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Chapter 2: Household Composition 2 (C) Change of Household Composition Prior to Determining

1) Member(s) Entering the Household If an application is received and prior to determining the eligibility, it is either reported or discovered that an additional member has entered the household and has been not reported by the client, notice should be sent to the client requesting that individual’s information, income verifications (if applicable) and signature page (if applicable). That individual’s income must be included when determining eligibility for that application unless he/she is already a household member on an approved case. If the individual is a child, the caseworker may call the client and verify if the child is still in the household.

2) Member(s) Leaving the Household If an application is received and prior to determining eligibility, a household member leaves the household, the applicant should provide a written statement indicating the date the household member left. That member will be removed from the applicant’s case prior to determining eligibility.

(D) College Students College students residing in the home at the time of eligibility determination and their income must be included.

(E) Custodial/Non-Custodial Parents/Joint Custody If there is not joint custody, a non-custodial parent cannot include the child as a household member.

In Joint Custody situations, generally one parent will be appointed the Custodial Parent and the other will be appointed as a Non-Custodial Parent. As a general rule, Custodial Parents do not pay child support and the OCSE system may be a good indicator of who is actually the Custodial Parent.

In situations where 50% of the time is spent with each parent, each parent may apply for heating assistance and the children would be included in both households.

If there is some question about a custody situation, a copy of a court order or other legal documentation outlining the terms and conditions of the custody may be requested from the applicant. If no legal documentation exists outlining how much time is spent with each parent, the caseworker may request a statement from the applicant, the statement must contain how much time the children live in their home and must be included in the client’s file. If verification is made by telephone the caseworker must narrate who they spoke with, date verified and the amount of time the children live in their home.