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Chapter: 1800 Income

Program: RAP 25 1860.0116 Court Ordered Payments (RAP) Money deducted or diverted from court ordered support, alimony, or other legally binding agreement and paid to a third party for an assistance group expense will be included as income. However, if the payment is ordered by the court to go directly to the third party rather than the assistance group, the payment will be excluded as a vendor payment.

Example: In the court order, the spouse was ordered to pay $200 child support each month. He was not ordered to pay the mortgage payment. If the spouse pays the mortgage directly to the mortgage company, in addition to his regular court ordered child support payment, the mortgage payment is considered a vendor payment and is excluded as income. If the spouse took the $200 he was to pay in child support and paid the mortgage payment instead, then the child support income would continue to count as income to his spouse since the $200 was court ordered support and this income was diverted to pay the mortgage. 1860.0117 Deeming of Income (RAP) Deemed income refers to a special budgeting calculation in which a portion of an individual's income is considered available to another SFU member. Individuals whose income may be deemed differ by program. Deemed income is considered as unearned income in the budget.

For policy regarding deeming situations refer to SFU and deeming budgeting methods in Chapter 2600. 1860.0118 Vendor Payments (RAP) A vendor payment is a money payment made for SFU expenses by an individual or organization outside the SFU from funds not legally owed to the SFU. Vendor payments are excluded as income. Any expense that is entirely paid by a vendor payment (see examples in 1860.0119) cannot be allowed as an expense under the income disregard policy (Chapter 2400). 1860.0119 Examples of Vendor Payments (RAP) Examples of vendor payments include, but are not limited to, the following:

1. rent payments made directly to the landlord by a third party; 2. rent or mortgage payments made to landlords or mortgagees by DCF, Housing and Urban Development (HUD), or by state or local housing authorities; 3. payments made directly to the utility or phone company by a third party; 4. payments by a government agency to a child care institution to provide day-care for an assistance group individual; 5. disability insurance coverage makes payments on a car due to an accident or illness of an assistance group member. The payment is not voluntary but rather is a specified part of the insurance policy. 6. legal agreement or court ordered payments that go directly to a third party rather than the assistance group; and 7. expense payments by an employer, agency, former spouse, or other person made to a third party from funds not legally owed to the assistance group.

Any payments to the SFU by non-SFU members made directly to a member of the SFU are not vendor payments regardless of the purpose or intent of the payment.