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COMBINED MANUAL

ISSUE DATE 12/2014

JOL - ESTABLISHING CLAIMS

0025.21.07

Judgment by Operation of Law (JOL) is a form of civil recovery for establishing overpayments and securing judgments on selected MAXIS claims. The JOL differs from the typical administrative process for establishing overpayment. Instead of first class mail, the notice of overpayment must be provided by certified mail or personal service to the client. See 0026.39 (Notice of Overpayment and Recoupment). The time period for requesting an appeal is extended to 90 days after the notice is received by certified mail or personal service. Typically, the client has 30 days from the date a regular notice of overpayment is mailed to request an appeal. See 0027.09 (Appeal Requests). With the following exceptions, the JOL process must be used for all newly established MAXIS claims:

● Agency error overpayments.

● Household error overpayments under $100.

● Fraud overpayments that have been established by a court order for restitution.

Certified mail for the JOL process is automated for program claims managed in MAXIS. The certified notice of overpayment has special text indicating that a judgment may exist if the notice was received by certified mail or personal service. The MAXIS automated process starts when claims are loaded on MAXIS and defaults to sending certified notices of overpayment for all JOL eligible claims. See TEMP Manual TE02.09.11 (Demand Letters for Overpayments), TE02.09.26 (CCOL/CLRA).

The Issuance Operations Center (IOC) batches the certified mail notices in individual unsealed envelopes and sends them weekly to respective agencies for mailing. Each agency has a designated contact person, preferably a collection or accounting officer responsible for recovery of MAXIS claims. That local agency contact person is responsible for obtaining and affixing a certified mail attachment to each envelope and forwarding them to the U.S. Postal Service for delivery. If the county/agency contact changes, the county/agency should contact the IOC with the new person’s name, address, and phone number.

Local agencies are reimbursed for JOL related certified mailings. Submit claims for reimbursement to the department by completing the specified portion of page 6 of Income Maintenance Expense Report (DHS- 2550) (PDF), which is used by local agencies to electronically submit quarterly claims for federal administrative reimbursement. Enter the quarterly amount specified for MAXIS certified mailings under Account 6800 – Other Eligible Federal Participation Expenditures, and Program 50, MAXIS, MAXIS Certified Mail. You can identify reimbursement for this cost on the state warrant by the coding of 60.MAXISCERTMAILR.QXXX.R.STATE in the invoice field.

When the postal service returns the signed and dated certified mail signature card, the agency contact person prepares a notarized affidavit of service by certified mail. Use Affidavit of Service by Certified Mail (DHS-5290A) (PDF). If the certified letter is returned unsigned by the post office, the contact person may arrange for personal service by the agency’s process server. If notice is delivered by personal service in this way, the process server completes a notarized Affidavit of Service by Personal Service (DHS-5290B) (PDF). If an agency worker serves the notice of overpayment, the worker completes a notarized Affidavit of Personal Service (DHS-5290C) (PDF). The local agency contact person must retain the signed signature cards and affidavits of service until the claim is recorded for docketing, or it is repaid, whichever occurs earlier. See 0025.21.08 (JOL – Docketing & Renewing).

If the JOL certified notice is not delivered and the MAXIS case is still active, the contact person must promptly notify the financial worker so that appropriate action can be taken to determine the whereabouts of the recipient. The contact person should make further attempts of certified mail delivery as is cost effective. If certified delivery is not accepted, the county should send a regular notice of overpayment by first class mail to provide the client with a regular notice of overpayment in order to ensure that the client was given their appeal and compromise rights.

MFIP, DWP, SNAP, MSA, GA: Follow general provisions.

GRH: No provisions.