Tallahassee, Florida
Tallahassee Disability Lawyers for SSDI and SSI
Downard & Associates represents adults in Tallahassee, Florida, with Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) claims. We help with applications, reconsideration appeals, and administrative hearings, working with clients by phone or video. Start by listing where you received treatment and the job duties your condition has affected. We can help gather medical evidence, prepare the application, and address the reasons for denial if you are appealing.
How we help
Working With Downard on Your Tallahassee Claim
You can work with us from Tallahassee by phone or video.
For an SSDI application, we help prepare the application, gather medical evidence, and document your work history. For SSI, we help complete the application and financial disclosures. Those are different tasks because the two programs have different nonmedical requirements.
At reconsideration, we focus on the reasons given for denial and add missing evidence. If your case reaches an administrative law judge hearing, we prepare you for questions, develop the medical record, and present the legal argument at the hearing.
We represent adults age 18 and older. Our Florida disability representation page explains our statewide service. You can work with us from Tallahassee by phone or video.
Our service limits also address matters involving Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) benefits.
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 Eligibility for Tallahassee Adults
Duration rule
12months
SSDI generally requires enough recent work covered by Social Security. The work credits you need depend on your age when your disability began. The Social Security Administration (SSA) explains the insured-work requirements.
SSI does not require work credits. Adults may qualify based on disability, statutory blindness, or age 65 or older, subject to income, resource, and other requirements such as qualifying citizenship or immigration status and residence. Age-based SSI does not require a disability finding.
For SSDI and adult SSI claims based on disability, SSA considers whether a medically determinable condition prevents substantial gainful activity (SGA). SGA means work involving significant physical or mental activities that is done, or usually done, for pay or profit. When the evaluation reaches those steps, SSA also considers past work and your ability to adjust to other work. The condition and the resulting inability to perform SGA must generally have lasted or be expected to last at least 12 consecutive months, unless the condition is expected to result in death. You do not have to wait a year before applying.
Initial SSI eligibility based on statutory blindness does not use SGA, and SSI statutory blindness has no duration requirement. Financial and other SSI requirements still apply. These SSI exceptions do not remove the separate SSDI rules. Read SSA's SSI eligibility explanation and blindness rules for the distinctions.
Local treatment records
Requesting Tallahassee Memorial Records for Your Claim
It has separate selections for hospital, office or clinic, and behavioral-health records.
If you received care through Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare (TMH), its Medical Records page lists three ways to obtain copies: recent records in MyChart, an online Patient Request Portal, and a paper authorization form. The paper form can be returned by email, fax, or mail. Follow the instructions for the method you use.
TMH's release authorization form asks for the treatment date range, the facility releasing the records, and where the records should be sent. It has separate selections for hospital, office or clinic, and behavioral-health records. Identify the actual clinic location when requesting Physician Partners records.
Before requesting copies, compare your treatment list with the visits and reports you already have. A hospital stay, a later clinic visit, and rehabilitation may belong on separate lines. Use the date range and record selections to describe what is missing. List care from providers outside TMH separately rather than assuming one request covers every treatment source.
Get organized
Build a Treatment and Work File for Your Tallahassee Claim
Use a short checklist to organize the information before discussing your application or appeal. Mark uncertain dates as approximate so they can be checked.
Treatment sources: For each hospital, clinic, doctor, or therapist, list the name, contact details, and first and most recent treatment dates. For TMH care, distinguish the hospital from the clinic or other facility.
Records status: Note which visit notes and test reports you have, what is missing, when you requested it, and when it arrived. Check each response against the dates requested.
Work history: List recent jobs, dates, and duties. Describe lifting, sitting, standing, concentrating, or other demands, and when your condition changed what you could do.
Daily limitations: Give specific examples of tasks you cannot finish, breaks you need, and help you receive. Include how often the problem occurs and medication side effects you experience.
Claim information: Organize SSA decisions and requests. Record the date a decision arrived. For SSI, also gather income and resource information.
SSA's disability application instructions explain the medical and work information to gather. For SSDI, SSA says not to delay applying because you do not have every document.
After a denial
Responding to an Initial Tallahassee Disability Denial
Deadline
60days
After an initial SSDI or SSI denial, reconsideration generally must be requested in writing within 60 days after you receive the notice. SSA presumes receipt five days after the notice date unless you show that you did not receive it within that five-day period. Keep the notice date and arrival date separate.
If you miss that deadline, you may request an extension in writing and explain why you were late. SSA must find good cause to grant more time; an extension is not automatic. The SSDI reconsideration rule and SSI reconsideration rule explain the requirements.
Read the reason for denial before deciding what to add. A missing treatment record is a different issue from a question about SSDI work-credit eligibility or SSI financial eligibility. We focus the reconsideration appeal on the reason SSA gave and the evidence needed to address it.
Common questions
Questions About Tallahassee Records and Disability Claims
Can I request TMH records without using MyChart?
Yes. TMH lists an online Patient Request Portal and a paper authorization option alongside MyChart. The paper form can be returned by email, fax, or mail. Use its medical-records instructions for the current request process.
What should I identify on a TMH paper records request?
Identify the dates of service, the releasing facility, the receiving party, and the record types you need. The form includes a separate clinic or Physician Partners selection that asks for the location. Use the TMH authorization form to make those choices.
Should I wait until every medical record arrives before applying for SSDI?
No. SSA says not to delay an SSDI application because you do not have all the documents. Identify your treatment sources and provide the information and records you have. Its application instructions explain what to gather.
How might I attend my Social Security hearing?
SSA has four hearing methods: in person, audio by telephone, agency video using SSA equipment at an SSA office, and online video using your own device. Online video requires your agreement. Objections to audio or agency video are subject to SSA rules and exceptions. Read SSA's hearing attendance guidance, respond to the appearance forms, and follow your scheduling notice for how and where to attend. Our Social Security hearing-office guide provides a separate resource for office details.
Discuss your claim
Discuss Your Tallahassee Disability Claim With Downard
Tell us how your condition affects your work and where your claim stands. We can discuss the application, reconsideration appeal, or hearing preparation you need. If you have received a decision, tell us when it arrived.