Page 483

SNAP CERTIFICATION MANUAL – SECTION 13000 13300 Restored Benefits 13310 Actions to Take When Authorizing Restorations

When a judicial action is the first action taken by the household to get restoration of lost benefits; benefits will be restored for a period of not more than twelve months from the date the court action was initiated. When benefits are restored as the result of a judicial review of an administrative hearing, benefits will be restored under the following guidelines: For no more than twelve months prior to the date the agency received a request for a restoration; or if no request for a restoration was received, the date the administrative hearing action was initiated; but never more than one year prior to the date DHS was notified of or discovered the loss. After the date of initial loss is determined, any month prior to the 12-month limit will be disregarded when restored benefits are authorized. The amount to be restored will be calculated for each subsequent month within the designated 12-month period until the first month when the error was corrected so that no loss to the household occurred or until the first month household became ineligible to receive SNAP benefits. EXAMPLE: In March 2001, a county office worker discovered that a household lost SNAP benefits because excluded income had been incorrectly counted in the household’s budget since July 1999. The worker determined that the 12-month period for which benefits could be restored is April 2000 through March 2001. In preparing the restoration, the worker determined that the last month the county used this excluded income in the budget was December 2000. Therefore, restored benefits were authorized for the months April 2000 through December 2000.

13310 Actions to Take When Authorizing Restorations SNAP Manual 10/01/03 The household will not be asked to complete an application form, change report form, semi- annual report form or any other type of form to gather information to be used to complete a restoration. Within 30 days of the date of discovery that a household may be entitled to a restoration of benefits, steps 1-3 must be completed. Step 1: Determine the months for which a household may be entitled to a restoration of benefits. Begin by determining the month of initial loss. Examine the case to determine each subsequent month in which a loss possibly occurred. The extract amount issued for each month may be obtained from the Mail History Screen