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Page 3 of 5 § 10:71-5.1 Income; financial eligibility standards Amount that was garnished from the Social Security benefit otherwise payable to a Medicaid applicant on account of the applicant's family support obligations was properly included by a county social services board in determining the applicant's "cost-share" as such funds constituted "available income" for eligibility purposes. N.K. v. Morris Cnty. Office of Temporary Assistance, OAL DKT. NO. HMA 02817-16, 2016 N.J. AGEN LEXIS 659, Initial Decision (July 26, 2016). Board of Social Services erred when it included, in the "countable resources" available to a Medicaid recipient, the $ 209.80 per month refund of Medicare Part B premiums that the recipient had paid every month since July 1993. Even though the governing regulations appeared to characterize that refund as "income," an express statement in the Social Security Administration's Program Operations Manual that such refunds were not "income" supported the conclusion that the refund was not properly included in such resources. L.F. v. Bergen Cnty. Bd. of Social Servs., OAL DKT. NO. HMA 16900-15, 2016 N.J. AGEN LEXIS 155, Initial Decision (March 28, 2016). Income stream that was available from a testamentary trust benefiting, inter alia, an applicant for Medicaid constituted a "resource" for the applicant that exceeded the resource ceiling in governing law and thus disqualified the applicant from qualifying for Medicaid. There was no merit to the applicant's claim that the trustee of the trust had validly determined to not invade the corpus of the trust for her nursing home care on the ground that it was not an "emergency" within the meaning of the trust because, in reality, the applicant herself had full discretion to approve or disapprove any proposed payment. S.V. v. Ocean Cnty. Bd. of Social Servs., OAL DKT. NO. HMA 02069-15, 2016 N.J. AGEN LEXIS 78, Initial Decision (February 23, 2016). Pension and disability benefits paid by a qualified pension plan that was governed by ERISA and that were deposited into a bona fide special needs trust established per 42 U.S.C.S. § 1396p(d)(4)(A) and governing state law were "available" to the disabled payee for purposes of determining her Medicaid eligibility because, as a matter of law, such payments could not be assigned to the special needs trust. That being so, such payments constituted "available income" that was countable in determining the payee's income for the purpose of eligibility for the Medically Needy Program. P.R. v. DMAHS and Hunterdon Cnty. Div. of Social Servs., OAL DKT. NO. HMA 05481- 12, 2015 N.J. AGEN LEXIS 766, Initial Decision (December 15, 2015). ALJ rejected a determination of a county social services board finding that an applicant seeking Medicaid for nursing facility care was chargeable with annual income of $ 2,472.41 based on annual K-1 tax filings. Those filings related to a family trust granted under Texas law in 2004 into which the proceeds of the sale of the applicant's house were deposited. The trustee was not permitted to make distributions to the applicant but could make discretionary payments for her health and welfare. The evidence also showed that, in reality, the applicant did not receive any funds from the family trust nor have any power to compel such distributions. C.S. v. Cape May Cnty. Bd. of Soc. Servs., et al., OAL DKT. NO. HMA 1648-15 (ON REMAND HMA 9473-14), 2015 N.J. AGEN LEXIS 513, Decision on Remand (October 14, 2015). Community spouse of a nursing home resident was ineligible to receive any portion of the Social Security benefits paid to her husband and applied to his nursing home costs because she received a monthly gift of $ 3000 which, when taken with her other monthly income of $ 600, funded her independent living. Not only was there no basis for excluding the gift from the community spouse's income for the purpose of assessing her needs but there was no proof of exceptional circumstances justifying allocation, to the community spouse, of some part of the nursing home resident's Social Security benefits. T.D. v. Ocean Cnty. Bd. of Social Servs., OAL DKT. NO. HMA 03009-14, 2015 N.J. AGEN LEXIS 390, Initial Decision (June 25, 2015). Because the N.J. Division of Medical Assistance and Health Services (DMAHS) was not required to implement an income cap waiver that was approved by the federal government, an elderly woman's application for the Global Option waiver program was properly denied based on a finding that she had excess income. The income from her annuity placed it over the monthly Medicaid eligibility income cap of $ 2,130. E.M. v. Union Cnty. Bd. of Social Servs., OAL DKT. NO. HMA 16475-13, 2014 N.J. AGEN LEXIS 823, Initial Decision (December 17, 2014).