West palm beach, Florida
West Palm Beach Disability Lawyers for SSDI and SSI
Downard & Associates represents adults in Tampa, 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 with the dates your condition changed your ability to work and the providers who treated you. We can help prepare the application, gather medical evidence, or address the reasons for a denial.
How we help
Working with Downard on a West Palm Beach disability claim
For SSI, we help complete the application and its financial disclosures.
Your treatment history and work history need to tell the same story: what changed, when it changed and what you can still do. We represent adults age 18 and older and work with clients by phone and video. You can discuss your claim from West Palm Beach without traveling to Tennessee for routine attorney-client meetings.
Applications: We help prepare and file the SSDI application, gather medical evidence and document your work history. For SSI, we help complete the application and its financial disclosures. The aim is to give the Social Security Administration (SSA) the information it needs to evaluate your claim.
Reconsideration: If SSA denies your claim, we review the reasons, file the reconsideration appeal and develop additional medical evidence. An appeal should address the decision and the information missing from the record.
Administrative hearings: We develop the medical record, prepare you for testimony and present the legal argument at the hearing. Preparation includes reviewing your treatment timeline and explaining what to expect.
Our Florida disability representation overview explains the broader statewide service. The local preparation below can help you identify the West Palm Beach treatment sources involved in your claim.
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 adults in West Palm Beach
Duration rule
12months
SSDI generally requires enough recent work covered by Social Security, along with a condition that meets SSA's disability standard. Work-credit requirements depend on your age when disability began; younger workers may need fewer credits. SSA's SSDI eligibility explanation describes these work requirements.
SSI is separate from SSDI and is not based on your prior work record. It requires limited countable income and resources and eligibility based on age 65 or older, blindness or qualifying disability, along with other requirements such as citizenship or qualifying noncitizen status and residency. See SSA's SSI eligibility rules.
For SSDI and adult SSI claims based on disability, SSA evaluates whether a medically determinable condition prevents substantial gainful activity, meaning substantial and gainful work. Unless the condition is expected to result in death within 12 months, both the condition and the resulting inability to perform substantial gainful activity must have lasted or be expected to last at least 12 consecutive months. When the evaluation reaches the work-comparison steps, SSA considers past work and adjustment to other work; not every claim reaches every step. An expected 12-month duration does not mean you must wait a year before applying.
For initial SSI eligibility based on statutory blindness, SSA does not use substantial gainful activity. SSI statutory blindness has no duration requirement. SSI's financial and other eligibility rules still apply. Age-based SSI also does not require a disability finding.
Local treatment records
Finding hospital and physician records in West Palm Beach
Keep hospital visits and physician-practice appointments as separate entries on your treatment list, even if the names are connected.
St. Mary's Medical Center and Good Samaritan Medical Center are West Palm Beach hospitals in Palm Beach Health Network. Its patient portal page describes My Health Rec access to some test results, discharge summaries and hospital notes. The network advises contacting the hospital Medical Records department about some results that are not available online.
The network lists a separate portal login for Palm Beach Health Network Physician Group. Keep hospital visits and physician-practice appointments as separate entries on your treatment list, even if the names are connected. Record the facility or practice, treating provider and dates for each. The network's medical-records instructions list facility-specific request contacts.
A portal download is a starting point, not proof that you have every relevant record. Compare what you downloaded with your treatment list and note missing dates or results. SSA explains that disability examiners usually seek evidence from your own medical sources first in its disability determination process. Identifying all of those sources helps make your treatment history easier to follow.
Get organized
Prepare a treatment and work list for your West Palm Beach claim
Use one list to connect your treatment dates with the work changes you experienced. Start with what you know and mark uncertain dates as approximate.
List each treatment source. Include hospitals, doctor's offices, therapists and testing facilities, with contact information and the dates you were seen. Separate a hospital stay from follow-up appointments at a physician's practice.
Identify the records you already have. Note which dates a portal download covers and which test results or visits are missing. Keep copies of request confirmations so you can track what you asked for.
Record medicines and tests. List current medicines, the prescribers and the names and dates of medical tests. Note any medication side effects you experience.
Describe your job duties. Write down the lifting, standing, sitting, concentration or other tasks your jobs required, and the dates you worked. Identify what you stopped doing or needed help doing.
Use specific examples of limitations. Describe how long you can sit or stand, whether you need breaks and what happens when symptoms interrupt a task. Use your actual experience rather than estimates chosen to make a claim sound stronger.
SSA's disability application checklist and information guide explain the medical, provider and work information to gather. You do not need a complete set of records before contacting SSA or discussing representation.
After a denial
Responding to a West Palm Beach SSDI or SSI denial
Deadline
60days
For an initial SSDI or SSI denial, a written reconsideration request generally must be filed within 60 days after you receive the notice. If reconsideration is denied, the same receipt-based period generally applies to requesting an administrative law judge hearing. SSA ordinarily presumes receipt five days after the date on the notice unless you show that you did not receive it within that period.
If the period has passed, you can request an extension in writing and explain why the request is late. SSA decides whether there is good cause; an extension is not automatic. Review the instructions in your decision and SSA's appeal guidance. Do not delay an appeal while trying to assemble every medical record.
For an overview of hearing offices and the hearing process, use our Social Security hearing-office guide. Your own SSA notices provide the instructions for your case.
Common questions
West Palm Beach disability claim questions
Which portal should I use for hospital and physician-group care?
Palm Beach Health Network lists My Health Rec for its hospital portal and a separate login for its Physician Group. Use the route connected to the facility or practice that treated you. The network advises contacting the hospital Medical Records department about some hospital results that are unavailable online.
Can someone else pick up my hospital records?
Palm Beach Health Network says a person collecting records for a patient needs photo ID and an original signed authorization letter from that patient. Photo ID is also required when patients collect their own records. Copying charges may apply; check the current request instructions before arranging pickup.
Should I wait for records before applying for SSDI?
No. SSA says not to delay a disability application because you do not have all the documents. Provide the medical evidence you already have and identify your treatment sources. The agency can help obtain needed documents; a complete personal copy of every chart is not a prerequisite to applying.
Does meeting Downard by video mean my SSA hearing will be online?
No. Attorney-client meetings and SSA hearing attendance are separate. SSA offers in-person hearings, audio hearings by telephone, agency video using SSA equipment and online video using a personal device. Online video requires your agreement. Objections to audio or agency video are subject to SSA's rules and exceptions. Follow your appearance and scheduling notices, and read SSA's hearing attendance options.
Discuss your claim
Discuss your West Palm Beach disability claim with Downard
Tell us about your medical conditions, work history and current claim stage. If you have received a decision, have it available for the conversation. We can discuss representation and what the next step involves.