The Need of a Social Security Lawyer in Updating a Hearing Testimony

Getting through the hearing process can be quite a hassle. If you are under stress in dealing with this stage of the appeals process, it is quite common to forget certain things that are worth mentioning to the administrative law judge (ALJ) who is handling your case. In this regard, you may be thinking if you can do something about updating your testimony for the hearing.

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In essence, you may feel like doing so if the information that you need for the update would be very important in shifting your chances of winning the case at the disability hearing. Good thing there are ways in which you can update your testimony, especially if you forgot to bring up that so-called “missing link” to help the ALJ veer towards an approval.

For this to happen, you must have first retained the services of an expert disability attorney. To begin with, since your claim is denied, it would be very useful for you if you work with a lawyer at this stage of the appeals process. If you have one, then your two-way communication with the ALJ will go through your representative first.

In this sense, if you want to update your hearing testimony with the ALJ who is handling your case, it is best that you consult with your attorney first. You must let your attorney know about what you left out in the testimony, and ask him or her to submit the information to your judge through writing.

Meanwhile, if you don’t have a lawyer from the start of the disability appeals process, it is best that you should retain one at the soonest possible time. As it is, not having one would just hurt your chances of winning back your disability benefits, therefore resulting in another denial and another stage of the appeals process, which is the Appeals Council.

Incidentally, as early as now, you may want to retain the services of an attorney, even at the initial application process. If you are living in California, you may retain the services of any Los Angeles Social Security disability lawyers to boost your chances of getting an approval.