SNAP Denied or Cut? Request a Fair Hearing and Keep Benefits

You have 90 days from a SNAP denial or cut to ask for a fair hearing, and a phone call to the hearing number on your notice counts as the request. If the state is cutting or stopping benefits you already get, ask before the effective date on your notice, which is at least 10 days after the mailing date, and the state keeps paying your old amount until the hearing decision, due within 60 days of your request. Call the number on your notice today and say: "I want a fair hearing, and I want my benefits continued."

Ask for an agency conference with a supervisor at the same time. Federal rules let your state offer one after any cut or denial, and a conference can settle the dispute informally; your hearing stays scheduled unless you withdraw it in writing. In Texas, the local office must review the action as soon as you dispute it and correct any agency error that raises your benefits.

The federal rules, and where states add to them

Every state SNAP agency must hold a fair hearing for any household hurt by an action that affects its benefits: a denied application, a smaller allotment, a closed case, or no decision on an application after 30 days. The state that runs your SNAP holds the hearing, through a hearing officer who had no part in the action you are challenging.

• Deadline: 90 days from the action. You can also challenge your current benefit amount at any point in your certification period.
• How to ask: any clear statement, spoken or written, that you want to appeal. When you ask by phone, the agency must start the hearing process for you, and it must help you with the request if you ask for help.
• Late requests: California and Texas still hear a request filed after 90 days when you show good cause for the delay.

Keeping your benefits while you wait

Continued benefits cover a cut or cutoff during your certification period. Ask for the hearing within the advance-notice period printed on your notice. Federal rules set that period at no less than 10 days from the mailing date, and when it ends on a weekend or holiday, a request on the next day still counts. Texas gives 13 days. The hearing request form has a box to waive continued benefits; unless you check it, the state must treat you as wanting them.

If you win, you keep everything and the state restores any benefits you missed. If you lose, the state sets up a repayment claim for the extra benefits paid while you waited. While you still get SNAP, it collects from your monthly benefit, taking no more than $10 or 10% a month, whichever is greater, unless you agree to more.

If you were denied expedited (7-day) SNAP

A household with very little money that qualifies for expedited SNAP must have benefits on its EBT card by the seventh calendar day after it applied. If the office refuses expedited service, ask for an agency conference: the state must offer one and schedule it within 2 working days. A supervisor or the agency director attends; request the hearing in the same call.

California puts expedited CalFresh disputes on a fast track. Call (800) 743-8525 and ask for an expedited hearing; a presiding judge decides whether your case qualifies, and the judge who hears it issues a decision within five business days after the record closes. In New York, tell the hearing office about an emergency such as an eviction or a utility shutoff when you request the hearing, and it schedules the hearing and decision as soon as possible. Federal rules also put households about to leave the area, such as migrant farmworkers, ahead of others.

What happens before and at the hearing

• Notice: you get the time, date and place at least 10 days ahead. You can ask for less notice to get an earlier date.
• Your case file: you can examine the documents the agency will use before and during the hearing, and get a free copy of the relevant parts of your file.
• A representative: a lawyer, relative, friend or other person can present your case. Our SNAP authorized representative guide covers naming someone to act for you.
• Witnesses and evidence: bring witnesses, submit pay stubs, bills and letters, and question the agency's witnesses and evidence.
• Postponement: you are entitled to one of up to 30 days, and the decision deadline moves by the same number of days.
• Attendance: if you miss the hearing without good cause, the state dismisses your request. Call the number on the hearing notice before the date if you need to reschedule.
• Decision: a win that raises your benefits reaches your EBT card within 10 days of the state receiving the decision, or in your regular monthly issuance if that still falls within the 60 days.

Texas holds most hearings by phone; plan on at least an hour.

California, New York and Texas

In other states, your notice explains how to request a hearing and gives the SNAP office phone number, and USAGov's SNAP office finder links to each state agency.

Where your case splits

• If your application was denied, there is nothing to continue, so request the hearing and file a new application the same day. Every household has the right to reapply, and Texas confirms a new application has no effect on the hearing.
• If your certification period ended, continued benefits stop at its end. Reapply now for a new period and keep the hearing request going for the months you lost.
• If the cut hit every household at once, such as a yearly utility-standard update, the state continues your old amount only when you argue your benefits were computed wrong or the law was misapplied to you.
• If you missed the advance-notice window, request the hearing anyway; you still have the 90 days. Explain why you were late, and with good cause the state reinstates your prior benefits.

What you can win and who can help

• Lost benefits: a win restores the benefits you should have received, even if your household is ineligible today.
• A binding decision: the hearing decision binds the state agency. In New York, file a compliance complaint with OTDA if the local office ignores a decision in your favor.
• Further appeal: New York allows a court case under Article 78 within four months of the decision. Texas allows an administrative review within 30 days, then district court in Travis County. California allows a rehearing request within 30 days of receiving the decision and a superior court petition, with no filing fee, within one year.
• Free legal help: your notice names free legal services where they exist, and the Legal Services Corporation finder lists legal aid by address.

Call legal aid before the hearing if the state accuses you of fraud, claims you owe a large overpayment, or you lost and want to take the case to court.

What to say when you call

"My name is [name] and my case number is [number]. I received a notice dated [date] that [denies / reduces / stops] my SNAP. I want a fair hearing. I want my benefits continued at the current amount until the decision. I disagree because [reason, such as: my income is lower than you counted, or I sent the documents on (date)]. Please send me a copy of my case file and the documents you will use at the hearing. What date did you record for my request, and what is the confirmation number?"

Note the date, the worker's name and the confirmation number.

Today

1. Find the mailing date and effective date on your notice and call the hearing number on it before the effective date (in Texas, within 13 days of the notice).
2. Ask for your case file and gather proof of the facts in dispute: pay stubs, rent receipts, bills, and copies of what you sent.
3. If food money is short now, reapply and ask for expedited screening, and use our food pantry guide for groceries this week.

Next comes the hearing notice, mailed at least 10 days before the hearing, and then the written decision, due within 60 days of the day you asked.