The SSA-L237 (Disallowance Letter Disability Denied) is the standard manual disallowance
notice for most DIB cases processed in the PSC, ODO, or OIO (Office of International
Operations). When the claim is denied for lack of severity, item 29 of the SSA-831
is completed with the appropriate paragraph numbers. The Claims Authorizer (CA) is
responsible for including the paragraphs shown on the SSA-831 in the notice to the
claimant (P. L. 96-265, section 305) before release.
When a DIB claimant dies while the disability determination is pending, send a denial
notice regarding the DIB to the survivor if he or she filed a survivor claim before
adjudicating the disallowance, regardless of the reason for disallowance. Notice about
the disposition of the Number Holder’s (NH's) claim is included in the notice to the
survivors in these cases.
In cases where the claimant dies within 5 months of the alleged onset date, and no
earlier onset date is established, a personalized disability explanation is not needed.
The PSC uses Form SSA-L237B (Disallowance Notice to Survivors of DIB Claimant) to
notify the survivor in cases not processed through the Modernized Claim System (MCS)
Earnings Computation (EC) when the claimant dies within 5 months of onset and no earlier
onset can be established.
In similar cases processed by MCS EC, the FO inserts paragraph DDDR11 (see MCS Universal
Text Identifiers (UTI) (NL 00725.005)) on the survivor's notice and forwards the file to the PSC after releasing the notice.
In cases where the claimant dies within 5 months of the established onset date due
to an unfavorable onset date determination, the DDS prepares a personalized disability
explanation.
If a denial is applicable, and the claimant had filed an application but dies after
the waiting period but before adjudication, the PSC is responsible for the preparation
and release of the notice including a personalized disability explanation to the survivor.
Place the SSA-4268 in the appropriate official folder. The document is filed in Folder
Section A, the front yellow (payment documents/decisions) section of the Modular Disability
Folder (MDF) or in corresponding section of the CEF.