How Long Will it Take to Get Social Security Disability?

This is a question that we at New Jersey Disability Lawyers get all the time. In most cases it takes 3-5 months for you to receive a decision on your New Jersey Social Security Disability application.  If your initial application is denied, you can apply for what is called reconsideration.

Reconsideration means that  you are asking an individual at Social Security who has not handled your case before to review and reconsider Social Security's initial decision. At the Reconsideration level you can submit any new evidence that was not submitted in the initial application.  The Reconsideration process can also take 3-5 months. Please note that in certain parts of Alabama, New York, Alaska, Missouri, Michigan, New Hampshire, California, Colorado, Pennsylvania and Louisiana, there is a pilot program in which Social Security Disability has eliminated the Reconsideration step and put files that are appealed directly on the Social Security Disability Hearing track.

Applying for a Social Security Disability hearing means that you are asking for an opportunity to have your case heard by a Social Security Administrative Law Judge. Unfortunately, this step takes the longest of all - not because the judges are slow to decide - but rather because most hearing offices are so busy that it can take up to 2 years in order to even receive a hearing date.  If you have applied for New Jersey Social Security Disability or SSI, the average wait time is 16 months, which means that New Jersey has the 13th longest wait time in the country.

After a Social Security judge has conducted the hearing it usually takes 1-3 months until the Social Security judge issues his or her decision. Then, after the favorable decision is mailed to you, it can take another 3 months until you receive your benefits.

In sum, the Social Security Disability system is not a fast-moving one. On the contrary, you can now see that especially if you apply for New Jersey Social Security Disability benefits, it can take a good two years or more before you receive the benefits you are entitled to. Does this make you angry? If not, it should. Disabled persons are by definition unable to work and it is simply not reasonable for people to be able to support themselves for years just to get the money they rightfully deserve to begin with. There are lobbying groups that have been working to urge Congress to allocate more money to the system to hire more staff and a letter to your Congressman may very well help him or her understand the seriousness of this situation.