Wash. Admin. Code § 388-470-0005 - How do resources affect my eligibility for cash assistance and basic food?
(1) The following
definitions apply to this chapter:
(a)
"We" means the department of social and health services.
(b)
"You" means a person
applying for or getting benefits from the department.
(c)
"Fair market value" or
"FMV" means the price at which you could reasonably sell the
resource.
(d)
"Equity
value" means the FMV minus any amount you owe on the resource.
(e)
"Community property" means a
resource in the name of the husband, wife, or both.
(f)
"Separate property" means a
resource of a married person that one of the spouses:
(i) Had possession of and paid for before
they were married;
(ii) Acquired
and paid for entirely out of income from separate property; or
(iii) Received as a gift or
inheritance.
(2) We count a resource to decide if your
assistance unit (AU) is eligible for cash assistance or basic food when:
(a) It is a resource we must count under WAC
388-470-0045 for cash assistance
or WAC 388-470-0055 for basic
food;
(b) You own the resource and
we consider you to own a resource if:
(i) Your
name is on the title to the property; or
(ii) You have property that does not have a
title;
(c) You have
control over the resource, which means the resource is actually available to
you; and
(d) You could legally sell
the resource or convert it into cash within 20 days.
(3) For cash assistance, you must try to make
your resources available even if it will take you more than 20 days to do so,
unless:
(a) There is a legal barrier;
or
(b) You must petition the court
to release part or all of a resource.
(4) When you apply for assistance, we count
your resources as of:
(a) The date of your
interview, if you are required to have an interview; or
(b) The date of your application, if you are
not required to have an interview.
(5) If your total countable resources are
over the resource limit in subsection (6) through (13) of this section, you are
not eligible for benefits.
(6) For
cash assistance, there is an equity value resource limit of $12,000.
(7) If your AU is categorically eligible (CE)
as described in WAC
388-414-0001, you do not have a
resource limit for basic food.
(8)
If your AU is not CE under WAC
388-414-0001, your AU may have
countable resources up to the following amount and be eligible for basic food:
(a) $4,250 if your AU has either an elderly
or disabled individual; or
(b)
$2,750 for all other AUs.
(9) If you own a countable resource with
someone who is not in your AU, we count the portion of the resource that you
own. If we cannot determine how much of the resource is yours:
(a) For cash assistance, we count an equal
portion of the resource that belongs to each person who owns it.
(b) For basic food, we count the entire
amount unless you can prove that the entire amount is not available to
you.
(10) We assume that
you have control of community property and you can legally sell the property or
convert it to cash unless you can show that you do not.
(11) We may not consider an item to be
separate property if you used both separate and community funds to buy or
improve it.
(12) We do not count
the resources of victims of family violence when:
(a) The resource is owned jointly with
members of the former household;
(b) Availability of the resource depends on
an agreement of the joint owner; or
(c) Making the resource available would place
the client at risk of harm.
(13) You may give us proof about a resource
anytime, including when we ask for it or if you disagree with a decision we
made, about:
(a) Who owns a
resource;
(b) Who has legal control
of a resource;
(c) The value of a
resource;
(d) The availability of a
resource; or
(e) The portion of a
property you or another person owns.
Notes
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