Founding Attorney
If your application for Social Security Disability (SSD) or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits got denied or you received less than you think you deserve, you can challenge the decision and request a disability hearing. The Office of Disability Adjudication and Review (ODAR) conducts the hearings at seven different locations in Texas.
Although Texas law does not force you to work with a Texas Social Security attorney, it can be a smart decision to do so. If you make one simple mistake, the judge could dismiss your case.
Statistics of Texas Disability Hearing
Here is an astounding difference in the outcomes of these Social Security disability hearings from one ODAR office to another. Here are some Texas disability hearing statistics that will shock you:
- Some ODAR offices have far fewer judges than others. The San Antonio office has the most judges, with 20. The Rio Grande Valley TX office has the least, with only six judges. In between those numbers are the Dallas Downtown ODAR office (12 judges), Dallas North (16 judges), Fort Worth (11), Houston North (12), and Houston-Bissonnet (16).
- Your odds of winning your case at the hearing level will depend to an extent on where you file. The judges in one ODAR office (Dallas North) approve an average of 51 percent of the cases they hear. In contrast, the judges in the San Antonio office only approve an average of 30 percent of the cases that come before them.
- The average number of cases that the judges dispose of every day are fairly consistent from one office to another, ranging from a high of 2.6 cases per day at the Dallas North, Fort Worth, and Houston North ODAR offices to a low of 2.3 cases per day at the Dallas Downtown and Rio Grande Valley TX ODAR offices.
- The average amount of time it takes to process your case varies wildly from one Texas ODAR office to another. If you file with the Houston North ODAR office, your case could get processed within 308 days, on the average. On the other hand, the Rio Grande Valley TX office takes an average of 535 days to process a case.
- On a similar note, the average time you have to wait for a hearing is only eight months at the Houston North ODAR office. You can languish for an average of 15 months waiting for a hearing at the Houston-Bissonnet office.
One way that judges dispose of cases is by dismissing them. The Fort Worth ODA office dismisses an average of 16 percent of its caseload. The Houston-Bissonnet office dismisses 23 percent of its cases.
The remaining option for a judge to resolve your case is to deny it. Judges at the Dallas North office denies 29 percent of the applications that come before them, while the average denial rate at the San Antonio office is 53 percent.
Contact the Law Office of Carey Thompson
You do not have to wait until your application for Social Security Disability benefits gets denied, or you get awarded a low amount of benefits. You can work with a lawyer from the beginning. Contact the Law Office of Carey Thompson for more information today. Our Texas Social Security attorney can guide you through the application process and help you go after the benefits that you deserve.