Texas Social Security disability
Texas Disability Lawyers: One State Agency Decides the Medical Question, Ten Entries Decide the Appeal
The medical decision on a Texas disability claim is made by a single state division, wherever in the state you live. The hearing stage is the opposite of that: ten entries decide Texas claims and three of them sit outside Texas.
The two halves of a Texas claim are organized on opposite principles, and most people never notice because they only see one of them. The first half is the same for a claimant in Brownsville and one in Amarillo. The second half depends entirely on which of ten offices your address routes to, and three of those are in New Mexico, Oklahoma and Louisiana.
1
State division making the medical decision for the whole state
10
Entries deciding Texas claims
3
Of those offices that sit outside Texas
No fee
Unless you win
The first half
Who Makes the Medical Decision on a Texas Disability Claim
A state division working to federal rules. Social Security takes the application and settles the non-medical questions, then sends the file to a disability determination division within the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, which reviews the medical evidence and decides whether the federal definition is met.
Worth clearing up a common worry before anything else: the review is mainly a review of records, although the agency can ask you to attend a consultative examination if the records are not enough, and a claim from El Paso is not handled differently from one filed in Houston.
What the arrangement does mean is that one administration, applying one set of standards, covers the whole state. When that stage refuses a claim, the refusal is a reading of the file rather than a local judgment.
The second half
The Ten Hearing Offices That Decide Texas Disability Appeals
Organized the other way entirely. Seven sit in Texas: two in Dallas, two in Houston, and one each in Fort Worth, San Antonio and Harlingen. Three do not.
Texas exports its corners in four directions. The Panhandle answers to Oklahoma City. Marshall answers to Shreveport, in Louisiana, and the Texarkana field office is listed under Arkansas rather than Texas even though the city straddles the line. El Paso is listed under Albuquerque, in New Mexico, as well as under San Antonio. For a state this size the surprise is not that it happens but that almost nothing comes back the other way.
Austin is the case people find hardest to believe. The capital has no hearing office. Its field offices are split: Austin is assigned to San Antonio, along with Seguin, while South Austin, Georgetown and San Marcos are assigned to Dallas (Downtown).
The El Paso question
Which Office Hears an El Paso Disability Claim in Texas?
It takes an address and a couple of minutes, and it is worth doing here more than almost anywhere else in the state.
Both hearing offices list an El Paso field office, so it is worth confirming which one has your file. Social Security's hearing office locator lists an El Paso entry under the Albuquerque hearing office's New Mexico heading, and El Paso (Downtown) under the San Antonio hearing office.
The two listings name different El Paso field offices. The locator assigns each El Paso ZIP code to either the Gateway West or the Downtown field office, but Social Security's published records do not agree on which of those two offices goes to Albuquerque and which to San Antonio, so for your own case the Notice of Hearing is what settles it.
The field office for any El Paso address takes a minute to find at ssa.gov/locator, and the hearing office is confirmed by the Notice of Hearing.
The ten entries
Every Hearing Office That Decides Texas Disability Claims
Hearing offices
10decide this state's claims
Service area lines name Social Security field offices rather than cities or counties, which is how the assignment is actually made.
Ten hearing offices decide Texas claims: Albuquerque, New Mexico, Dallas (Downtown), Dallas (North), Fort Worth, Houston (North), Houston (West), Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Rio Grande Valley, San Antonio and Shreveport, Louisiana. Albuquerque, Oklahoma City and Shreveport sit outside Texas. Dallas also takes claims filed in Oklahoma.
Every field office assignment and office address is on our hearing office routing page.
Average wait times change from month to month. Social Security publishes the average wait time for each hearing office and updates it monthly, so check the office that takes your claim.
Cities we serve in Texas
Texas Cities We Serve
We represent claimants across Texas. The eight cities below have their own pages. The hearing office for any address is on the routing page.
Texas guides
Rules That Work Differently in Texas
Federal law decides every Social Security claim, but these parts of a Texas claim depend on state programs and state employers.
- Texas guideHealth Coverage in Texas After an SSI or SSDI ApprovalSSI and SSDI lead to different health coverage in Texas, and the stretch between an SSDI approval and Medicare is the part that needs a plan.
- Texas guideHow Texas Workers' Comp and Nonsubscriber Plans Affect SSDI BenefitsTexas lets most private employers opt out of workers' comp, and whether your employer did decides whether injury payments can reduce your Social Security Disability Insurance.
- Texas guideTexas Teachers and Public Employees: TRS Service and SSDI EligibilityA Texas school job outside Social Security earns no SSDI work credits, and a TRS disability retirement can reduce SSDI, so these claims start with the earnings record.
- Texas guideThe Austin Social Security Offices and the Hearing Office Each One UsesFour field offices split the Austin area by ZIP code, and Social Security's own records give two different hearing offices for three of them.
Your lawyer does not need a Texas license to represent you on a Social Security claim. Social Security's rule asks for an attorney in good standing who has the right to practice law before a court of a state, the District of Columbia, a U.S. territory or island possession, or a federal court, who is not disqualified or suspended from representing claimants, and whom no law prohibits from acting as a representative. How an out-of-state disability lawyer works.
Texas SSDI Questions: Who Decides, Where, and What It Changes
Who actually decides my Texas disability claim?
Two different bodies at two different stages. The medical question on a new claim goes to a state division within the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, which reviews records and decides whether the federal definition of disability is met. If that decision is appealed to a hearing, the case moves to a Social Security hearing office, and there are ten of those deciding Texas claims.
Does it matter where in Texas I live?
Not to the decision. The medical review is mainly a review of records, although the agency can ask you to attend a consultative examination if the records are not enough, and nothing about a claim from Amarillo is handled differently from one filed in Brownsville. What it does mean is that the same standards and the same administration cover the whole state.
Austin is the capital. Why is there no hearing office there?
Because service areas follow the field office map rather than city size. The Austin field office is assigned to the San Antonio hearing office, along with Seguin, and the South Austin, Georgetown and San Marcos field offices are assigned to Dallas (Downtown). The assignment changes the calendar governing a case rather than the rules applied to it.
I filed in El Paso. Is my case in Texas or New Mexico?
Both hearing offices list an El Paso field office, so confirm which one has your file. Social Security's hearing office locator puts El Paso Downtown under the San Antonio hearing office, and it also shows an El Paso entry under the Albuquerque office's New Mexico heading, although El Paso is in Texas. Read by name, the two entries appear to name different El Paso field offices, so the double listing does not by itself show a mistake. The locator gives your El Paso field office from an address, but Social Security's records disagree on which hearing office each El Paso field office goes to, so the Notice of Hearing is what settles it.
Amarillo and Marshall are heard outside Texas. Why those?
Because Social Security's hearing office locator assigns those field offices to hearing offices in other states. Amarillo, Pampa and Wichita Falls answer to Oklahoma City; Marshall answers to Shreveport, in Louisiana, and the Texarkana field office is listed under Arkansas rather than Texas even though the city straddles the line. Texas exports its corners in four directions and takes almost nothing back, which is the opposite of what a state this size might be expected to do.
With ten offices, is one of them quicker than the others?
Their queues differ and you cannot choose between them. Every office applies the same federal standard, so no office is a better place for a claim on its merits, but each runs its own calendar and Social Security publishes the current average wait for every one. The assignment follows the field office serving your address and is not a preference anybody enters on a form. You can object in writing to the place of the hearing, giving your reasons and the place you want, and the judge decides whether there is good cause to change it.
Not sure which of ten offices has your Texas claim? Ask.
Free case review, no obligation. We respond within 3 business hours. Tell us where you filed and we will tell you which office your address routes to. We work from Lebanon, Tennessee, with consultations by phone or video. There is no Texas office and none is implied.