10:87-5.7 Special income situations

(a) Moneys withheld from earned income, or other income source, or moneys received from any income source (except as specified in (c) below) which are voluntarily or involuntarily returned to repay a prior overpayment that is not excludable under N.J.A.C. 10:87-5.6 shall not be counted as income. Moneys withheld from an assistance grant to repay a prior overpayment that is the result of an inadvertent client error or agency error shall not be counted as income. (b) Child Support under Title IV-D shall be treated as follows: 1. Title IV-D child support payments shall be excluded from the NJ SNAP eligibility determination and benefit calculation process, provided that those payments shall be assigned to the CSSA. Note that this income exclusion shall not apply, however, to child support payments which are not assigned to the CSSA. Child support which the household is not required to remit to the CSSA shall be considered as unearned income for NJ SNAP purposes. 2. An amount up to the first $ 100.00 per month of child support payments received for an WFNJ family through the child support and paternity (Title IV-D) process is disregarded in the WFNJ program and is paid to the WFNJ family in the form of disregarded child support (DCS) payment. The amount of the DCS payment shall be counted as unearned income for NJ SNAP purposes in accordance with N.J.A.C. 10:87-5.5(a)5, as are any child support payments received directly by a NJ SNAP household. DCS payments which are intended for a prior month shall be excluded under N.J.A.C. 10:87-5.9. (c) The rules for failure to comply with public assistance (PA) program requirements (also known as "The Riverside Rule") ban an increase in NJ SNAP program benefits when income from the WFNJ/TANF/GA programs is decreased (reduced or suspended) as a result of failure to comply with a program requirement and a sanction has been imposed. 1. The CSSA shall apply the Riverside Rule when an individual commits an act of noncompliance in the WFNJ/TANF/GA programs and it results in a sanctioning of that individual, regardless of whether or not there is a disqualification in the NJ SNAP program. 2. The CSSA shall apply the Riverside Rule if an individual commits an act of fraud in the WFNJ/TANF/GA programs and it has been determined that an IPV exists. i. The Riverside Rule shall also apply when an IPV has been committed, which results in a sanction. 3. The PA amount to be considered as income for NJ SNAP purposes shall be the pre-sanction amount. This pre-sanction amount shall be used until the sanction is removed. i. If a new member is added to the PA household during the period of sanction, the TANF grant increases and the calculation of NJ SNAP benefits shall be based on the new TANF grant amount as the TANF countable income. The new member added to the PA household will also increase the NJ SNAP benefit amount since the new person is also added to the NJ SNAP household. 4. The Riverside Rule shall be applied during the full period of the PA sanction. 5. In the event that the Riverside Rule is invoked and the household's PA is terminated, in order to receive NJ SNAP benefits, the household shall apply for non- public assistance NJ SNAP benefits. 6. In multi-person households, if the individual who committed the act of noncompliance leaves the household's residence, the Riverside Rule penalty shall continue to apply to the noncompliant individual until the sanction period ends. The Riverside Rule penalty shall not be applied to any remaining household members. 7. The Riverside Rule shall not apply to individuals who fail to comply with a PA program requirement at the time of application and, thus, are never issued a PA benefit. 8. The CSSA shall not apply the Riverside Rule and shall not count as income monies withheld from an assistance grant to repay a prior overpayment that is the result of an inadvertent household error or agency error. i. Monies withheld from an assistance grant due to an IPV shall invoke the Riverside Rule. 9. The Riverside Rule does not apply to Supplemental Living Support payments. 10. If the CSSA is not successful in obtaining the necessary cooperation from a municipal welfare agency to enable it to comply with the requirements of this provision, the CSSA shall not be held responsible for noncompliance as long as the CSSA has made a good faith effort to obtain information regarding a noncompliance. Attempts to obtain information from the appropriate agency shall be documented in the case record. (d) The following are good cause reasons for not applying the Riverside Rule. The ban on increasing benefits does not apply under these circumstances. 1. Clients whose WFNJ/TANF or WFNJ/GA benefits are terminated; 2. Clients fail to reapply or to complete the reapplication process for continued WFNJ cash assistance; 3. Clients fail to perform a purely procedural requirement, such as failing to sign an application; or 4. Clients fail to perform a required action because they are unable to complete the action through no fault of their own. History HISTORY: Emergency amendment, R.1985 d.178, effective March 25, 1985 (operative April 1, 1985, expiration date May 24, 1985). See: 17 N.J.R. 986(a). Readopted by R.1985 d.313, effective May 28, 1985. See: 17 N.J.R. 986(a), 17 N.J.R. 1567(a). Amended by R.1989 d.121, effective February 21, 1989. See: 20 N.J.R. 2689(a), 21 N.J.R. 511(b). Substantially amended. Amended by R.1998 d.498, effective October 5, 1998. See: 30 N.J.R. 1928(a), 30 N.J.R. 3669(b). In (b) and (c), substituted references to WFNJ for references to AFDC and GA throughout; in (b)1, substituted a reference to administrative determination for a reference to determination; in (c)1, added iii; rewrote (d); and added (e). Amended by R.1999 d.6, effective January 4, 1999. See: 30 N.J.R. 3451(a), 31 N.J.R. 69(a). In (c), substituted references to SSI and WFNJ for references to AFDC, SSI and GA. Amended by R.2004 d.181, effective May 17, 2004. See: 36 N.J.R. 28(a), 36 N.J.R. 2425(a). Rewrote the section. Amended by R.2007 d.129, effective May 7, 2007. See: 38 N.J.R. 4374(a), 39 N.J.R. 1719(a). Rewrote (c). Amended by R.2009 d.94, effective March 16, 2009. See: 40 N.J.R. 5932(a), 41 N.J.R. 1245(b). In the introductory paragraph of (c), substituted "or suspended" for ", suspended or terminated"; in (c)2i, inserted a comma following "committed" and deleted "and the closure of a case" from the end; in (c)4, deleted the last sentence; in the introductory paragraph of (c)5, deleted "and the Riverside Rule penalty shall apply for three months after the termination of PA benefits" from the end; deleted (c)5i; and in (d)1, deleted "due to the five-year time limit on eligibility" from the end. Amended by R.2009 d.135, effective April 20, 2009. See: 40 N.J.R. 5501(a), 41 N.J.R. 1861(a). In (b)2, substituted "$ 100.00" for "$ 50.00". Administrative change. See: 44 N.J.R. 1529(a). Amended by R.2025 d.108, effective September 15, 2025. See: 57 N.J.R. 647(a), 57 N.J.R. 2267(a). In (c)3i, deleted the last sentence; deleted former (d)2, and recodified (d)3 through (d)5 as (d)2 through (d)4.