At my hearing, the judge announced that he was going to find me disabled.  It has been several weeks since the hearing – when can I expect to receive the decision and when do I get my money?
-Donald

Jonathan Ginsberg replies: Donald, as you might imagine, I get this question a lot.  Social Security judges usually do not announce their decisions after a hearing, but some judges will tell a claimant that a favorable decision will be forthcoming.

Unfortunately, there can be a long wait between the verbal announcement and your receipt of the written decision.

After the judge makes his decision, he will give his notes to a writer to prepare the written decision.  In hearing offices with large backlogs, the writers will be backlogged.  In a best case situation, the writer will have the decision back to the judge for signature in about 3 weeks.  If your hearing office is severely backlogged, the written decision may be delayed by many months.

Please believe me when I tell you that your attorney can do nothing to speed up the process of the issuing of your written favorable decision.  I currently have several cases that will be favorable decisions that have been sitting in the writer’s office for over 6 months.  My client calls weekly asking for a status update and all I can tell her is that we have to wait – there is nothing I can do to speed up the written decision.

Once the decision is issued, your case will be processed by a division of SSA called the MODS.  The MODS perform the calculations to determine exactly how much you will receive.  This verification process can take about two to three weeks – then your checks will be issued.

[tags] hearing decision delays, social security judge, favorable decision, MODS, payment of Social Security claims [/tags]