Current through Supplement No. 394, October, 2024
1. The usual method
of providing assistance under this chapter is through payments by check or
credit on account, immediately redeemable at par, made to the caretaker
relative or legal guardian at regular intervals, with no restrictions on the
use of the funds. This practice is followed because recipients of assistance do
not, by virtue of their need for assistance, lose the capacity to select how or
when the needs of the household must be met. If the caretaker relative or other
members of the household manage funds in a manner that is clearly detrimental
to members of the household, or if the caretaker relative is subject to
sanction for nonconformance to program requirements, protective payments may be
used to assist the household in financial management.
2.
a. A
determination that there is a detrimental mismanagement of funds may be based
on:
(1) Continued failure to plan for and
make necessary expenditures during periods for which assistance is
provided;
(2) Continued failure to
provide children in the household with proper food, clothing, or housing so as
to threaten the chances of those children for healthy growth and
development;
(3) Persistent failure
to pay the cost of rent, food, utilities, school supplies, or other
essentials;
(4) Repeated loss of
housing due to nonpayment of housing costs; or
(5) Repeated failure to pay debts that result
in attachments of or levies against current income.
b. The fact that debts are not paid on a
timely basis may not be the sole basis for a determination that there is
detrimental mismanagement of funds unless relevant factors, including the
following, have been considered:
(1) Whether
the family has experienced an emergency or extraordinary event that reasonably
required the expenditure of funds ordinarily used to meet the needs of the
household;
(2) Whether reasonable
payments on necessarily incurred debt exceeds the family's income; or
(3) Whether the family has withheld payment
on a debt as a part of a legitimate dispute concerning the amount of the debt
or the terms or performance of a contract out of which the debt
arises.
3.
a. The county agency may select, appoint, and
remove a protective payee to receive and manage a household's cash grant. In
making a selection, the county agency shall consider any individual nominated
by the caretaker relative.
b. The
protective payee is a fiduciary responsible for assuring that the cash grant is
expended to achieve the maximum reasonable benefit for the assistance and for
working cooperatively with the county agency.
c. The protective payee may be furnished
information about the household, from the county agency's records, sufficient
to allow the protective payee's role to be carried out. The information
furnished to the protective payee under this section remains confidential
information subject to the provisions of North Dakota Century Code section
50-06-15.
d. The status of a household for which a
protective payee has been appointed must be reviewed by the county agency as
often as necessary, but no less often than every six months, to determine if:
(1) The protective payee is performing
satisfactorily;
(2) The household
should be restored to unrestricted money payment status; and
(3) Some other arrangement should be sought
for the care of children who are members of the household.
