Page 155

Page | 154 8407 CHILD SUPPORT PAID

Specialists must verify the legal obligation of the child support payment prior to allowing the exclusion. Legal obligation may be verified via court orders (e.g. divorce decrees, custody orders, etc.), administrative orders, legally enforceable separation orders, ACCESS DCON panels, etc. Verification of legal obligation may not be used to verify the payment amount. The amount paid may be verified with canceled checks, wage or Reemployment Assistance withholding statements, statements from the custodial parent regarding direct payments, receipts of third party verifications, ACCESS DCON panels, Clerk of Court receipts, etc.

8408 INFORMATION NOT AVAILABLE

Occasionally, the employer or agency which is the source of income might fail to give necessary information or even refuse to cooperate. In nearly all these cases, another source for getting acceptable verification can be located with the household’s help.

When all attempts to verify income have been unsuccessful because the payer fails or refuses to provide information and no other verification can be found, determine an amount that can be used in the SNAP case based on the best available information and document the result.

8409 VERIFICATION OF EXCESS INCOME

Excess Income is a term that is used when a household is over the income limit for SNAP. If a customer applies for SNAP and it is determined they are over income simply based on the information reported on the application, verification of income is required before the application can be denied. EABS must not encourage or discourage a customer from withdrawing their application if it is determined the income is over the SNAP limits. The application must be processed accordingly, unless a customer specifically states they want their application withdrawn.

8500 DOCUMENTATION OF INCOME

The method used to verify, and compute income must be documented in the file at each initial application and subsequent renewal/application. Since household eligibility is determined primarily on the basis of income, it is of utmost importance to the validity of a SNAP case that all sources, figures, dates and computations be recorded in the case narrative.

8501 DOCUMENTATION OF EARNED INCOME Earned income usually is verified by paycheck stubs or wage statements. If paycheck stubs are not used, documentation must explain how the income was arrived at and verified. At a minimum, the following information must be entered:

A. The name of the payer.

B. How the anticipated income was determined. C. The frequency of receipt of income on each stub or statement (e.g. weekly, every two weeks, twice a month, monthly, etc.) Note: Alimony payments do not count as a child support deduction and are not allowable as a deduction. If child support and alimony payments are combined, only the child support payment is allowed as a deduction.