How Do You Start an Appeal for Social Security Disability?

The Social Security disability appeals process has several stages. If you’ve received a denial after the first time you’ve submitted your claim—called your initial application—you’ll need to request a “reconsideration.” Reconsideration is the first level of appeal, but few claims are approved at this stage. You'll still need to go through reconsideration before you can have a disability hearing, where you'll likely have a better chance of success. 

Most claimants who are ultimately granted benefits are awarded at the hearing level ("second appeal"). Those who receive an unfavorable decision from a disability judge can choose to proceed further, by requesting review from the Appeals Council and then again to federal court if they're denied again. Because only about 35% of claims are approved initially, it's likely that you'll need to start at least one appeal before you can get benefits. Knowing some basics about how Social Security disability appeals work can go a long way towards increasing your odds of a successful claim at each step of the way. 

Four Stages of Disability Appeals: Reconsideration, Hearing, Appeals Council, and Federal Court

You'll have four opportunities to appeal an initial denial of SSDI or SSI benefits, each in the following order: 

• If your initial application is denied, you can appeal by requesting reconsideration of your claim.
• If your application is denied after reconsideration, you can appeal by requesting a disability hearing in front of a judge. 
• If the judge issues an unfavorable decision, you can ask the Appeals Council to review the decision.
• If the Appeals Council declines to review the decision, you can file a lawsuit in federal court.

At every stage, you have 60 days from the date you received a denial letter to file the appropriate paperwork for the level of appeal you're seeking. If you miss the 60-day deadline without a good excuse for why you missed it, you'll have to start your claim over by filing a new initial application.  

The Reconsideration Appeal

A reconsideration appeal means that you're asking another claims examiner at your state's Disability Determination Services (DDS) to review the original examiner's decision to deny you benefits and come to a different conclusion.

Filing the actual appeal is a simple process that doesn’t take much time. One easy method is to submit your appeal online at the Social Security website. The site will ask you to choose between filing a disability (“medical”) reconsideration or a technical (“non-medical”) reconsideration. If your claim was denied for reasons having to do with your health—for example, DDS didn’t think you had any severe impairments—pick “start disability request.” If your claim was denied because you didn’t meet the legal or financial requirements of SSDI or SSI, pick “start non-medical request.”

If you'd rather file by mail, the forms you need to start your appeal are Request for Reconsideration (Form SSA-561) and Disability Report-Appeal (Form SSA-3441). Click below for samples of these filled-out forms to help guide you.

When you’ve finished, send the completed forms to your local Social Security field office. Make sure you keep a copy of everything that you mail to Social Security, and be diligent about checking the status of your reconsideration request. 

Requesting an ALJ Hearing

If your reconsideration has been denied, your next appeal opportunity is to request a disability hearing in front of an administrative law judge (ALJ). You can do this online or by submitting Form HA-501, Request for Hearing by Administrative Law Judge, either by mail, fax, or in person. 

ALJ hearings aren't conducted at DDS, the agency that handles Social Security claims at the initial and reconsideration levels. Once your hearing request is received, your case file will be sent from DDS to the Office of Hearings Operations (OHO) that covers your geographic area. The time it takes to schedule an ALJ hearing varies by location, but you can generally expect to wait around 8 months before you receive a Notice of Hearing in the mail. You're legally entitled to 75 days notice of a scheduled hearing (20 C.F.R. § 404.938(a) (2026)), but you can choose to waive that requirement if you're prepared to have your hearing held on short notice.

Taking Your Claim to the Appeals Council

If you reached the hearing level and still received an unfavorable decision from an ALJ, you can ask the Appeals Council to review judge’s decision for any "reversible errors" that make the decision legally insupportable. Reversible errors are mistakes that, if they hadn't been made, would have resulted in a different outcome in your case. Examples can include misapplication of the grid rules or improperly addressing vocational expert testimony at the hearing. 

Once the Appeals Council has received your request for review, it can do one of the following options: 

• reverse the judge's decision and directly approve your claim
• send back ("remand") your case to the judge with instructions that another hearing should be held to address errors in the decision
• deny your request for review and allow the judge’s decision to stand, or
• dismiss your case.

Most Appeals Council reviews are denied or dismissed, while about 15% are remanded back to the hearing level. Only 1% of cases are directly approved by the Appeals Council.

Filing a Lawsuit in Federal Court

The Appeals Council is the final level of appeal within the Social Security Administration, so if you disagree with an Appeals Council decision, you’ll need to file a suit against the agency in federal court. Keep in mind that rules are different when you’re filing in federal court instead of Social Security’s administrative appeals process. If you haven’t gotten a lawyer yet, now’s the time.

Federal courts deny or dismiss about 35% of claims, while about 65% are remanded back to the hearing level. Federal judges approve benefits in less than 1% of cases. If you don't win your case in your federal district court, you can theoretically appeal to higher courts (such as a Circuit Court or even the U.S. Supreme Court, if there is a larger question of public policy at issue). Practically speaking, most disability applicants don't find it worthwhile to take their claim so far and would rather file a new application. 

How an Attorney Can Help With Social Security Disability Appeals

An experienced disability attorney can keep on top of the 60-day deadlines to file an appeal, help you fill out the proper paperwork, and (perhaps most importantly) keep your medical records current for each stage of review. If you're already represented by a lawyer who handles SSDI and SSI disability cases, your representative will start the appeal process for you. If you don't yet have an attorney (but you want to get one), check out our article on how to find a disability lawyer near you.

Once you've partnered with an attorney to help with your disability appeal, the lawyer will have you complete Form SSA-1696, Claimant’s Appointment of a Representative, which allows Social Security to send notices directly to your attorney. Your representative should then contact you with updates on the status of your appeal and respond to any questions you have about the appeals process.