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Chapter: 2200 Standard Filing Unit Program: MSSI, SFP 34

If an applicant is married but separated from the spouse, the eligibility specialist will ascertain whether the applicant is living with any other individual as husband and wife. If the answer is in the affirmative, it will be necessary to consider whether the individual with whom the applicant is living should be considered to be a spouse as a result of their holding themselves out as husband and wife. 2240.0604.10 Individual Alleges No Marriage (MSSI, SFP) The policy in this section is applicable only to MEDS-AD, Medically Needy, Protected Medicaid, Working Disabled, QMB, SLMB, QI-1,OSS and HCDA.

When individuals indicate that they are not married to the individual with whom they are living, and a determination that this person is a spouse could affect eligibility, each of the parties living together will be asked to answer the following questions:

1. By what name or names are you known? 2. How do you introduce the other party to friends, relatives, and others? 3. How is mail addressed to you? To the other party? 4. Are there any deeds, installment contracts, tax returns, or other papers showing the two of you as husband and wife? 5. Is the home (apartment) in which you reside owned or rented by one or both of you? If both, furnish the names on the deed or lease.

If the answers to these questions show that the parties represented themselves to others as husband and wife, they will be considered as such, despite their denials. On the other hand, if the parties can furnish a satisfactory explanation of their relationship (such as, owner/housekeeper, co-tenants, or co-occupants), and never represented to others that they were husband and wife, they will not be considered such. 2240.0604.11 More than One Spouse (MSSI, SFP) The policy in this section is applicable only to MEDS-AD, Medically Needy, Protected Medicaid, Working Disabled, QMB, SLMB, QI-1, OSS and HCDA.

Although more than one individual can meet the definition of the spouse of an eligible individual (such as, one person is a legal spouse from whom the eligible individual has been separated, and another is living with the individual in a husband-wife relationship), only one individual will be the "spouse" in any month.

Moreover, even where an individual entitled to SSA has a spouse entitled to the husband's or wife's benefits on their earnings record, a different individual may be the "spouse". The determination as to who is the eligible individual's spouse will be made at the time applications are filed based on the policy in passage 2240.0604.12. 2240.0604.12 "Holding Out" Relationship (MSSI, SFP) The policy in this section is applicable only to MEDS-AD, Medically Needy, Protected Medicaid, Working Disabled, QMB, SLMB, QI-1, OSS and HCDA.

If the eligible individual is living with one individual and they are holding themselves out as husband and wife, and there is another individual from whom the individual is separated (who could also qualify as a spouse), the individual with whom the eligible individual is living will be deemed the "spouse". The "spouse" with whom the eligible individual is living will always be given priority, despite the fact that some other individual may also qualify as the spouse, whether or not such other individual can also qualify as an eligible spouse.