Video Blog – SS – Hearing Witness

April 6, 2018 | in Featured, Social Security | by Shelly Mark, Senior Attorney

Natalia Jofre:	Hello, and welcome to the Hill and Ponton Social Security Disability blog. I’m Natalia Jofre, the Director for our Social Security section.
Shelly Mark:	I am Shelly Mark. I am the Senior Social Security Attorney.
Natalia Jofre:	In the last couple of videos we’ve done, we’ve been talking about the hearing level, what happens at the hearing level, who can be in the room, or who is normally within the hearing. We’ve talked about the judge, the court reporter, the claimant, a medical expert, and a vocational expert. The other person that can be in a hearing is a witness.
Shelly Mark:	That’s correct.
Natalia Jofre:	Sometimes people want to have witnesses at their hearings. Not all judges want witnesses. Can you tell people a little bit about how that works?
Shelly Mark:	Sure. Everyone has a right to have a witness testify on their behalf. However, there is a little bit of, I wouldn’t say reluctance, but the judges really prefer to hear all the testimony from the claimant themselves. They usually don’t really need a witness, unless there’s going to be some information given that is in addition to the claimant’s testimony.
	In situations to where maybe someone is not verbal, that’s very important. We’ve had cases with mental health, to where maybe the person doesn’t find their symptoms as severe as their spouse or their parent does. We definitely need a witness in those cases.
	One thing that we do is we will do a third party statement right before the hearing, and we’ll have the spouse or the parent write a statement. We’ll turn that into the judge right before the hearing, and then we’ll ask the judge at the hearing, “Do you want to speak to this person?” Most of the time they’ll say no, that the statement is sufficient.
Natalia Jofre:	That’s great. Normally, the witness is going to be a family member or a very close friend. Normally in Social Security Disability hearings, other than the medical expert or the vocational expert that the judge orders, you don’t have to take your own physicians to testify on your behalf, or your own employer. Lots of times people ask us about that. That’s really not the case, right?
Shelly Mark:	No, no, that’s not the case. If it was a witness that you would be calling, it would usually just be a third party. The person that’s closest to them, that can give the judge some more information. Really with the doctors, all we really need to submit is a narrative or a statement from the doctor about the client’s symptoms.
Natalia Jofre:	The only other situation that comes to mind is obviously if the claimant is a child. If the child, obviously under age 18, normally then the primary person testifying is the parent, but the child is normally asked to be in the room.
Shelly Mark:	Absolutely.
Natalia Jofre:	Right, so that they can observe them?
Shelly Mark:	Right. In a lot of the cases that I’ve had that are children, the judge wants to speak to the child as well. Usually, they do take testimony of the child and the parent. In some cases, we have parents that want to do all of the talking for the child, and that may not be the way it actually plays out in the hearing. The judge may actually go to the child for testimony.
Natalia Jofre:	Okay, great. In our next video blog, we’re going to be discussing what happens after the hearing. We’ll see you then and we thank you for joining us.
Shelly Mark:	Thank you.

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Tags: hearing witness

Shelly Mark, Senior Attorney

Current Employment Position:SMC3 150x200 Senior Attorney, Hill & Ponton, P.A.Prior Employment: Community Legal Services of Mid-Florida, Inc.Area of Practice: Social Security LawBar Admissions: Florida BarBar Association Memberships: Florida Bar Association Orange County Bar Association Volusia County Bar AssociationEducation: Florida State University , B.S. Dwayne O. Andreas School of Law – Barry University, J.D. Equal Justice Works Fellow (2009-2011)Memberships: National Organization of Veteran Advocates Volusia/Flagler Women Lawyer’s Association Volusia/Flagler County Coalition for the Homeless – SecretaryBook Awards: Administrative Law Problem Solving & NegotiatingPersonal Note: Shelly was born in Pensacola, Florida. After graduating from Florida State University, she worked for an HIV-AIDS non-profit organization in Tallahassee assisting individuals suffering from HIV – AIDS with obtaining medical treatment, healthcare insurance, mental and substance abuse counseling, and housing.Shelly was granted an Equal Justice Works Fellowship, from 2009 to 2011, to assist homeless and low income veterans in Central Florida with VA disability claims.Shelly is a member and serves as Secretary of the Volusia/Flagler County Coalition for the Homeless. Through the coalition, she worked with Volusia County Judges, faith based community, and non-profit organizations to assist in establishing the SAVE (Sentencing Alternatives for Volusia Enforcement) Docket. The docket provides sentencing alternatives for homeless individuals issued Notices to Appear for minor offenses, such as sleeping in public and public intoxication.Shelly also volunteers with and serves as Legal advisor to IDignity DeLand. IDignity DeLand is a non-profit organization that assists low income and homeless individuals with obtaining identification or other required documentation at no cost.Shelly lives in Deltona and enjoys spending time with friends and family.

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