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Page 4 of 5 § 10:71-5.1 Income; financial eligibility standards Determination by a county board of social services (CBSS) denying a petitioner's request for Medically Needy Nursing Home Medicaid per N.J.A.C. 10:70-1.1 et seq. was reversed. That determination had been based on a CBSS calculation of amounts held in four bank accounts, two of which were in the name of a business that the applicant had owned. However, the applicant established that the business had stopped operations, would not be reopening for the next school year, had no employees, owed amounts to former employees, to a landlord and to some trade vendors. That being so, a recalculation of the applicant's resources in accord with N.J.A.C. 10:71-5.1(b) and N.J.A.C. 10:71-4.1 was appropriate, and eligibility thus established. F.P. v. Middlesex Cnty. Bd. of Social Servs., OAL DKT. NOS. HMA 03183-14 and HMA 05622-14, AGENCY DKT. NO. 1215061428 (Consolidated), 2014 N.J. AGEN LEXIS 475, Initial Decision (August 6, 2014). Applicant was properly denied Medicaid eligibility because he failed to provide the county agency with a determination from the Social Security Administration regarding his eligibility for social security retirement benefits. Since he failed to do so, the county was unable to complete its eligibility determination and the denial was appropriate. R.E. v. DMAHS and Camden Cnty. Bd. of Social Servs., OAL DKT. NO. HMA 04310-14, 2014 N.J. AGEN LEXIS 938, Final Administrative Determination (August 5, 2014). An Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) concluded that the Division of Medical Assistance and Health Services had correctly determined that a disabled adult's income per N.J.A.C. 10:71-5.1 exceeded the eligibility limit of $ 2130 that applied to the Medicaid Only/Community Care Waiver and that the applicant thus was not entitled to benefits under that program. Applying the "countable income" regulations in N.J.A.C. 10:71-5.2(a), the ALJ determined that the applicant's gross monthly Social Security income of $ 1,372.90 and the applicant's gross monthly Defense Finance Accounting Service annuity of $ 848 were properly counted in their entirety because neither amount was excludable under N.J.A.C. 10:71-5.3. F.S. v. Div. of Med. Assistance & Health Servs., OAL DKT. NO. HMA 01924- 14, AGENCY REF. NO. 9020032857-01, 2014 N.J. AGEN LEXIS 321, Initial Decision (June 10, 2014). ALJ's determination that an applicant's benefits should not have been terminated on the basis that her income exceeded the ceiling for the Global Options Waiver was rejected by DMAHS on findings that governing regulations indicated that gross income, including deductions, was countable toward the eligibility standards. Even though the applicant's gross income, correctly calculated, would exceed the income ceiling only by a few dollars, there was no flexibility to grant benefits to an applicant whose income exceeded the ceiling no matter how slight the amount of the overage was. A.D. v. DMAHS and Morris Cnty. Bd. of Social Servs., OAL DKT. NO. HMA 18804-2013, 2014 N.J. AGEN LEXIS 907, Final Administrative Determination (June 3, 2014). Determination by a county board of social services imposing a penalty period of five months and 17 days before a 97-year-old woman could receive Medicaid Only benefits based on a finding that $ 479 in monthly income was properly imputed to her by reason of her life estate in a family home was reversed because the governing regulations, including N.J.A.C. 10:71-5.4(a) and N.J.A.C. 10:71-4.2(b)1, did not authorize the board to find that the applicant could obtain rental income from a life estate or that such theoretical rental income must be or could be counted as "available income" within the meaning of N.J.A.C. 10:71-5.1(b)1. Given that such an interpretation of existing rules would have a significant impact upon the public at large and given the need for uniformity throughout the state, the status of such theoretical rental income was properly the subject of formal rule-making in compliance with the Administrative Procedure Act, N.J.S.A. 52:14B-1 et seq. H.S. v. DMAHS and Atlantic Cty. Bd. of Soc. Servs., OAL Dkt. NO. HMA 10450-12, 2013 N.J. AGEN LEXIS 12, Initial Decision (January 23, 2013). Applicant was not entitled to Medicaid assistance where she voluntarily reduced her pension income but remained able to rescind the reduction; thus, the original monthly pension benefit of $ 556.34 was available to the applicant and was properly counted in the determination of Medicaid eligibility. J.C. v. DMAHS, OAL Dkt. No. HMA 6950-07, 2008 N.J. AGEN LEXIS 39, Initial Decision (January 17, 2008). Court-ordered spousal support was nevertheless available income to applicant and otherwise countable toward determining Medicaid eligibility. L.M. v. Division of Medical Assistance, 95 N.J.A.R.2d (DMA) 51. Pension benefits paid to former spouse under qualified domestic relations order not gross income. E.M. v. Division of Medical Assistance and Health Services, 93 N.J.A.R.2d (DMA) 93.