Sometimes It’s Okay to Cancel Your Social Security Disability Hearing

Sometimes It’s Okay to Cancel Your Social Security Disability Hearing.

Sometimes, it really is okay to cancel your Social Security disability hearing before it’s time to see the judge and explain your case. While this may seem like a setback, especially after you’ve waited so long to have your hearing in the first place, canceling may actually help your case in the future.

The first, is if you have been denied at the hearing level in the past.

All judges take one of two views on claimants that have attempted to win their disability benefits at the hearing level in the past but have been denied.

First, about 1/2 of the judges feel that a claimant that is there for a second or third hearing is doing nothing more than clogging up the system for other deserving claimants. These judges will go to great lengths to uphold a prior decision and are often skeptical of any allegations a claimant may make regarding his or her condition. In the judge’s mind, you were determined not to be disabled by a prior competent judge, so why are you here yet again to receive another denial? You are being blamed for one of the reasons why it takes so long for people to have their cases heard at the hearing level.

The other 1/2 take a more compassionate approach. These judges realize that circumstances may have changed, a claimant’s condition may have become worse, etc. They also realize that there are some disability judges out there that have a much higher denial rate than themselves. If a claimant on his second go-around at the hearing level draws one of these judges, it is likely he or she will still receive a fair hearing even though a prior judge has denied them in the past.

So, how do you know which judge you’ve drawn? By this time you should have an experienced Social Security disability attorney representing you and he or she will know what chances you have of winning your case if this is the second or even third hearing you are attending. An experienced disability attorney will know right away your chances of success if you should choose to attend your hearing.

It’s also okay to cancel your hearing if you know you don’t have enough medical evidence to support all of your allegations.

Let me show you why:

Let’s say you have filed for Social Security disability and you’ve been denied two times (at the initial application and reconsideration phase) and this will be your first time at a hearing. One of the reasons why you may have been denied is that the Administration does not have enough medical evidence to make a decision on whether your are disabled. If that’s the case and you have not continued treatment while waiting for your hearing, the judge is going to come to the same conclusion. You have to have enough medical evidence to prove you are unable to work.

So, if you do decide you don’t have enough medical evidence to prove your disability, you can actually write to the judge and tell him or her you no longer wish to go ahead with your hearing. He or she will automatically uphold your decision not to move forward and will dismiss your case.

When this happens, you are allowed to return back to the last time you were denied (at your reconsideration) and use that date of denial as your new alleged onset date. By the time you have a hearing date set, it’s likely been at least 8 to 10 months or more, and those months are your back pay months if you were approved. If you withdraw your request for a hearing, you can then go back to the date of last denial and use it as a new alleged onset date.

This keeps you from losing all those months and if you are approved in the future, you do not have to give up all those months for back pay. Now, you can keep going to the doctor, keep getting better medical evidence, and then refile a new claim and improve your chances of success.

So now you may understand that sometimes it’s okay to cancel your Social Security Disability hearing and that it helps to have an experienced attorney.

We help claimant’s throughout the United States fighting for their Social Security disability benefits. If you need help, please call our office at: (888) 780-9125.