SSA will allow you file late if you have missed the time frame given, but only if you have good cause. Your Augusta Social Security disability attorneys will explain what is considered good cause and can refer you to 20 C.F.R. § 404.911(b) for examples.
Illness
The loss or illness of a family member is considered good cause, as is your own illness if it legitimately hindered your ability to file.
SSA Error
SSA may be responsible for you missing the filing deadline if you never received notice of the decision or were given false information regarding the appropriate filing requirements. Sometimes the information given by SSA is more confusing than you would be expected to understand. Thus, even if the information is not necessarily incorrect, there still may have been good cause for you to miss the deadline.
You Lacked Necessary Information
If the information you needed for filing was lost or destroyed accidentally SSA will generally find good cause. Tell your Augusta Social Security disability lawyers if you did not have the information on which to base their claim before the deadline. Additionally, your Augusta Social Security disability lawyers will want to know if you requested a detailed explanation of the benefits decision made for your claim. This would constitute good cause as long as you then requested a reconsideration or hearing within 60 days, or requested Appeal Council review or filed a civil suit within 30 days.
Claimant Error
Your Augusta Social Security disability lawyers will tell you not to worry if you sent your request, in good faith, to a different government agency. SSA may find good cause for the delay here. Other errors or unavoidable situations that prevented you from understanding the requirement to file by the deadline will also be reason to find good cause. Your Augusta Social Security disability layers will assure you that you will have good cause for filing late if you mistakenly believed your representative was filing on your behalf.
No Finding of Good Cause
Despite all of these reasons for finding good cause, your Augusta Social Security disability attorneys will explain that SSA does regularly fail to extend filing deadlines. If this is the case, your appeal will likely be considered a new application and the process will restart.
Your Augusta Social Security Disability Attorneys
The examples listed above are not inclusive and, as your Augusta Social Security disability attorneys will attest to, not always recognized as good cause reasons to miss your filing deadline. This confusion can cause difficulty to those filing without the help of knowledgeable Augusta Social Security disability attorneys. Call us today to get started.