When the Appeals Council Reviews Your Claim
So, you’ve gone in front of an Administrative Law Judge and you’ve won your case. This is a great outcome, but make sure to read the fine print. If you read your decision carefully, you will see that the Appeals Council can review your decision by its own motion. This means that the Appeals Council can potentially send your claim back to the Administrative Law Judge for further proceedings. This happens rarely, but can be devastating because you think you’ve won your claim, but now have to jump through more hoops. This happened to one of our clients recently. She won her case, the Appeals Council reviewed it, and decided further development was necessary. In the meantime, she had moved about 4 hours away, into a different jurisdiction. Her case was sent back to an Administrative Law Judge in a different town. We traveled the distance to appear with her at another hearing. It took 3 additional consultative examinations and medical expert testimony, but she won her case. We knew that our client was disabled and were going to advocate for her until she was awarded her benefits. If the Appeals Council decides to review your case, don’t lose hope. It doesn’t mean that you can’t be successful in the end.
If you have any questions about starting or appealing your Social Security disability claim, contact the experienced disability attorneys at Gardberg & Kemmerly today to discuss your options. Gardberg & Kemmerly has been helping Social Security claimants with their disability claims for over 30 years in Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, and Louisiana.
