TRANSFERS WITHOUT FAIR CONSIDERATION (TWFC)

A. Transfers of resource ownership may occur through transactions such as sale of property; trade or exchange of one property for another; spend-down of cash; giving away cash; transferring any financial instrument (e.g., stocks, bonds); or, giving away property (including adding another person's name as an owner of the property). A transfer of a resource shall be considered a TWFC if the transfer was: 1. Voluntary; and, 2. Without fair and valuable consideration, and, 3. Made within thirty-six (36) months prior to the application date or while receiving Adult Financial program grant payments; and, 4. For the purpose of rendering the client eligible for assistance. The county will evaluate evidence provided by the client to determine if the transfer of resources was exclusively for a purpose other than to qualify for benefits. a. The county department shall make a rebuttable presumption that the transaction was made for the purpose of becoming or remaining eligible for Adult Financial program benefits when the transfer was made any time during the thirty-six (36) month period immediately prior to the filing of application for assistance or during such time that assistance was being received. b. A client shall be given the opportunity to disprove the presumption. The presumption shall be nullified if the client can demonstrate with evidence to the county department that the transfer was for another purpose. 1) The client's primary purpose cannot be to acquire money or profit from the transaction; and, 2) The client shall provide written documentation of any agreement made in relation to the transfer of property, that was created at the time of the agreement to transfer property; and, 3) The county department shall weigh the evidence and use the prudent person principle to determine whether there is sufficient evidence to disprove the presumption. B. Circumstances at the time of the transaction may indicate a reasonable rationale for a client's willingness to accept a sum which is less than a fair consideration based on a hardship just prior to the transaction. Hardships include: 1. A period of unemployment resulting in an inability to meet monthly bills, and costs of subsistence; or, 2. An accident or severe illness resulting in a need of funds to meet large expenditures for medical care and services; or, 3. Other hardship deemed reasonable by the county department using the prudent person principle. C. A documented involuntary transfer of a resource shall not affect eligibility. Transfers that would be considered involuntary are: 1. Loss of property through fraud, provided that the client can demonstrate that every reasonable effort has been made to recover the property by court action or other procedures as indicated; or, 2. Loss of property through legal action such as judgment, foreclosure, delinquent tax sale; or, 3. Other involuntary transfer identified and determined reasonable by the county department using the prudent person principle. D. The county department shall determine the eligibility penalty as a result of a TWFC as follows: 1. Determine the actual value of the resource less encumbrances and subtract the amount the client received for the resource from the determined actual value. This is the uncompensated value. 2. Determine the current Adult Financial Program grant standard. This is the TWFC monthly penalty value. 3. Divide the uncompensated value by the TWFC monthly penalty value and round down to the nearest whole number. 4. This equals the number of months of ineligibility for Adult Financial Program grant payments. 5. The penalty period begins the month following the date of transfer. If there are multiple transfers, the period of ineligibility would begin the month following the end date of the first transfer’s period of ineligibility. 6. If the client transfers a resource and the entire resource is returned in the same month, the period of ineligibility does not apply. a. If the client transfers a resource and the entire resource is returned in a subsequent month, the period of ineligibility continues through the month the resource is returned (even if the resource is returned on the first day of the month). The period of ineligibility due to the transfer ends as of the month following the month the resource is returned. In that month, the returned resource is counted towards the client's resource limit. b. If the entire resource is not returned, the period of ineligibility does not end. Instead, recompute the uncompensated value based on how much of the resource was not returned. Then, recompute the period of ineligibility based on the adjusted uncompensated value. If additional funds are subsequently returned, it will be necessary to recompute the uncompensated value again. E. A period of ineligibility can be from 1 month up to a maximum of 36 months depending on the amount of the uncompensated value for each resource transferred. A period of ineligibility cannot exceed 36 months regardless of the uncompensated value of the transfer. Months in the period of ineligibility can coincide with months of ineligibility for other reasons.