If your case is at Social Security Court (ODAR)


Scroll down and find the first four letters of your last name and the last four numbers of your social security number.  Then read this key to figure out what is going on)

I am constantly running & jumping all the hurdles to get your application heard and approved!

I love hearing from you but we are now over 1,000 clients and if you call (and 1,000 other clients call) "just to see how things are going" then I won't be able to get anything done around here!  Unless you see a problem then rest assured everything IS FINE on your case and we are waiting our turn for SSA to do their duty.

If your case is at Social Security Court (ODAR)


Scroll down and find the first four letters of your last name and the last four numbers of your social security number.  Then read this key to figure out what is going on)

ARPR  the case is being reviewed by the judge before the hearing.  Good time to get me all your recent medical records for the last two years so he can read them all and thus rule in your favor.

MKDT    case is master docket after request for hearing is filed and prior to being place in unworked status  (your case just got to Social Security Court)

DWR  case is going to senior attorney or soc sec judge for an on the records review, critical needs review or untimely filing review

UNWK your case is unworked which is the status prior to the file being worked up (that is putting your case in chronological order, reviewing medical evidence to write a memo to the judge about what the case is all about, removing duplicate records)

PRE information/development is being requested prior to your hearing. For example, there are times that a consultive examination is requested prior to a hearing and the case would be coded therefore as PRE.

WKUP/WKFL this is good news.  It means your case is being reviewed by a Social Security paralegal.  Immediately contact any medical doctors or anyone else who has treated you in the last three years and get those medical records to me, your attorney.  Wait till you have ALL OF THEM and then mail one big packet to me so that we can get them to Social Security without them losing any of them.

WOUT  case is temporarily transferred to another office for work up.

ARPR  (they call this R-PER)  your case is sitting in a judge's office and he is looking at it to see if he should order an examination of you or if anything else is needed.  This means that your hearing is imminent and you should have given all of your medical records for the last 3 years to me, your attorney, Northwest Disability Advocates so I can give them to the Social Security judge so he can rule in your favor.

RTS case has been reviewed by the judge and it is Ready To Schedule by one of the schedulers.  The scheduler will call me on the phone and I'll take the first day available.  then I'll telephone you with the news of what date your hearing will be held.

SCHD  your case has been SCHeduled for a hearing-you should know by now what the date and time of your hearing because I will have telephoned you.  If you don't know about this, maybe you moved and I can't find you so telephone me immediately at 503.639.6666 with your new phone number.

POST your hearing has been held and the case requires additional medical records from you or the judge has decided that you need to be examined by a social security paid medical doctor before he can make his decision on your disability.

ALPO the case is sitting on the judges desk after the hearing and he has yet decided what to do yet after a hearing

UNWR  the judge has made his decision. He wrote some instructions on the file to the attorney "advisor"/writers in the back offices, you file leaves the judge and travels to the back office to have the attorney advisor/writer "tease out" the facts to support the judge's decision whether the attorney agrees with the judge's decision or not.  (This is why lots of the written decisions don't make sense.  The claimant IS disabled but the writer has to find a fact or two ANY FACT to support the wrong decision of the judge.)   There are a lot of files waiting for the decision writers to justify what the judge said so this could be a very long wait to get the decision written after the judge has made up his mind about your case

DWPC/CWFL  the case is with the attorney "advisor"/writer and he is writing the decision but he has no input into whether you get disability or don't.  (See UNWR)

DOUT  case has been transferred to another office for THEIR attorney writers to write the decision instead of the office where your hearing was held.

EDIT the case is on a paralegals desk and the paralegal is correcting errors, typos and last minute changes that the judge has made.

SIGN  the case is all finished up and will now go from the paralegal's desk to the judges desk to be signed.  That isn't the end of it.  There is usually a very LARGE PILE of decisions that have to be photocopied and mailed out to many, many claimants so after the judge signs the decision you still could have a wait while the support staff gets around to actually doing YOUR case and mailing it to you.  I will get a copy on the same day that you do.  If they do it right, both copies will get to us at the same time.

IS YOUR CASE AT ODAR?  Social Security Court  (look for your last name and the last 4 numbers of your social security number.  (Look above to READ what stage your case is at)

case is at)