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Page 7 of 40 § 10:71-4.10 Transfer of assets 3. When assets have been transferred in amounts and/or frequencies that would make the calculated penalty periods overlap or structured to run consecutively, the uncompensated value of all the asset transfers shall be added together and divided by the average cost of nursing home care. This will result in a single penalty period, beginning on the first day of the month in which the first transfer was made. For example: An individual transfers $ 15,000 in January, $ 15,000 in February, and $ 15,000 in March. Calculated individually, the penalty periods would overlap. Because the three penalty periods overlap, each of the asset transfers shall be added together and divided by the average cost of nursing home care creating a single penalty period beginning on January 1. 4. When assets have been transferred in such a way that the penalty periods would not overlap, or are not structured to run consecutively, each asset transfer shall be treated as a separate event, each with its own penalty period. For example: An individual transfers $ 15,000 in January, $ 15,000 in November and $ 15,000 in March of the following year. The penalty period for the January transfer would be January and February. The penalty for the November transfer would be November and December. The penalty period for the March transfer would be March and April of the following year. (n) When an individual's income is given or assigned in some manner, such gift or assignment shall be considered an asset transfer. The following standards shall be used to determine the penalty period: 1. Income, in order to be considered transferred, shall have been irrevocably assigned or otherwise unavailable to the individual. If income has been waived or deferred and that waiver or deferral can be reversed, the waived or deferred income shall be considered available to the individual, regardless of whether the income is actually received, and shall be counted in the determination of eligibility. 2. In the event an individual gives up his or her rights to receive a lump sum payment or transfers a lump sum payment in the month it is received, the period of ineligibility shall be based on the amount of the lump sum payment to which he or she was otherwise entitled. 3. In the event a stream of income (that is, income received on a regular basis), such as a pension, is transferred, the county social services agency shall make a determination of the total projected amount of income that has been transferred, based on the individual's life expectancy. This determination shall be based on the most recent life expectancy tables published by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. In determining the projected amount, the county social services agency shall strictly adhere to the life expectancy tables without adjustment for the individual's medical condition or other factors. The projection shall be based on the value of the income at the time of transfer and there shall be no attempt to account for future cost-of-living adjustments over the life expectancy of the individual. 4. In determining if there has been a transfer of income, the county social services agency need not ascertain the individual's spending habits over the appropriate look-back period. Unless there is a reason to believe otherwise, the county social services agency shall assume that the individual's income was legitimately spent on the normal costs of living. The county social services agency may ask questions of the applicant and/or the applicant's representative concerning past and present sources and levels of income and whether the individual has transferred income to others. (o) When an asset is held by an individual in common with another person or persons via joint tenancy, tenancy in common, joint ownership, or similar arrangements, the asset (or the affected share of the asset) shall be considered to be transferred by the individual when any action is taken, either by the individual or any other person, that reduces or eliminates the individual's ownership or control of the asset. 1. If the addition of another name to the ownership of an asset does not change the individual's ownership interest, the action does not constitute a resource transfer. For instance, if another name is added to an individual's account with the term "or," the individual shall not be considered to have transferred assets since he or she continues to have unrestricted access to the funds. In the event the newly added owner subsequently withdraws the funds from the account, that action shall be considered to be a transfer by the individual. The transfer shall be considered to have occurred on the date that the funds are withdrawn from the account.