When the Benefits Stop
OAC 5101:6-4-01 — two deadlines, doing two different jobs
A notice saying benefits are ending carries two different deadlines, and confusing them is expensive in a specific way: one of them protects the right to argue, and the other protects the money while the argument happens.
Who handles this in Ohio: Legal Aid of Western Ohio and Advocates for Basic Legal Equality; and legal aid programs, lawyer referral and the state offices, listed in the Ohio directory.
Ninety days to ask for a hearing. A person is allowed ninety calendar days to request a state hearing on an action or an inaction. Inaction counts: a decision never made is as appealable as a decision made badly. And the ninety days does not apply at all unless the person was given notice of hearing rights about the specific thing being appealed, so a notice that never explained the right did not start the clock.
Fifteen days to keep the money coming. The shorter deadline is the one nobody is told about in time. Where an adverse action was taken without prior notice and the hearing request reaches the state or the local agency within fifteen calendar days of the mailing date on the notice, benefits are reinstated to the previous level. Food assistance remains in effect pending the hearing decision. A request made on day sixteen is still a valid request. It is simply a request made with nothing arriving in the meantime.
| Deadline | What it protects |
|---|---|
| Deadline90 calendar days from the action | What it protectsThe right to a hearing at all |
| Deadline15 calendar days from the mailing date | What it protectsBenefits reinstated to the previous level while it runs |
| Deadline15 calendar days from the decision | What it protectsThe administrative appeal of a hearing decision |
| DeadlineNo notice of hearing rights given | What it protectsThe ninety days did not start |
A hearing decision is not the end either. An administrative appeal of it has to reach the bureau of state hearings within fifteen calendar days of the date the decision was issued, which is a shorter and quieter deadline than the one that got somebody to the hearing in the first place.
Where a decision goes the household's way, the agency has to carry it out within fifteen days of the decision being issued, and in any case within ninety days of the original hearing request.
“What is the mailing date on this notice, and how many days ago was that.”
Different programs carry different rules inside this framework, and food assistance in particular has provisions that do not apply to the others. Mass change notices, where a rule changed for everybody at once, are handled separately again. Whether a particular notice was adequate, whether the ninety days ever started, and what a hearing officer can order are questions for a licensed Ohio attorney, and legal aid offices across the state represent people at state hearings at no charge.
Sources for this section (5)
- ORC 5101.35 — The right to a state hearing on a public assistance decision, and the appeal after it
- OAC 5101:6-4-01 — Continuation of benefits when a state hearing is requested
- OAC 5101:6-3-02 — State hearing requests, and the ninety days that run only once notice of hearing rights has been given
- OAC 5101:6-8-01 — The administrative appeal of a state hearing decision, and the fifteen days to ask for one
- OAC 5101:6-7-03 — Carrying out a state hearing decision: fifteen days from the decision, and never later than ninety from the request
Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of September 2026. Applying it to a particular situation is the work of a licensed Ohio attorney.