Can Letters From Friends and Family Help My Disability Case at a Hearing?

People who are applying for Social Security disability benefits will often ask a friend or family member to write a letter explaining why they can't work. These supportive letters become part of the case file, allowing administrative law judges (ALJs) to review the letters and ask you questions about them at a disability hearing.

While ALJs are typically more interested in what you and your doctors have to say about your health, well-crafted letters can sometimes help the judge better understand what your limitations are and why you're unable to work. If you're looking for ideas about who to ask for a letter and what the letter should contain, check out our list of tips on how your friends and family members can write a supporting letter for your claim (including a sample disability letter template).

Who Should I Ask to Write a Disability Letter?

You should ask only a friend or family member who is familiar with how your limitations affect your activities of daily living or work-related activities. For example, if you have a neighbor who regularly assists you with tasks like grocery shopping, taking out the trash, or cleaning the house, having them write a letter can provide insight into your restrictions.

Ideally, you'll have a close friend or family member who has known you for a long time and can shed light on how your life has changed as a result of your disabling condition. Church groups, sports clubs, or social organizations that you were previously active in are good places to start if you're having trouble coming up with somebody who could write you a support letter.

Many people are tempted to ask their spouse or partner who they live with to write a support letter, but judges don't always consider them to be the most objective sources of information. Try to ask somebody who is living independently from you, but spends part of their time helping you out.

How Do My Friends and Family Write a Support Letter?

The Social Security Administration (SSA) provides a form called the Third-Party Function Report that you can give to the person who you've asked to write a letter. The form asks specific questions about activities of daily living, but doesn't provide a lot of space to answer. Section E of this form ("Remarks") allows you to attach a support letter from your friend or family member.

Tips for Writing a Support Letter

Here are four tips on how to write a helpful support letter:

• The letter should be brief. ALJs have a heavy caseload and don't have much time to sift through long letters looking for relevant information. Judges value quality over quantity.
• The letter should contain only information that the person writing your support letter has personally witnessed. For example, if you have a cousin who comes by to help you make meals, wash the dishes, and unload the laundry, your cousin's letter should address how frequently they need to stop by and what they've seen you struggle to do.
• The letter should be specific. Disability judges love numbers, so the letter should contain references to distances and weights (if possible). If your friend or a family member has to get your mail because you can't walk to the mailbox, the letter should mention how far away the mailbox is using terms like "50 feet" or "5 minutes."
• The letter should avoid broad speculation about your mental state or your pain level. Your mental state and pain level are subjective factors that the ALJ will be asking you about at the hearing. (You'll also avoid complicating your case with a letter stating you "look fine" or "don't seem depressed.") But if the letter writer has been with you while you've had a panic attack, for example, the letter can address the circumstances surrounding the attack.
• The letter should be consistent with the medical evidence. ALJs will easily dismiss letters that aren't reasonably supported by the medical records as a whole. If the letter says that you're unable to get out of bed due to back pain, for example, but your MRIs show only minimal damage to your spine, the judge won't take the letter very seriously.

Sample Disability Letter From a Family Member/Friend

Here's an example of a letter from a friend that keeps the above tips in mind:

As you can see, the letter doesn't have to be lengthy or complicated. In the above example, the writer introduces herself, establishes the relationship between her and her disabled friend, and provides examples of his limitations that she has personally witness.

How Do ALJs Weigh These Letters?

Admittedly, letters from your friends and family don't always have a lot of sway with ALJs. Judges rely mainly on your medical records and hearing testimony when making a decision, so having third-party letters won't be an adequate substitute for limited treatment from a doctor or unhelpful testimony.

That said, as long as you have enough medical evidence that the ALJ can use to form the basis of a favorable decision, these letters can persuade an ALJ who's on the fence about whether to find you disabled. For example, say you have lab test results pointing to moderate (worse than mild, but not as intense as severe) muscle weakness in your feet. If the lab findings could be interpreted either as "bad" or "not that bad," but you have a letter from your friend discussing your struggles with walking and climbing stairs, that letter could be the push the ALJ needs to interpret the lab findings in a way that's favorable to you.

Do I Need to Have the Support Letter Notarized?

Getting the support letter notarized is optional, but it doesn't hurt. Social Security hearings are informal administrative processes, meaning they are more relaxed on rules like having affidavits notarized. Submitting the support letter, along with contact information for your friend or family member, should be enough for the ALJ.

If you'd like to get the letter notarized, ask the writer to bring it along with a government-issued photo ID to a notary public. The writer should not sign the letter until they are in the presence of the notary.

How Do I Submit the Letters?

If you have access, you can submit the letters online using Social Security's Electronic Records Express, or "ERE." (Your appointed representative, if you have one, likely already has access to the tool and can submit the letters for you.) Requesting access to ERE isn't terribly difficult and helps you make sure that the letters end up in the proper place in the agency's case management system. You can also submit the letters via fax using the barcode that you should have received with your Request for Hearing Acknowledgment form.

Ideally, you should submit the letters at least five days before your scheduled hearing, but it probably won't be a huge deal if you submit them even on the day of the hearing. Technically, ALJs aren't obligated to review any evidence that comes in less than five days before the hearing date, but many judges will accept submissions of third-party letters within this window simply because they aren't likely to be too burdensome to read before the hearing.

What Other Support Letters Should I Submit?

Probably the best way to increase your chances of a successful disability hearing is to obtain a favorable medical source statement from your doctor, therapist, or counselor. Judges value the opinions of medical providers who've treated you for a long time and have special insight into your limitations.

Doctors' letters. The best medical source statements are ones written by providers who treat you in their area of expertise and that point to the diagnostic criteria they used to arrive at their opinion. Ask your doctors to refer to examples from your progress notes when writing their support letter. Make sure that their opinions are about your limitations—such as how long you can concentrate for, or how much weight you can lift—and not just a statement that you're disabled.

Employers' letters. Depending on the terms of how you left your last job, you might want to ask your previous supervisor, manager, or human resources (HR) representative to write an employer letter. If you were let go because your disabling condition made it difficult to perform the job duties, the ALJ might see that as convincing evidence that no jobs exist that you can do.

For more information, see our article about writing and submitting disability support letters.