(1) For basic food,
if your assistance unit (AU) is not categorically eligible (CE) under WAC
388-414-0001, we count the
following resources toward your AU's resource limit to decide if you are
eligible for benefits under WAC
388-470-0005:
(a) Liquid resources easily changed into
cash, including but not limited to:
(i) Cash
on hand;
(ii) Money in checking or
savings accounts;
(iii) Money
market accounts or certificates of deposit (CD) less any withdrawal
penalty;
(iv) Stocks, bonds,
annuities, or mutual funds less any early withdrawal penalty;
(v) Available trusts or trust accounts;
and
(vi) Lump sum payments, which
is money owed to you from a past period of time that you get but do not expect
to get on a continuing basis;
(b) Nonliquid resources, personal property,
and real property not specifically excluded in subsection (2) of this
section;
(d) The resources of a sponsor as described
in WAC
388-470-0060.
(2) The following resources do not count
toward the resource limit described in WAC
388-470-0005(8):
(a) Your home and the surrounding property
that you, your spouse, or your dependents live in;
(b) A home you do not live in, if you plan to
return to the home and are out of the home because of one or more of the
following circumstances:
(i)
Employment;
(ii) Training for
future employment;
(iii) Illness;
or
(iv) Natural disaster or
casualty;
(c) Property
that:
(i) You are making a good faith effort
to sell;
(ii) You intend to build a
home on, if you do not already own a home;
(iii) Produces income consistent with its
fair market value, even if used only on a seasonal basis;
(iv) Is essential to the employment or
self-employment of a household member;
(v) Is essential for the maintenance or use
of an income-producing vehicle; or
(vi) Has an equity value equal to or less
than half of the resource limit as described in WAC
388-470-0005;
(d) Household goods;
(e) Personal effects;
(f) Life insurance policies, including
policies with cash surrender value (CSV);
(g) One burial plot per household
member;
(h) One funeral agreement
per household member, up to $1,500;
(i) Pension plans or retirement funds not
specifically counted in subsection (1) of this section;
(j) Sales contracts, if the contract is
producing income consistent with its fair market value;
(k) Government payments issued for the
restoration of a home damaged in a disaster;
(l) Indian lands held jointly with a tribe or
land that can be sold only with the approval of the Bureau of Indian
Affairs;
(m) Nonliquid resources
that have a lien placed against them;
(n) Earned income tax credits (EITC) or
Washington's working families tax credit (WFTC) for 12 months, if you were a
basic food recipient when you got the EITC or WFTC and you remain on basic food
for all 12 months;
(o) Energy
assistance payments or allowances;
(p) The resources of a household member who
gets supplemental security income (SSI), temporary assistance for needy
families (TANF), state family assistance (SFA), aged, blind, or disabled (ABD)
cash assistance, or pregnant women assistance (PWA) benefits;
(q) Retirement funds or accounts that are tax
exempt under the Internal Revenue Code;
(r) Education funds or accounts in a tuition
program under Title 26 U.S.C. Sec.
529 or
530 of the federal Internal Revenue
Code of 1986, as amended;
(s) All
funds in an achieving a better life experience (ABLE) account;
(t) Resources specifically excluded by
federal law; and
(u) Federal income
tax refunds for 12 months whether or not you were receiving basic food
assistance at the time you got the refund.
(3) Property excluded under subsection
(2)(c)(iv) of this section used by a self-employed farmer or fisher retains its
exclusion for one year after the household member stops farming or
fishing.
(4) If you deposit
excluded liquid resources into a bank account with countable liquid resources,
we do not count the excluded liquid resources for six months from the date of
deposit. Exception: Federal tax refunds are not counted for 12 months even when
mixed with countable resources.
(5)
If you sell your home, you have 90 days to reinvest the sale proceeds into an
exempt resource. If you do not reinvest within 90 days, we will determine
whether there is good cause to allow more time. If we determine you have good
cause, we will give you more time based on your circumstances. If you do not
have good cause, we will count the sale proceeds as a resource. Some examples
of good cause include:
(a) Closing on your new
home is taking longer than anticipated;
(b) You are unable to find a new home that
you can afford;
(c) Someone in your
household is receiving emergent medical care;
(d) Your children are in school and moving
would require them to change schools.