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COMBINED MANUAL

ISSUE DATE 10/2016

CHILD AND SPOUSAL SUPPORT INCOME

0017.15.03

Also see 0012.21.03 (Support From Non-Custodial Parents).

MFIP: Count current child support payments and arrears the unit gets as unearned income for the child. Count current spousal support payments and arrears the unit gets as unearned income for the caregiver. This applies whether the unit gets it directly or the child support enforcement (CSE) agency disburses it to the caregiver. Consider child and spousal support disbursed to the caregiver on the “issuance date” listed on the DAIL/CSES message. If a participant disputes the receipt date at the end of a month, budget it the next month.

Child and spousal support is budgeted prospectively in the prospectively budgeted months and is budgeted retrospectively thereafter, unless it is no longer received. See NON-RECURRING INCOME in 0002.45 (Glossary: Netherlands' Act...).

For assistance units that receive child support income where there is only 1 child in the unit, disregard up to $100 of child support received. For assistance units that receive child support income where there are 2 or more children in the unit, disregard up to $200 of child support received. This applies to arrears and current child support payments. This disregard is applied to the unit, not per child.

Do not count child support the unit receives for a child no longer on assistance in that household. If the child is on another MFIP case and the child support is forwarded to that child, count the support as income to the child on that case.

Do not count medical or child care support which the unit receives as reimbursement for expenses already incurred.

Do not count child support that the CSE agency collects for a child who gets SSI or any other child not included in the MFIP case for another reason.

When a minor caregiver lives with an adult custodial parent, count the minor caregiver’s portion of the child support as the minor caregiver’s income.

When a minor caregiver does not live with an adult custodial parent, count the minor caregiver’s portion of the child support as the minor caregiver’s income ONLY if the income is forwarded to the minor caregiver or to the adult with whom the minor caregiver lives. If the child support is not forwarded, do not count it against the minor caregiver’s case nor count it against the MFIP grant of the parent who received the child support payment.

If a Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe Tribal TANF program family transfers to your county and continues to receive MFIP, do not count up to $400 per month per family from any child support income the family has, for the 1st 2 months of residence in your county. See 0029.06.24.03 (Tribal TANF-Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe).

See TEMP Manual TE02.08.150 (Child and Spousal Support Disbursements) for instructions on monthly DAIL/CSES messages generated to inform workers of child and spousal disbursements issued to active, pending, and reinstated cases.

DWP: Follow MFIP. After the initial DWP determination, do not count any unanticipated income the unit may receive.

SNAP: Count all current and arrears child support received by the unit in the current month as unearned income. Treat child support payments received by an MFIP caregiver on behalf of a child who is receiving food benefits only (for example, a child receiving SSI) as income to the child.

When a child is not living with the parent, count all support received by that parent as unearned income to the parent if the support is not forwarded or used for the care and maintenance of the child. Count child support arrears in the same way if received regularly. Count 1-time child support arrear payments as a lump sum, see 0015.60 (Evaluation of Lump Sums), 0017.15.30 (Lump Sum Income).

See 0022.03.01.03 (Prospective Budgeting - SNAP Provisions) for information on converting monthly amounts when anticipating