SR 00-05 Dated 01/00

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

INTER-DEPARTMENT COMMUNICATION

SUMMARY

The SR releases policy clarifications and technical corrections to the Family Assistance (FAM), Food Stamp (FSM) and Adult Assistance (AAM) Manuals. All of these clarifications and corrections reflect existing policy.

POLICY

Revised Family Assistance Manual Topics

Part 409 MEDICAID QUALIFYING TRUST

Part 409 TRUSTS (RESOURCE)

Part 409 TRUSTS USING THE ASSETS OF OTHER PARTIES

Part 409 TRUSTS USING THE ASSETS OF THE INDIVIDUAL OR SPOUSE

Part 511 BENEFITS

Revised Adult Assistance Manual Topics

Part 313 LEGAL LIABILITY OF COUNTIES

Part 411 MEDICAID QUALIFYING TRUST

Part 411 SPECIAL NEEDS TRUST

Part 411 TRUSTS (RESOURCE)

Part 411 TRUSTS USING THE ASSETS OF OTHER PARTIES

Part 411 TRUSTS USING THE ASSETS OF THE INDIVIDUAL OR SPOUSE

Part 413 TRUSTS FOR DISABLED INDIVIDUALS

Part 511 BENEFITS

Revised Food Stamp Manual Topics

Section 105.03 Eligibility Reviews

Part 239 STUDENTS

Section 239.01 Student Eligibility

Part 409 VEHICLES

Part 511 BENEFITS

FOOD STAMP MANUAL REVISIONS

FSM 105.03: Eligibility Reviews

Text has been added to address the result of a recipient’s failure or refusal to comply with Quality Control reviews. The text, which was inadvertently omitted when revisions associated with SR 98-51 were completed, now brings this section into congruence with similar sections in the FAM and AAM.

FSM 239 and 239.01: Students and Student Eligibility

Minor editing and repositioning of text has been done to enhance readability and the logical flow of policy between 239 and 239.01.

FSM 409: Vehicles

Much of this topic has been rewritten for clarity. Organizational changes have also been made to improve readability. Some of the clarifications and corrections include:

 The subsection on "Junk Vehicles" has been replaced by a subsection entitled "Unregistered Vehicles." This correction returns policy to the FSM for unregistered vehicles that existed in the original, pre-1994 Food Stamp Manual, but was changed to "junk vehicles" when the Family Assistance Manual was issued in 1994. The inclusion in the Food Stamp Manual of "junk vehicles," which pertains only to TANF policy, was an unintended consequence of the conversion from the former combined FAM/FSM to the stand-alone electronic versions of the FAM and FSM. Food stamp regulations make no reference to "junk" vehicles, but do speak to similar treatment of unregistered vehicles owned by household members.

 Text was been added to the subsection on "Income-Producing Vehicles" to clarify that the value of vehicles meeting at least one of the criteria listed may be excluded from the food stamp resource test.

 A section has been added specifically addressing Leased Vehicles as excluded vehicles. This has always been policy but was never specifically addressed in the FSM.

FSM 511, Benefits

This topic has been revised to reflect clarifications made to trust policy in AAM and FAM 400 (see below).

FAMILY ASSISTANCE AND ADULT ASSISTANCE MANUAL REVISIONS

AAM 313: Legal Liability of Counties

 Clarifying text has been added to the third bullet to emphasize that counties are legally liable for a proportionate share of the costs of Medicaid nursing facility care for Old Age Assistance (OAA) and Aid to the Permanently and Totally Disabled (APTD) recipients.

 A statement has been added to the effect that there is no proportionate share liability for any costs associated with Aid to the Needy Blind (ANB) recipients.

AAM 409 and 511: Policy on the Treatment of Trusts

AAM 409, Trusts, and Medicaid Qualifying Trusts, and 413, Trusts for Disabled Individuals, have undergone major revisions.

 The material in Medicaid Qualifying Trusts has been reformatted, rewritten for clarity and continuity, and renamed Trusts Using the Assets of the Individual or Spouse. This was done to make the section more closely aligned with federal regulatory language, and to reflect the fact that "Medicaid Qualifying Trusts" as a term represents only certain kinds of trusts using the assets of an individual or spouse that were established before August, 1993, while similar trusts established after August, 1993, are treated differently.

 Trusts for Disabled Individuals has been renamed Special Needs Trusts to reflect the more common term for these types of trusts, and has been moved from AAM 413, Less Common Types of Resources, to AAM 411, Common Types of Resources.

 A new topic, Trusts Established Using the Assets of Other Parties, has been added to AAM 409. Policy related to the treatment of these types of trusts has existed in rules for many years and was alluded to in trust policy, but had not previously been specifically addressed in the AAM. The inclusion of a specific topic addressing the treatment of assets in these types of trusts, such as trusts established by will, was prompted by several questions from District Offices, and reflects important distinctions in the treatment between these trusts and trusts established using the assets of an individual or spouse.

 The generic entry in AAM 409 for Trusts has been expanded for clarity and to add electronic links to the newly restructured topics discussed above.

AAM 511, Benefits, has been also revised. Clarifying language was added to further define income from trusts as comprising disbursements from trusts or similar legal devices made to an individual, on behalf of an individual, or for the benefit of an individual, regardless of the type or source of trust.

Parallel revisions have been made to FAM 409 and 511.

DISPOSITION

This SR may be deleted or destroyed once its contents have been noted and the revised manual pages released by this SR have been posted to the On-Line Manual in January, 2000.

DISTRIBUTION

This SR will be distributed according to the electronic distribution list for Division of Family Assistance policy releases. This SR, and revised On-Line Manuals, will be available for agency staff in the On-Line Manual Library, and for public access on the Internet at http://www.dhhs.state.nh.us/PMIndex.htm, effective January 18, 2000.

This SR, and printed pages with posting instructions, will be distributed under separate cover to all hard copy holders of the Family Assistance, Adult Assistance, and Food Stamp Manuals.

DFA/RQY:s