Current through September 24, 2024
In determining the resources of an AG, only the following
shall be exempt:
(1) Home And Lot.
(a) The home owned or being purchased and
occupied by the Families First assistance group and the property surrounding
the home which is not separated from the home by intervening property owned by
others is exempt. Public rights of way (such as roads and/or other public
easements) which run through the property surrounding the home do not affect
its classification as homestead property. Temporary absences from the home do
not affect the classification and/or exemption of the home if the assistance
group has not acquired another home and intends to return to the exempted home
at a specified time. Proceeds from the sale of homestead property or from a
recovery due to a casualty/disaster loss of same, will remain exempt for three
months following receipt of the proceeds if the AG expresses an intent to
reinvest in the same homestead or in a substitute homestead.
(2) Other Property .
(a) Basic Maintenance Items. Excluded are
basic maintenance items essential to daily living such as clothing, furniture,
appliances, and other similar essential household goods and equipment of
limited value.
(b) Certain Real
Property. Real property which is not exempted as a homestead pursuant to
1240-1-50-.05(1) is exempt as a resource if the recipient is making a good
faith effort to sell and signs an agreement to repay the Families First grant
received during the period of exemption. Exemption of the property, not to
exceed nine (9) months, causes an overpayment except when the net proceeds plus
other resources at the beginning of the exclusion period are within the
resource limit.
Repayment of the grant is made from the sale proceeds not to
exceed the total of the net proceeds. Any proceeds remaining after repayment of
the grant is considered a resource.
If assistance is terminated for any reason prior to the end
of the 9-month exemption period, the assistance group has an overpayment
subject to the usual collection procedures.
(c) Burial Plots. One burial plot for each
family member may be excluded from consideration as a resources.
(3) Exempt Vehicles .
(a) One operable family motor vehicle used to
provide transportation of persons or goods in which the equity value is $4,600
or less.
1. Equity is determined by deducting
the amount of encumbrances from the fair market value. Fair market value is the
value listed in the N.A.D.A. Used Car Guide.
2. If a vehicle is not listed in the N.A.D.A.
Guide, or its value is claimed to be different from the value listed, its value
may be taken as that stated by one reputable automobile dealer.
(b) Equity value over $4,600 of
one vehicle, and equity value of all other vehicles owned by an AG member will
be counted as a resource to the AG and will be applied to the $2,000 resource
limit set forth in 1240-1-50-.02.
(4) Burial Policies. Burial policies (not
prepaid burial agreements) shall be considered exempt for resource
purposes.
(5) Pension Funds. The
cash value of pension plans or funds shall be exempt.
(6) Inaccessible Resources. The cash value of
resources which are not currently accessible to the assistance group or which
cannot reasonably be brought to a condition of current availability are
exempted. Nonavailability of such resources must be determined prior to
approval and at each redetermination of eligibility. Also, resources whose cash
value is not accessible to the AG are exempt, such as, but not limited to:
security deposits on rental property or utilities; property in probate; real
property which the AG is making a good faith effort to sell at a reasonable
price and which has not been sold; and jointly owned resources determined to be
inaccessible.
(a) Irrevocable Trust Funds
1. When a person applying for or receiving
Families First has a trust which is claimed as inaccessible, she/he (or in the
case of a child, his/her parent or other relative caring for him/her) will have
60 days from the date of application/redetermination, or from the time the
trust is reported/discovered to attempt to have this resource made currently
available. The following are exceptions:
(i)
If the trust is established by a will, the terms of the trust will be followed
as written; or
(ii) If a trust is
producing regular income which is available to the beneficiary, the body of the
trust will not be considered a currently available resource, but the income
will be counted in the determination of eligibility/amount of
payment.
(iii) If a trust has been
set up for a minor (usually until age 18) and the amount of the trust account
is $5000 or less, the caretaker will not be required to attempt to make the
trust accessible. In most instances, the legal fees involved in such an attempt
would erode the value of the trust to the extent that it would not be cost
effective to bring it to a state of availability.
2. If the caretaker is willing to seek to
have the trust made currently available, he/she may be included in the
assistance unit. If such a person does not initiate action to make the trust
available within 60 days, the caretaker will be removed from the assistance
group.
3. If the caretaker has
initiated the necessary action, assistance may be continued pending further
orders of the court. The court's decision, as written in a new or amended
order, will be binding. If all or part of the funds in trust are made available
at any time, they must be taken into account when received.
(b) Prepaid Burial Agreements or
Burial Trusts. Exclude one burial agreement with equity value of $1500 or less
(whether revocable or irrevocable) per family member as a resource.
(c) Equipment. Equipment used in a
self-employed enterprise to produce income is considered an inaccessible
resource.
(7) Resources
Excluded By Law. The following types of payments are excluded by law from
consideration as income or as resources in the determination of eligibility and
level of benefit:
(a) Relocation Assistance
Payments. Relocation payments received under Title II of the Uniform Relocation
Assistance and Real Property Acquisition Policies Act of 1970 are
excluded.
(b) Alaska Native Claims
Payments and Sac and Fox Indian Claim Payments received under the Alaska Native
Claims Settlement Act, PL 92-203, §21 (a) and the Sac and Fox Indian
Claims Agreement, PL 94-189 are excluded.
(c) Payments for Certain Indian Tribes.
Payments derived from certain submarginal lands of the United States which are
held in trust for certain Indian Tribes are excluded.
(d) Job Training and Partnership Act.
Payments received pursuant to the Job Training and Partnership Act
(JTPA).
(e) Payments from
Disposition of Funds of Ottawa Indians. Payments made to the Grande River of
Ottawa Indians under PL 94-540 are excluded.
(f) Student Grants and Loans. Education
grants and loans to Families First AG members (or stepparents or parents of a
minor in the home) are excluded.
(g) Energy Assistance Payments. Any payments
or allowance made by any federal, state or local organization for the purpose
of energy assistance are not counted.
(h) Domestic Volunteer Service Act. Payments
received by volunteers for services performed in programs stipulated in the
Domestic Volunteer Service Act of 1973 as amended are excluded.
(i) Payments from Crisis Intervention
Program. One-time payments to assist with utility costs from the Crisis
Intervention Program are excluded.
(j) Benefits from Food Programs. The
following benefits from food programs are excluded:
1. WIC;
2. Value of Food Stamps;
3. Value of school lunches or other school
food programs.
(k)
Allowances paid under PL
104-204 to children of Vietnam veterans who are
born with spina bifida are excluded.
(8) Resources Of Non-AG Members. Resources of
non-AG members, other than those who are disqualified because of an intentional
program violation or a Families First Employment and Training Program sanction,
are excluded.
(9) Other Exempt
Resources.
(a) Earmarked Resources. Any
governmental payments which are designated for the restoration of the home
which has been damaged in a disaster if the household is subject to a legal
sanction if the funds are not used as intended are exempt.
(b) Prorated Income. Resources, such as those
of students or self-employed persons, which have been prorated and counted as
income, are exempt.
(c) Indian
Lands. Indian lands held jointly with the tribe, or land that can be sold only
with the approval of the Bureau of Indian Affairs are exempt.
(d) Livestock and poultry consumed as home
produce.
(e) Up to $5,000 in
profits from a business enterprise may be placed in escrow in a Low Income
Entrepreneurial Escrow Account with a micro-lending intermediary program and
shall be excluded as a resource; interest earned by such funds shall also be
excluded.
(f) Proceeds from the
sale of exempt property if received as a lump sum will be exempt for a period
of up to three (3) months following the sale if intended to be used to replace
the exempt resource.
(g) Up to
$5,000 in an Individual Development Account for career development goals for a
Families First recipient who is a part of an Individual Development Account
Pilot Project.
(10)
Handling Of Excluded Funds.
(a) Excluded
liquid assets that are kept in a separate account and that are not commingled
in an account with non-excluded funds, shall retain their resource exclusion
for an unlimited period of time.
(b) Resources which have been excluded as
prorated income that are commingled in an account with non-excluded funds shall
retain their exclusion for the period of time over which they have been
prorated as income (i.e., they will not be counted as both income and resources
during the same period of time).
(c) All other excluded monies which are
commingled with non-excluded funds shall retain their exemption for six months
from the date they are commingled. After six months all funds in the commingled
account other than those in (a) above are counted as a resource.
Authority: T.C.A. §§
4-5-201 et seq., 71-1-105,
71-3-154(a)(2), 71-3-155(d), 38 USC § 1805(d), 42 USC § 1315(a),
Public Acts of 1996, Chapter 950,
45 C.F.R.
233.20,
45 CFR
233.20(a)(3)-(7), (11) ,
PL
104-204
§421(b), and §1115 of the Social
Security Act.
