by: Andrew Piechocki

Completely understanding the judge’s decision on your disability case is essential for planning any next steps. BurnettDriskill attorney, Andrew Piechocki, explains the three decisions a judge can hand down.

Fully Favorable Decision

A Fully Favorable Decision means that you won your case. If you get this decision, the Social Security Administration (SSA) has determined that you were disabled as of your alleged onset date through either the present, or to the end date of a closed period.

As someone who has reached this far in the process knows, seeking social security benefits through litigation is a time intensive process. After you get a Fully Favorable decision, it will still take a couple of months for you to receive a Notice of Award and your benefits. Even after this decision, Social Security may check up on you to make sure that you still meet the income and asset value restrictions if you were awarded Supplemental Security Income (SSI).

Partially Favorable

A Partially Favorable Decision means that the judge found you disabled, but not for the date range you selected. Social Security has decided that you were disabled, but it has either changed the beginning date, or the ending date of your disability.

If you applied for SSI and the onset date of the disability has been moved closer to the present, the amount received in back due benefits will be lower. This is generally not an issue if the date is adjusted by a couple of months, but when it is adjusted by a couple of years the back due benefits could be reduced by thousands of dollars.

Generally, the same is true for Social Security Disability Income (SSDI) as for SSI, however, there is one more date that must be considered – your Date Last Insured, or DLI. In order to receive benefits under the SSDI program, you must be found disabled before your DLI. If the judge were to adjust your alleged onset date to a date more recent than your DLI, you will be found to be Disabled, However, you will not be eligible for benefits through the SSDI program.

The judge can also set an end date on your disability benefit even if you did not say that you have now recovered your health. This is called a closed period of disability. If you are given a partially favorable decision and the judge has created a closed period you will not receive benefits past the end date.

A partially favorable decision is something that you will definitely want to discuss with your representative to determine whether you should appeal the decision.

Unfavorable

An Unfavorable Decision means that the judge has determined that you do not meet Social Security’s disability requirements. There are a number of reasons why this might be the case and a number of arguments your representative can usually make on appeal, if that is the route you and your representative decide to take.