What Happens at an ALJ Disability Hearing?
A Social Security disability hearing is an informal, private meeting with an administrative law judge (ALJ), not a courtroom trial. You testify under oath, the judge asks about your health, daily life and past work, and a vocational expert, sometimes a medical expert too, may answer questions about what work someone with your limits could do. Social Security says hearings take about an hour, sometimes longer. Only the audio is recorded, and the decision comes later, in writing.
Most hearings are no longer held face to face. In August 2026, about 90% of Social Security hearings were held by phone or online video. You choose how you attend by responding to a notice Social Security sends after you request the hearing; its page on ways to attend your hearing explains each option.
The four ways to attend
| Way to attend | Where you are | How to get it |
|---|---|---|
| Phone | Any private place; the hearing office calls you | Social Security can schedule it unless you object in writing |
| Online video | Any private place, on a phone, tablet or computer with a camera, using Microsoft Teams | Only if you agree in writing |
| Agency video | A Social Security office, facing the judge on a video screen | Social Security can schedule it unless you object in writing |
| In person | A hearing office, in the same room as the judge | Object to both phone and agency video, and don’t agree to online video |
Swipe sideways to see the full table →
After you file, you get a “Notice of Ways to Attend a Hearing” with two forms: HA-55, to object to phone or agency video, and HA-56, to agree to online video. Return the one you need within 30 days. If you miss the deadline and are scheduled in a way you don’t want, call the hearing office right away; with good cause, Social Security reschedules you another way.
Some practical differences:
- Phone. A staff member calls you a few minutes before the start time at the number in your notice. Social Security recommends a landline if you have one, a cell phone charged for at least 90 minutes, a quiet private spot, and muting when you’re not speaking.
- Online video. You get the hearing link by email from an @ssa.gov address, plus a reminder a few days before. Test the link on the device you’ll use, and open it at least 15 minutes early; you wait in a lobby until the hearing reporter admits you. The chat is visible to everyone in the hearing, so use it only to flag technical problems.
- In person or agency video. Arrive at least 15 minutes early to check in. At an agency video site, a technician runs the equipment, and the judge appears on screen from another location. Check the address in your notice, because a video site can be a field office rather than the office that handled your case.
In every format, the vocational expert, medical expert and any interpreter usually join by phone.
Before the hearing
The notice of hearing arrives at least 75 days ahead. It lists the issues, the date, time and how you’ll appear, and, if a vocational expert will testify, it says so in its remarks section.
Use the time to:
- Review your file. You can see the exhibits through your my Social Security account, by encrypted email, on a CD, or at the hearing office by appointment.
- Send every remaining record so it arrives, or is reported to the office, at least five business days before the hearing. After that, the judge can refuse to consider it except in limited situations.
- Send any written summary or statement about your case at least five business days ahead too, with copies for any other party.
- Line up witnesses. People who know your daily life can testify, and they appear the same way you do. If someone won’t come, or you need documents someone won’t release, you can ask the judge for a subpoena in writing at least 10 business days before the hearing, explaining what the witness or document would prove and why you can’t prove it otherwise.
- Ask for what you need. Interpreters are free in any language, including American Sign Language, and the hearing office handles accommodations if you tell it in advance.
How the hearing goes
The judge decides the order, but most hearings follow the same pattern.
- Opening. The judge explains how the hearing will run, the history of your claim and the issues to decide. If you don’t have a representative, the judge tells you about your right to one and can postpone the hearing so you can get one. The judge also rules on any requests you’ve made and asks whether there’s any evidence still outstanding.
- The oath. Everyone who testifies, including you, swears or affirms to tell the truth.
- Your testimony. The judge’s questions cover your education and past work, your conditions, symptoms and treatment, medication side effects, and what a typical day looks like. If you have a representative, they usually ask follow-up questions.
- Expert testimony. A medical expert may explain the medical evidence. A vocational expert testifies about your past jobs and whether other jobs exist for someone with your limits.
- Questions and closing. You or your representative can question each witness and sum up why the evidence supports your claim.
The judge can pause the hearing and continue it on another day if important evidence is missing or the audio or video fails badly enough that the hearing can’t go on.
The vocational expert
Before the vocational expert testifies, the judge explains why the expert is there, confirms the expert is impartial and has reviewed your work history, and asks whether you or your representative object to the expert testifying.
The judge then usually asks a series of hypothetical questions: could a person of your age, education and work history, with a certain set of limits, do your past work or any other job? Each question adds or changes limits, such as lifting no more than 20 pounds, needing extra breaks, being off task part of the day, or missing work several days a month. Under Social Security’s rules for vocational expert testimony, the expert must say where their job information and job-number estimates come from, and must use Social Security’s own definitions of things like light work and unskilled work.
One favorable answer doesn’t mean you’ve won. The judge decides which set of limits matches your evidence, so the answers that count are the ones tied to the limits the judge adopts as your residual functional capacity. You or your representative can question the expert, for example about job numbers or about limits the judge’s questions left out.
Recording and privacy
The hearing is closed to the public; only the parties and people the judge considers necessary attend. Social Security records the audio as the official record and never records video. You can ask the judge’s permission to make your own private recording for personal use; if the judge allows it, they’ll remind you the hearing is confidential.
After the hearing
The decision comes in writing by mail. Before deciding, the judge may keep the record open for records you’re still waiting on, or order more evidence, such as a consultative exam or written answers from an expert.
If evidence comes in after the hearing from someone other than you, the judge must show it to you first, in a letter called a proffer, before using it. You can comment, object, send evidence in response or, in some cases, ask to question its author. If the new evidence is a medical opinion or an exam the judge ordered, you’re offered a supplemental hearing.
If you’re approved, the case goes on for processing: Social Security completes any non-medical checks, figures your benefit and starts payments, including back pay. If you’re denied, you have 60 days to ask the Appeals Council to review the decision. The odds of winning at this stage are better than at any earlier one: judges approved 57.6% of the cases they decided in fiscal year 2026 through August.
Travel costs
If you have to travel more than 75 miles from home to a hearing site, Social Security can pay certain costs, such as a bus ticket or driving expenses. Meals, lodging and taxis need the judge’s approval in advance unless they were unexpected and unavoidable. Submit a written request with receipts at the hearing or soon after. You can get an advance only if you couldn’t otherwise afford the trip, and then you send your itemized costs within 20 days. If you asked to move the hearing farther from home, the extra travel isn’t covered.