Wash. Admin. Code § 388-450-0005 - How does the department decide if I own a type of income and if this income is available to meet my needs?
This section applies to cash assistance and food assistance.
(1) We count all available
income owned or held by people in your assistance unit under chapter 388-408
WAC to decide if you are eligible for benefits and calculate your monthly
benefits when:
(a) You get or expect to get
the income in the month.
(b) We
must count the income based on rules under chapter 388-450 WAC.
(c) You own the income. We use state and
federal laws about who owns property to decide if you actually own the income.
If you are married, we decide if income is separate or community income
according to
chapter
26.16 RCW.
(d) You have control over the income, which
means the income is actually available to you. If you have a representative
payee, protective payee, or other person who manages your income for you as
described in chapter 388-460 WAC, we consider this as you having control over
this income.
(e) You can use the
income to meet your current needs. We count the gross amount of available
income in the month your assistance unit gets it. If you normally get the
income:
(i) On a specific day, we count it as
available on that date.
(ii)
Monthly or twice monthly and your pay date changes due to a reason beyond your
control, such as a weekend or holiday, we count it in the month you would
normally get it.
(iii) Weekly or
every-other week and your pay date changes due to a reason beyond your control,
we count it in the month you would normally get it.
(2) If income is legally yours, we
consider the income as available to you even if it is paid to someone else for
you. For example, the father of your child has a court order to pay you two
hundred fifty dollars per month in child support. Instead of giving the money
directly to you (as required in the court order), he gives the money to your
landlord to pay part of your rent. We still count the two hundred fifty dollars
as income even though you never actually got the money.
(3) We may also count the income of certain
people who live in your home, even if they are not getting or applying for
benefits. Their income counts as part of your income.
(a) For cash assistance, we count the income
of ineligible, disqualified, or financially responsible people as defined in
WAC 388-450-0100.
(b) For food assistance, we count the income
of ineligible assistance unit members as defined in WAC
388-408-0035.
(4) If you have a joint bank
account with someone who is not in your AU, we count any money deposited into
that account as your income unless:
(a) You
can show that all or part of the funds belong only to the other
account holder and are held or used only for the benefit of that
holder; or
(b) Social Security
Administration (SSA) used that money to determine the other account holder's
eligibility for SSI benefits.
(5) Potential income is income you may be
able to get that can be used to lower your need for assistance. If we determine
that you have a potential source of income, you must make a reasonable effort
to make the income available in order to get cash assistance.
(a) We do not count that income until you
actually get it; and
(b) You can
choose whether to get TANF/SFA or supplemental security income (SSI)
benefits.
(6) If your
assistance unit includes a sponsored immigrant, we consider the income of the
immigrant's sponsor as available to the immigrant under the rules of this
chapter. We use this income when deciding if your assistance unit is eligible
for benefits and to calculate your monthly benefits.
(7)
You may give us proof about a type of income at anytime, including when we ask for it or if you disagree with a decision we made, about:
(a) Who owns the
income;
(b) Who has legal control
of the income;
(c) The amount of
the income; or
(d) If the income is
available.
Notes
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