Many times when I call a client about an upcoming hearing, one of the first things they’ll say to me is that they have a friend or family member that they want to testify on their behalf at their hearing.
And most of the time, I strongly recommend against having someone else testify at a disability hearing.
The first reason I don’t like having additional witnesses at disability hearings is that the strongest testimony is going to come from the claimant. You know what you’re going through better than anyone, and can explain it better than anyone. The judges really want to hear from you at these hearings.
The second reason I dislike having witnesses testify is that they can introduce inconsistencies into the record. Keep in mind, that if you have a witness appear, you won’t be able to listen to each other’s testimony. So, you might tell the judge that you have severe pain and can only stand 10-15 minutes at time, while your friend might say yes, you are in pain, but they’ve seen you stand 20-30 minutes doing chores.
This is a somewhat minor inconsistency, but enough that can hurt the case, and make a judge question whether they’re going to award it.
There are some situations where witnesses are helpful, however. If a claimant has severe memory issues or other trouble communicating, witnesses often give the judge a much better understanding of the case. Witnesses can also be useful to better explain mental health symptoms that a claimant may have trouble articulating to a judge.
Whether to call a witness at your disability hearing really depends on the facts of each individual case, so if you’re thinking about having a witness testify, make sure to discuss it with your attorney beforehand.
