SSDI Lawyers

A serious medical condition can change your ability to work long before your financial obligations change with it. Social Security Disability Insurance provides monthly benefits to eligible people whose disabilities stop or limit their ability to work. Qualifying requires more than having a diagnosis. SSA applies federal rules to a claimant’s disability, work history, earnings, and supporting evidence.

A Social Security disability claim can move through several stages. Depending on what happens at each level, the process may include an initial application, reconsideration, a hearing before an Administrative Law Judge, Appeals Council review, and federal court review.

Our SSDI lawyers represent Social Security disability claimants nationwide. We have represented thousands of claimants and appeared before hundreds of Administrative Law Judges. Our legal team works together to develop the medical and vocational evidence behind each claim and to keep cases moving through the Social Security disability process.

Call Key Disability at (800) 975-1866 or fill out our online form to discuss your Social Security disability claim. We handle cases from the initial application through administrative appeals and federal court review.

Social Security Disability Insurance is a federal program authorized under Title II of the Social Security Act. SSDI is tied to a worker’s contributions to the Social Security system through covered earnings. A claimant generally must have a qualifying disability and enough work history to satisfy Social Security’s insured-status rules.

Under the Social Security Administration’s SSDI eligibility rules, a claimant must have a disability or blindness and sufficient work history. For an adult disability claim, the impairment must prevent substantial gainful activity and must have lasted, or be expected to last, for at least 12 continuous months or result in death.

Work credits also help determine whether a worker qualifies for SSDI. The number needed depends in part on the worker’s age and the type of benefit involved. Younger workers may qualify with fewer credits because they have had less time to build a work history.

For 2026, every $1,890 in covered earnings produces one credit, and a worker can earn no more than four credits in a year. Although 40 is the maximum number of total credits Social Security can require, an individual SSDI claim may require fewer.

Our legal team reviews both sides of SSDI eligibility. We look at whether the claimant has the required insured status and whether the medical and other evidence can satisfy SSA’s disability standard.

SSA uses a five-step sequential evaluation process when deciding adult disability claims. The analysis considers work activity first, then the severity of the impairment and its effect on the claimant’s ability to work. If SSA can decide at one step that the claimant is disabled or not disabled, it generally stops there. 20 C.F.R. § 404.1520 sets out that process for Title II claims.

The five steps are:

• Current Work Activity: SSA first considers whether the claimant is performing substantial gainful activity. A claimant who is doing SGA generally will not qualify as disabled under this evaluation.
• Severity of the Impairment: SSA next determines whether the claimant has a severe medically determinable physical or mental impairment, or combination of impairments, that satisfies the duration requirement. An impairment that does not significantly limit basic work activities will generally end the analysis at this step.
• Listed Impairments: SSA next considers whether the claimant’s condition meets or medically equals a listed impairment and satisfies the required duration. If it does, SSA can find the claimant disabled at this step.
• Past Relevant Work: If the claim continues, SSA assesses residual functional capacity and compares it with the demands of the claimant’s past relevant work. A claimant who can still perform qualifying past relevant work generally will not be found disabled at this step.
• Other Work: At the final step, SSA considers residual functional capacity along with age, education, and work experience. The agency evaluates whether the claimant can adjust to other work that exists in the national economy.

A diagnosis alone is not enough for a Social Security disability claim. Social Security reviews your medical condition, your work, and what you can still do.

Medical evidence plays a major role in Social Security disability claims, but SSA does not treat every type of evidence the same way. Under 20 C.F.R. § 404.1513, the agency separates evidence into categories, including objective medical evidence, medical opinions, other medical evidence, nonmedical evidence, and prior administrative medical findings.

Those categories can include:

• Objective Medical Evidence: Medical signs and laboratory findings can establish the existence of a medically determinable impairment. Depending on the condition, that evidence may come from examinations, imaging, laboratory testing, or other accepted diagnostic methods.
• Medical Opinions: A medical source may describe what a claimant can still do despite an impairment and identify physical, mental, sensory, or environmental limitations. Those opinions become part of the evidence SSA evaluates under its rules.
• Other Medical Evidence: Medical sources may provide information about diagnosis, medical history, clinical findings, treatment, response to treatment, and prognosis. This category covers medical information that does not fall within SSA’s definition of objective medical evidence or a medical opinion.
• Nonmedical Evidence: SSA may also consider relevant information from sources outside the medical record. This evidence can help describe how an impairment affects a claimant’s functioning and daily activities.
• Prior Administrative Medical Findings: Federal and state agency medical or psychological consultants may make findings about medical issues during an earlier level of the same claim. SSA categorizes those findings separately from medical opinions.

SSA also has responsibilities for developing the medical record. Under 20 C.F.R. § 404.1512, before finding a claimant not disabled, SSA generally develops the claimant’s complete medical history for at least 12 months preceding the application month. Different periods can apply when the alleged disability began more recently, or another regulatory exception applies.

Social Security must try to get your medical records from your doctors if you give permission. If your records are missing or incomplete, it can make it harder to prove how serious your condition is.

Our team has experience with developmental disabilities and neurocognitive disorders. This helps when your claim involves complex medical records, psychological tests, school history, or a complicated work history.

Work activity is the first step in SSA’s adult disability evaluation. Substantial gainful activity, often called SGA, describes work activity at a level that can affect disability eligibility. SSA updates the earnings amounts used in this analysis each year.

For 2026, the monthly SGA amount is $1,690 for a person who is not blind and $2,830 for someone who is statutorily blind under Social Security’s rules. SSA uses different rules when evaluating substantial gainful activity for self-employed claimants. The higher blind SGA amount applies to Social Security benefits and does not apply to SSI.

Earnings do not replace the rest of the disability analysis. If a claimant is not performing SGA, SSA continues through the sequential evaluation process. The agency may later consider residual functional capacity, past relevant work, age, education, and work experience.

Your work history matters for two reasons: It helps show you have enough work credits, and it also helps Social Security decide if your past jobs fit with your current abilities.

Our SSDI attorneys examine the relationship between medical evidence and employment history. The goal is to present a record that accurately explains the claimant’s condition within the framework SSA uses to decide disability claims.

Social Security Disability Insurance and Supplemental Security Income both provide benefits to people who meet Social Security’s disability or blindness standards, but each program has different nonmedical eligibility requirements.

SSDI is authorized under Title II of the Social Security Act and is based on insured status tied to workers’ contributions to the Social Security trust fund. Supplemental Security Income is authorized under Title XVI and is funded through general federal tax revenues. SSI also uses income and resource limits that do not apply to SSDI in the same way.

For adults, the legal definition of disability is generally the same under Title II SSDI and Title XVI SSI. Both use the standard involving an inability to engage in substantial gainful activity because of a medically determinable physical or mental impairment expected to result in death or last at least 12 continuous months.

Some claimants may qualify for both programs. SSA describes people eligible for both SSDI and SSI as receiving concurrent benefits.

That distinction can affect what information SSA reviews and which nonmedical eligibility requirements apply. Our firm handles Social Security disability claims across the federal system and can identify which benefit programs apply to a particular claim.

An initial application gives SSA information about the claimant’s medical conditions, treatment, work history, and other eligibility factors. The agency divides responsibility for reviewing those issues between Social Security field offices and state Disability Determination Services agencies.

According to the Social Security Administration’s disability determination process, the field office reviews nonmedical eligibility requirements. The field office then generally sends the case to the Disability Determination Services agency with jurisdiction for disability evaluation. DDS agencies are state agencies that receive federal funding for the disability determination function.

The DDS develops medical evidence and makes the initial determination about whether the claimant is disabled or blind under federal law. Although the agency operates at the state level, it applies the federal Social Security disability rules.

Your first application should list your doctors, treatments, work history, and details about your limitations. Social Security needs enough evidence to review your claim.

Our representation can begin with the initial claim. Early involvement lets our team understand the medical and employment history before the case reaches an appeal.

No lawyer can promise that Social Security will approve your claim. But we can review your records, build your case, speak with Social Security, track deadlines, and support you if you need to appeal.

A denied initial claim can move through a defined appeals process. SSA identifies reconsideration, an Administrative Law Judge hearing, Appeals Council review, and federal court review as successive opportunities for further review.

Reconsideration is the first appeal level for an initial disability determination. SSA states that a claimant generally must request disability reconsideration within 60 days after receiving the decision. A DDS examiner reviews the request and the original application.

The reconsideration process involves a fresh review of the evidence used in the initial determination along with qualifying additional evidence submitted or obtained during the appeal. This gives the legal team another opportunity to examine the reason for the denial and the record SSA considered.

A claimant who disagrees with the reconsideration decision may request a hearing. SSA currently states that the hearing request generally must be submitted within 60 days after receiving the reconsideration decision.

At the hearing level, an Administrative Law Judge reviews the evidence and may question the claimant about the medical condition. The ALJ may also call medical experts, vocational experts, or other witnesses.

Our attorneys have extensive disability hearing experience and have appeared before hundreds of Administrative Law Judges. That experience spans hearing offices and claims across the country.

A claimant who disagrees with an ALJ’s decision may ask the Appeals Council to review it. SSA generally requires the request within 60 days after the claimant receives the hearing decision. SSA ordinarily presumes receipt five days after mailing unless the claimant shows that the notice arrived later.

The Appeals Council may deny review. If it grants review, it can issue its own decision or return the case to an Administrative Law Judge for further proceedings.

Federal judicial review can become available after Appeals Council action. Under 20 C.F.R. § 404.981, a claimant may file a civil action in federal district court within 60 days after receiving notice of the Appeals Council’s action.

Federal court review is different from Social Security’s own hearings. The court looks at how the agency handled your case. We can keep representing you in federal court if your case qualifies.

Social Security disability claims can develop into large records. Medical documentation may come from several providers, and a claimant’s employment history may cover many years. Different decision-makers may examine the same record as a claim moves through the administrative appeals process.

We approach that work as a team. Attorneys and staff coordinate case development, agency communications, medical records, procedural deadlines, and hearing preparation.

Our representation may include:

• Reviewing the Medical Record: We examine the available medical documentation and the limitations described in the evidence. We also look for gaps that can affect how SSA evaluates the claim.
• Developing the Work History: Past work can factor into SSA’s sequential evaluation. We examine employment history alongside the claimant’s current physical and mental limitations.
• Preparing for Disability Hearings: ALJ hearings can involve testimony about medical conditions and prior work. Medical or vocational experts may also testify depending on the case.
• Handling Administrative Appeals: Reconsideration and Appeals Council review serve different functions within the claims process. We review the decision at each stage and develop the next appeal within the applicable federal procedure.
• Continuing Into Federal Court: Judicial review may follow qualifying Appeals Council action. Our representation can continue into federal district court when appropriate under the governing rules.

The firm brings broad multistate Social Security disability experience to this work. We have represented thousands of Social Security claimants, handled claims across the country, and appeared before hundreds of Administrative Law Judges.

A Social Security disability case may continue through several stages of review. By the time a claim reaches a hearing or later appeal, the record can include years of medical treatment, work history, agency findings, and prior decisions.

Key Disability focuses on Social Security disability representation. Our attorneys handle claims from the initial application through reconsideration, disability hearings, Appeals Council review, and federal court.

Our Arizona foundation is paired with nationwide disability-claims experience. The firm also brings focused experience with developmental disabilities and neurocognitive disorders, along with prior employee-side litigation experience involving wage-and-hour, discrimination, and wrongful-termination cases.

Clients also have a team behind the lawyer handling the claim. We coordinate medical evidence, work history, case development, and appeals so that the record remains connected as the claim moves from one stage to the next.

For many disabled workers, Social Security disability benefits can become an important source of financial stability after a medical condition limits the ability to earn income. We take that responsibility seriously and prepare each case for the level of review it has reached.

Call Key Disability at (800) 975-1866 to discuss your Social Security Disability Insurance claim. Our team represents SSDI claimants nationwide from initial applications through hearings, administrative appeals, and federal court review.