Library & Tools

Read our Q&A with a SOAR case worker from New York who has an appeals success story!

The Social Security Administration now offers a video option for Administrative Law Judge appeal hearings.

On this webinar, held on June 18, 2020, we introduced our updated SOAR Appeals Toolkit and guest speakers offered practice tips on effectively representing SOAR applicants with appeals.

This article explains how you can promote SOAR with your Social Security Administration (SSA) Office of Hearings Operations (OHO) office to help ease their backlog and workload issues, while at the same time, improving access to expedited decisions for SOAR applicants.

If Social Security denied your application for disability benefits, you may request an appeal. Social Security has four appeal levels. This article discusses the Reconsideration and Hearing by Administrative Law Judge levels.

Here are examples of completed SSA and SOAR Forms using information from a fictitious SSI child applicant.

This toolkit combines articles from the SOARWorks website as well as other materials into one comprehensive resource about the Social Security Administration (SSA) appeals process.

Here are examples of completed SSA and SOAR Forms using information from a fictitious SSI/SSDI applicant.

Under certain circumstances, the SOAR representative can request that a case be referred back to DDS for a Prehearing Review or that the Office of Hearing Operations (OHO) make an On-the Record (OTR) decision prior to an ALJ Hearing. As well, when OHO feels they can make a fully favorable decision without holding a hearing, they can independently refer a case back to DDS and/or make an (OTR) decision.

Online access to applicants’ electronic folders or eFolders (EFs) is now available for Appointed Representatives with ALJ hearing and Appeals Council level cases.