If you are filing for Social Security disability, you may want to schedule a consultation with your disability lawyers in Chicago to discuss your case. An experienced disability lawyer will be able to assist you through the process of filing for disability with the Social Security Administration (SSA). As you disability lawyers in Chicago will inform you, when you are filing for a disability claim you will need to pay close attention to deadlines that are given to you from the SSA. These deadlines are important so that your case can proceed. If you miss a deadline, you may have to start all over again and apply for disability benefits. The following information from your disability lawyers in Chicago discusses what will happen if you fail to file your appeal within the deadline given to you. If you have any further questions, schedule a consultation with your disability lawyers in Chicago.
Good Reason for Missing Your Appeals Deadline
There are some cases where the SSA will consider your reason for missing your appeal deadline. The SSA will determine if your reason is a good enough cause for missing the deadline. The SSA will consider things such as:
- whether or not you fully understood what you needed to do for the appeals
- whether or not there were circumstances that stopped you from being able to file on time
- whether you had a limitation that could have held you back from filing, including a mental, physical, language, or education limitation
- whether you were confused by something the SSA had told you regarding your appeal
Examples of a Good Cause for Missing your Appeals Deadline
The SSA has some examples of when a person filing for disability has had a good reason for missing the deadline given for their appeal. As you read you will notice that these examples are serious ones. This should show that the SSA takes their deadlines very seriously; however there are good causes for missing deadlines that they will understand. The following are the examples given by the SSA:
- There was a serious illness or a death within your immediate family
- You were busy collecting evidence for your case and forgot to ask the proper authorities for a deadline on it
- You were very ill when the deadline for the appeal arrived and you were unable to contact the SSA, or have someone contact them for you. You will need to prove to the SSA that you were seriously ill and that you had no one available to file your appeal for you, or inform the SSA of your illness.
- Records that you were seeking for your appeals case were destroyed in some sort of accident. You will need to prove to the SSA that these records were destroyed close to your appeals deadline and made it impossible for you to meet your deadline.
- Your denial notice with the appeals deadline on it did not appear in the mail. If you can prove that the SSA had a bad address on file for you, then that would be considered to be a good cause.
- There were unavoidable circumstances that kept you from filing on time.
- You or your disability attorney requested more information about the denial or appeals.
- The information that the SSA gave you was confusing.
- You lack the mental capacity to understand the denial notice or the appeals process.
- Your appeal was sent off in time, but to the wrong government agency because you did not understand the directions.
The later that you file your appeal, the less likely the SSA is to find good cause for you filing late. It is important that you file your appeals as soon as you possibly can to avoid any other complications.
Request to Accept Late Appeal
Any request to accept a late appeal must be done in writing. You will need to submit your form, as well as a separate form explaining the reason why your appeal is being filed late. The SSA will review your late appeal, and your reason for filing late. The SSA will make the determination if your cause is good enough to accept your late appeal. They will contact you.
Schedule a Consultation with Disability Lawyers in Chicago
For help from an experienced and skilled professional, contact your disability lawyers in Chicago today. Call us today for your consultation!
