier opening comes up. Waiving the 75 days does not change the 5-business-day deadline for written evidence. The 75-day period comes from a rule published in December 2016 and effective in 2017, which lengthened the minimum notice from 20 days to 75 days everywhere except the Boston region, which had used 75 days since 2006.

This is not the same letter as the Notice of Ways to Attend a Hearing, which is sent at the same time as, but in a separate mailing from, the acknowledgment of your hearing request, and encloses forms to object to appearing by audio or agency video, or to agree to appear by online video. The Notice of Hearing comes later and tells you how you are scheduled to appear.

If the hearing is moved, or the judge continues it and sets a supplemental hearing, the amended notice must be mailed or served at least 20 days before the new date. Social Security's hearings manual adds that the new hearing date must still be at least 75 days after the date it first sent you a notice of hearing, unless you waived that advance notice.

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What the Notice of Hearing has to tell you

The regulation lists what the notice must cover, and the hearings manual section on the notice, HA 01230.015, adds detail. The notice must tell you:

• The specific issues to be decided, and your right to object to those issues.
• That you may designate someone to represent you.
• How you, any other party and any witnesses will appear. If you are scheduled in person or by agency video, the notice gives the place; if you are scheduled by audio, it gives the telephone number on record.
• How to ask for a change in the time of the hearing and, where it applies, the place.
• That the judge may dismiss your hearing request if neither you nor your representative appears and there is no good reason.
• That you must make every effort to submit or tell Social Security about written evidence not already in the record no later than 5 business days before the hearing.
• That you may be reimbursed for travel expenses in some circumstances, and that you can ask the judge to issue a subpoena.

For an online video hearing, the manual says the notice must also tell you what to do if you no longer want to appear that way. Read the issues list closely, because it tells you what the judge plans to decide. Under 20 CFR 404.939, an objection to the issues must be made in writing at the earliest possible opportunity, and the hearings manual section on objections, HALLEX I-2-2-20, says it is due no later than 5 business days before the hearing unless one of the exceptions in 20 CFR 404.935(b) applies. The judge rules on the objection either in writing, made part of your file, or on the record at the hearing.

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Return the acknowledgment form that comes with the notice

Every Notice of Hearing comes with Form HA-504, Acknowledgment of Receipt (Notice of Hearing). The regulation says the notice will ask you to return a form so Social Security knows you received it. If neither you nor your representative acknowledges the notice, the agency will try to contact you for an explanation, and if you say you did not receive it, it sends an amended notice by certified mail.

Under the hearings manual section on the acknowledgment, HA 01230.020, staff try to reach you, by a written reminder or by phone, when the form has not come back at least 30 days before the hearing. The manual also says a notice counts as received when either you or your representative receives it. Returning the form promptly shows the hearing office that you received the notice and spares staff from having to contact you about it. If you do not plan to attend, the manual has staff ask you to confirm that on the HA-504. Telling the hearing office does not excuse your absence: unless the judge finds good cause and moves the hearing, the judge may dismiss your request if neither you nor your representative appears. To change the time or place, ask in writing as described below.

Because the notice goes to your last known address, report any move to Social Security and the hearing office right away. Hearing office staff check your file for an address update before mailing the notice, and if you say you did not receive it, they verify your address and resend it by certified mail. A reminder to return the acknowledgment may come by letter or by phone.

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Changing the date, sending evidence and avoiding a dismissal

If the time does not work, or the place of an in-person or agency video hearing does not work, the request has its own deadline. Under HA 01230.012, you must tell the judge in writing, with your reasons and the time or place you want, at the earliest possible opportunity and no later than 5 days before the hearing or 30 days after you receive the notice, whichever is earlier. Under 20 CFR 404.901, Social Security presumes you received the notice 5 days after its date unless you show otherwise, and a request made after the deadline is considered only if you also show good cause for missing it. The judge decides whether you have good cause, such as a serious physical or mental condition that makes it impossible to travel to or attend the hearing, or a death in your immediate family. If you call instead of writing, staff tell you the request must be in writing. Objecting to an audio or agency video hearing, or agreeing to online video, runs on the separate 30-day window that started with the Notice of Ways to Attend a Hearing.

The evidence deadline runs from the hearing date. Under 20 CFR 404.935, the judge may decline to consider written evidence you send or tell Social Security about later than 5 business days before the hearing, unless one of the limited reasons in 404.935(b) applies: Social Security's own action misled you, a physical, mental, educational or linguistic limitation kept you from meeting the deadline, or another unusual, unexpected or unavoidable circumstance beyond your control got in the way; when one applies and the judge has not yet issued a decision, the judge will accept it.

Missing the hearing has a cost. The notice must warn that the judge may dismiss your hearing request if neither you nor your representative appears without a good reason. If something comes up on the day, contact the hearing office as soon as you can. Our guide to what happens at a disability hearing covers the hearing itself, and our page on disability hearings explains how we prepare clients for it.

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