Children in Shared Custody Arrangements
A. In instances when different households apply for the same child, the household that applies for benefits for the child second must establish that it has majority custody and/or provide a majority of the child’s meals. B. If the second requesting household provides verification that indicates that household possesses majority custody and provides the majority of meals, this constitutes unclear information as to the first household under which the child is currently receiving benefits. 1. A request for contact (RFC) must be initiated on the first case if verification was not previously provided to establish majority custody and/or that the majority of meals are being provided. The confidentiality rules described in Section 4.140 must be followed when making this request. A. If the two different households applying for the same child cannot agree in which household the child shall receive benefits the household that provides the majority of meals to the child(ren) in question shall include the child(ren) in their household. Depending on the document being used to establish majority custody and majority of meals, the eligibility technician must ensure that they are considering a period of time of sufficient length to accurately capture the custody arrangement, taking into account disruptions to established arrangements such as holidays and school breaks. Eligibility technicians may have to look at a longer period of time than just the last calendar month. 2. If the second requesting household provides verification that conclusively proves it has majority custody of the child and provides majority of meals as of the request to include the child(ren) in its household, the child(ren) should be removed from the first case and added to the second case as detailed in Section 4.604.G to avoid dual participation. 3. If the two households provide an equal number of meals to the child(ren), then the SNAP household currently receiving benefits or who applied first shall receive benefits for the child(ren). 4. If one household fails to provide verification of the percentage of meals they provide to the child(ren), the child(ren) shall remain in the household in which they first began receiving SNAP benefits.