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Issue Alert - 09-04-02
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| Date: |
Apr 10, 2009 |
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| Program Area: |
Family Independence Program (FIP), Refugee Assistance Program (RAP), State Disability Assistance (SDA), Child Development Care (CDC), and Food Assistance Program (FAP) |
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| Issue Summary: |
Department of Human Services (DHS) has added policy regarding the treatment of interest and dividend income for the above programs |
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| Persons Affected: |
Individuals applying for or receiving the above programs who have interest and/or dividend income |
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| For More Information: |
Center for Civil Justice 320 S. Washington, 2nd Floor Saginaw, MI 48607 (989) 755-3120, (800)724-7441 Fax: (989) 755-3558 E-mail: info@ccj-mi.org
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Background |
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The Department of Human Services (DHS) considers income and assets
when determining eligibility for most programs it administers. How each type of income is counted varies
depending on the particular benefit program and the type of income. For more information, see DHS Program
Eligibility Manual 500 at: |
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What's Happening? |
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DHS has issued policy on how it will treat interest and dividend income
for Family Independence Program (FIP), Refugee Assistance Program (RAP), Child
Day Care (CDC), Food Assistance Program (FAP), and State Disability Assistance
(SDA) purposes. Interest and dividend
income will be divided by the number of months it is intended to cover and
counted as income for each of the months.
If the interest or dividend payment is reinvested in the asset producing
the income, then the interest or dividend payment is NOT counted as income. For example, if an individual gets an interest payment from a 6 month
Certificate of Deposit (CD), the payment will be divided by 6 and included as
unearned income. It is not clear which
months the income is counted toward, because the interest “covers” the previous
six months but was not available to the individual until it was paid. Income or dividends that are automatically reinvested in the asset will
not be counted as income, but may still be countable under the asset
policy. For FAP and CDC, there is no
asset test. For FIP, RAP and SDA, review
PEM 400 at the link above. For Medicaid and the Adult Medical Program (AMP) interest and dividends
are treated as income in the month received, regardless of whether they are
reinvested or not. |
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What Should Advocates Do? |
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| Make clients aware of the new rules. | ||
What Should Clients Do? |
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| If you believe that your income or assets are counted incorrectly, seek legal advice. See “Finding Legal Help”, below. If the problem involves the Food Assistance Program (FAP), call the Food and Nutrition Helpline at (800) 481-4989. | ||
Finding Help |
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Most legal aid and legal services offices handle these types of cases, and they do not charge a fee.
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