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SNAP CERTIFICATION MANUAL – SECTION 5000 5700 Unearned Income 5704 Child Support/Alimony Payments

timely manner. If the worker can later establish a pattern of payment, the child support income will be added to the SNAP budget. Child support received as the result of the interception of a state or federal income tax refund is a lump sum payment. Lump sum payments are excluded as income. See SNAP 4950 for instructions. Legally obligated child support payments from a household member to someone who is not a household member are deductible. See SNAP 6550 for instructions. 5704.1 OCSE Payments to TEA Recipients SNAP Manual 06/01/05 Under Title IV-D, the state is assigned the rights to all child support payments received by the recipients of TEA Cash Assistance. Through the Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE), the state seeks child support payments on the behalf of TEA Cash Assistance recipients. Any child support remaining after deduction of the TEA payment is refunded to the TEA recipient. OCSE refunds to the TEA recipient. These refunds are automatically calculated into the client’s SNAP budget as long as the client receives TEA Cash Assistance. A budget sheet is issued to the DHS county office and a notice is issued to the household. The DHS county office worker does not have to take any action to change the household’s budget to remove the refund. If the total child support collected, alone or with other countable income, exceeds the TEA income eligibility standard of $223, the TEA case will close. If the TEA case closes, the DHS county office worker must change the household’s budget to include the gross child support payment as income in the SNAP budget. 5704.2 OCSE Payments to Medicaid Recipients SNAP Manual 01/01/00 Child support received directly from the absent parent on behalf of Medicaid recipients may be sent by the household to OCSE. OCSE later returns the child support payments to the household. These payments will not be counted as income until they are returned to the household by OCSE. 5704.3 OCSE Payments to Individuals Not Receiving TEA/Medicaid SNAP Manual 01/01/00 OCSE provides services to individuals who are not receiving TEA. Child support payments collected for children not included in a TEA case are considered unearned income. OCSE charges