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Subject: Families First Marriage During Receipt of Assistance Policy 23.16 2. Add any of the spouse’s children who are residing with the spouse. The children must meet all eligibility requirements. 3. Use the gross income standard (GIS), the consolidated need standard (CNS), and the maximum payment standard for the new AU size, including the spouse, to determine the assistance payment. 4. The spouse, unless exempt, will be subject to a work and/or educational activity and sanction provisions. 5. Resources of the spouse will be considered available and, therefore, countable to the AU. The spouse must meet enumeration, citizenship, and all other eligibility provisions in order to be an eligible AU member. 6. If the AU no longer meets all points of eligibility, the AU must be closed. Caretaker Elects to Exclude the Spouse Do not add the spouse to the AU for the first three (3) months of the marriage. 1. Determine group eligibility as if the spouse were not in the home. This is true even if the spouse is the parent of an AU child. 2. Do not include the income and resources of the spouse in the eligibility determination for Families First. 3. Any children who moved into the home with the spouse at the time the marriage occurred must be considered for addition to the AU as outlined in policy 23.01 Families First Assistance Units. Two Families First Caretakers Marry If two (2) caretakers are currently eligible and receiving Families First separately, both the caretaker and the spouse will continue to be eligible as separate AUs when: 1. The caretaker marries an individual who is also receiving Families First cash payments and 2. There is no common child. If there is a common child, then both AUs will be combined into one AU. The designation of the caretaker is the decision of the adults in the AU. Exceptions Marriage during the receipt of assistance does not apply to the following scenarios: 1. Couples who are married at the time of application; and/or 2. Spouses who have been out of the home and returning. Note: If a legally divorced couple remarries during the receipt of assistance, the marriage during the receipt of assistance policy would apply. Date of Last Review: 08/07/2026 Effective Date: 10/15/2023 Date of Next Review: 08/07/2029 RDA: SW22 Page 2 of 3