It can take years for a Social Security disability claim to get in front of an administrative law judge, so often my clients expect they’ll get a decision at their hearing.
Unfortunately, that’s rarely the case. And even if a judge says they plan to approve your case, Social Security regulations require that the decision be put in writing, which means even more waiting after a hearing.
And exactly how long that wait will be can vary dramatically. I’ve seen some decisions come out just a few days after a hearing. In a handful of rare cases, it’s taken more than a year to get a decision from a judge after a hearing.
One thing that often delays these decisions is missing medical records. If we do not receive releases to obtain medical records or have to deal with facilities that are slow to respond to requests for records, that alone can mean a delay of one or two months after a hearing.
But even if we obtain all necessary medical records before a hearing, the Social Security bureaucracy can still slow down the process.
Hearing decisions are written by attorneys working for SSA. Unless a decision is fast tracked for some reason, they get to it as soon as possible depending on their workload. If an office or judge is particularly backlogged, it can be weeks before they’re ready to write a decision, even if the judge said at the hearing a case will be approved.
Of course, in some cases, judges move, leave Social Security, or pass away, which can also cause lengthy delays, or there could be any other number of novel issues with a case, so if you think it’s taking longer than normal to receive a decision, it’s important to keep in touch with your disability attorney to follow the status of your case.
