The following may be transferred without penalty.
I. The individual's home, if it is
transferred to:
A. the individual's child, if
the child is under the age of 21 or does or would meet SSI criteria of total
and permanent disability or blindness.
B. a sibling of the individual, if the
sibling has an equity interest in the home and was residing in the home for at
least one year immediately before the date of the individual's admission to a
Residential Care Facility, Cost Reimbursed Boarding Home or Adult Family Care
Home.
Example:
A brother and sister have joint ownership of a home in which
they both lived for the last five years prior to the brother's admission to a
Residential Care Facility, Cost Reimbursed Boarding Home or Adult Family Care
Home.
The brother may transfer his interest in the home to his
sister without penalty.
A penalty would be established if:
1. the sister was not a joint owner or had no
equity interest in the home, or
2.
the sister had not lived in the home for at least one year immediately before
the brother moved to one of the above facilities.
C. a child of the individual, if the child is
over the age of 21 and does not meet the SSI criteria of total and permanent
disability or blindness, and the child was residing in the home for at least
two years immediately before the individual's admission to one of the above
facilities and was providing care which enabled the individual to live at home
rather than in one of the above facilities for this time.
D. the individual's spouse.
II. Any asset transferred to the
individual's child who does or would meet SSI criteria of total and permanent
disability or blindness. This exemption also applies to the transfer of assets
by the individual or the individual's spouse to a trust established solely for
the benefit of the individual's child who does or would meet the SSI criteria
of total and permanent disability or blindness.
III. Assets transferred to a trust
established for the sole benefit of the individual, where the individual is
under 65 years of age at the time of transfer and does or would meet the SSI
criteria of total and permanent disability.
IV. Assets which the owner intended to
dispose of at Fair Market Value or for other valuable consideration but for
which, without being at fault, the owner did not obtain full Fair Market
Value.
V. Assets transferred
exclusively for a purpose other than to qualify for State-Funded Assistance
either at the time of the transfer or at some future date. "Exclusively" means,
transferred for that reason only and solely. It is not enough to prove that
there was a reason to transfer in addition to gaining State-Funded Assistance.
The reason for transferring must be exclusive of gaining State-Funded
Assistance.
VI. Assets transferred
for less than Fair Market Value that are subsequently returned to the
individual. There is no penalty as of the month in which all the assets are
returned to the individual. When only part of an asset or its equivalent value
is returned, a penalty period can be modified but not eliminated. A penalty
remains in effect for the past time period during which the asset had been
transferred.
VII. Assets
transferred to (or for the sole benefit of) the individual's spouse.
VIII. Assets transferred more than sixty
months prior to the month in which the individual resides in a Residential Care
Facility, Cost Reimbursed Boarding Home, or Adult Family Care Home and applies
for State-Funded Assistance.
IX.
Assets transferred for Fair Market Value.
X. Irregular or infrequent gifts provided the
cumulative amount of the gifts do not exceed $500 per calendar quarter. Each
gift is analyzed separately. This provision does not mean that the first $500
per quarter is excluded when the cumulative amount of those gifts is more than
$500.
A transfer is considered to be for the "sole benefit of" a
spouse, blind or disabled child, or disabled individual when no individual or
entity except the spouse, blind or disabled child, or disabled individual can
benefit from the assets transferred in any way, whether at the time of the
transfer or at any other time in the future.
