Social Security Appeals – Federal Court

Nathan Heber draws from extensive experience with federal court Social Security disability appeals, having worked inside the SSA disability appeal system for over a decade. For eight years, I worked in SSA’s Office of General Counsel, where I handled hundreds of disability cases appealed to federal district courts in Georgia, Alabama, and Florida. I also trained ALJs and attorney advisors on writing disability decisions and met quarterly with high-ranking officials in the office that employs ALJs to advise them on common problems with ALJ decisions, new SSA regulations, and developments in caselaw.

While we cannot guarantee results in any particular case, SSA statistics show as of fiscal year 2020, federal courts remanded nearly 10,000 cases to SSA.  And, SSA admits the rate at which federal courts remand disability cases has remained around 50 percent for decades.  Your chances of success in federal court greatly improve with experienced counsel.

The ALJ decision and the Appeals Council’s subsequent decision (if you have one) are a starting point for our review.  We may need additional documents from your administrative case file, and we will work with you to obtain them.

We will review your case to determine if we believe there is a basis for appeal to federal court, and we will notify you of our determination either way.

Yes, generally you must appeal within 60 days of the Appeals Council’s denial of review.  You can ask the Appeals Council to extend that period, but you should make the request before the deadline ends.