St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis Disability Lawyers for SSDI and SSI
Downard & Associates represents adults age 18 and older in St. Louis, Missouri, with Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) applications and appeals. We work with clients by phone and video from our Tennessee base. Whether you are preparing to apply or responding to a denial, start with your treatment history, work history, and any SSA decision you have received. Those details help us review your situation and explain the next step.
How we help
How We Help St. Louis Adults Apply and Appeal
For an SSI application, we help complete the application and its financial disclosures.
We help with disability applications, reconsideration appeals, and hearings before an administrative law judge. Our work begins with your medical conditions, treatment sources, and work history. The details matter because SSA evaluates how a condition affects work, not just the name of a diagnosis.
For an SSDI application, we help prepare and submit the application and gather the initial medical evidence. For an SSI application, we help complete the application and its financial disclosures. During reconsideration, we review the reasons for the denial, file the appeal, and seek updated treatment records. Before a hearing, we prepare you to explain your limitations and represent you at the hearing.
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.
Our Missouri disability representation page provides the statewide overview. Below, we explain the medical-review and hearing details relevant to a St. Louis claim.
Benefit eligibility
SSDI and SSI Eligibility for St. Louis Adults
Duration rule
12months
SSDI generally requires enough recent work in jobs covered by Social Security, as well as a condition that meets SSA's disability standard. Work-credit requirements depend on your age when the disability began; younger workers may qualify with fewer credits. SSA explains these requirements in its disability eligibility guidance.
SSI does not require an insured work record. It has separate limits on countable income and resources, along with other eligibility rules. For adults, SSI eligibility may be based on disability, statutory blindness, or age 65 or older. See SSA's SSI eligibility requirements.
For SSDI and adult SSI claims based on disability, SSA considers whether a medically determinable condition prevents substantial gainful activity (SGA). SGA is work activity that is both substantial and gainful: significant physical or mental activities of a kind generally performed for pay or profit. When the evaluation reaches the work-related steps, SSA considers whether you can perform past work or adjust to other work. A claim can be decided at an earlier step. Not every claim has to reach all five steps.
The condition must have lasted, or be expected to last, at least 12 consecutive months or be expected to result in death. You do not have to wait 12 months before applying if the expected-duration requirement is met.
SSI statutory blindness has different rules: SSA does not use SGA 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. SSA describes the distinction in its special rules for people who are blind.
Local claim process
How Missouri DDS Reviews a St. Louis Application
If the available evidence is insufficient, DDS may arrange a consultative examination to obtain more information.
A St. Louis disability application can involve both SSA and Missouri Disability Determination Services (DDS). SSA checks the nonmedical requirements and forwards the claim to DDS when those requirements are met. Missouri DDS develops medical evidence and makes a recommendation about whether your condition meets SSA's medical requirements.
DDS contacts doctors, hospitals, employers, and other sources for medical records and functional information. If the available evidence is insufficient, DDS may arrange a consultative examination to obtain more information. A complete provider list helps identify where the evidence can be found.
If you receive a DDS request, check who sent it, what information it asks for, and when a response is due. Keep it with your SSA correspondence. Include each treatment location and the dates of care in your provider list, including any care you received outside Missouri.
Get organized
Build a Usable Record for Your St. Louis Claim
Use one folder and a short list to connect your medical history with your work history. SSA's application guidance identifies the treatment and employment information used in a disability application.
List your treatment sources. Record each doctor, hospital, or clinic, its address and phone number, and the dates you were treated. Add medications, prescribing providers, and the dates and locations of relevant tests.
Describe the work you did. Record job dates and duties, including lifting, time on your feet, sitting, concentration, and interaction with other people. Note when symptoms changed those tasks or caused you to stop working.
Write specific examples of your limitations. Explain how long you can perform an activity, what symptoms interrupt it, and whether you need breaks or help. Describe what happens rather than using only words such as difficult or painful.
Keep correspondence in date order. Save SSA decisions, DDS requests, and any hearing paperwork. Record the date you actually received a decision notice.
Start with the information and records you have. SSA advises people not to delay applying solely because some documents are missing.
Hearing office details
Reading St. Louis and Creve Coeur Hearing Correspondence
It lists St. Louis (Downtown) among the field offices served by the St. Louis hearing office.
The SSA hearing-office locator distinguishes the St. Louis hearing office from the Creve Coeur satellite. It lists St. Louis (Downtown) among the field offices served by the St. Louis hearing office. It lists St. Louis (Central West End), St. Louis (North County), and St. Louis (South Side) among the field offices served by the Creve Coeur satellite. These are examples from the directory, not complete service-area lists.
The City of St. Louis is separate from St. Louis County. A general St. Louis mailing label or the nearest SSA building is not enough to identify the office handling a particular hearing. Use the office named on your case correspondence and the instructions in your scheduling notice. An in-person hearing may take place at an SSA hearing office or another hearing site; the directory alone does not establish your scheduled location.
Our hearing-office guide provides a separate reference for office information. Keep the hearing instructions for your own case alongside that general reference.
After a denial
Checking the Review Stage After a St. Louis Disability Denial
Deadline
60days
For an initial SSDI or SSI denial, the next step is generally a written request for reconsideration within 60 days after you receive the denial notice. If reconsideration is denied, a written request for a hearing before an administrative law judge is generally due within 60 days after you receive that determination.
SSA ordinarily assumes you received the notice five days after its date, unless you show that it arrived later. The receipt date matters; do not treat the printed date as the day you received the notice.
If a reconsideration or hearing request is late, you may request more time in writing, explain why you missed the deadline, and ask SSA to find good cause. An extension depends on SSA's determination and is not automatic. SSA's hearing-request instructions say that your Notice of Reconsideration should tell you to request a hearing before an administrative law judge if you want to appeal.
Common questions
St. Louis Disability Claim Questions
Can I apply for SSI if I have not worked enough for SSDI?
Possibly. SSI does not require an insured work record, but you must meet its income, resource, and other eligibility rules. For adults, eligibility may be based on a qualifying disability, statutory blindness, or age 65 or older. Having too few work credits for SSDI does not by itself establish SSI eligibility.
Should I wait until I have every medical record?
SSA advises people not to delay applying because documents are missing. Prepare the provider names, contact information, and treatment dates you know, along with records already in your possession. That gives SSA information about where additional evidence may be available.
Can I attend my St. Louis disability hearing by phone or video?
SSA hearings may take place 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. Your Notice of Ways to Attend a Hearing explains the agreement and objection forms and response deadlines. Audio and agency-video objections are subject to SSA rules and exceptions. Follow your scheduling notice for the method, time, and any location assigned to your case. Read SSA's hearing attendance options.
Do I need to travel to Tennessee to discuss my claim?
We work with St. Louis clients by phone and video from our Tennessee base. You can discuss your medical history, work history, and claim status with us that way. These client communications are separate from SSA's instructions for attending a hearing.
Discuss your claim
Discuss Your St. Louis Disability Claim
Tell us whether you are preparing an application, waiting for a decision, or appealing a denial. We can review your medical and work history and explain the next step for your claim.