D-4211 Spouse

Revision 15-4; Effective December 1, 2015

For Medicaid purposes, whether two people are married governs whether:

couple computation rules apply;

spousal or parental deeming applies; and/or

spousal impoverishment rules apply.

Note: Someone who is married cannot be a child for Medicaid purposes.

Accept a person's allegation that he or she is married unless:

the person would otherwise be considered a child for Medicaid purposes;

there is evidence to the contrary; or

the allegation could be self-serving.

Normally, for Medicaid purposes, two people are married as of the first moment of the month. If a marital relationship ends by death, divorce or annulment in the same month it began, treat the marriage as if it had never existed. Otherwise, the termination of marriage is effective the month after the month of death, divorce or annulment.

In Texas, there are three ways to terminate a marriage:

Void marriages — A determination that the marriage could not have existed because of one of the following legal impediments: the parties married within a prohibited degree of consanguinity (for example, nephew or niece), or at least one party has a previous marriage that has not been resolved. Void marriages do not require a lawsuit, and the marriage may be declared void in a collateral action (for example, contest of will). A legal marriage between parties never existed.

Annulments — Also called voidable marriages. Grounds for annulment include, but are not limited to, marrying under the influence of drugs/alcohol, at least one party being incapacitated or the marriage being coerced. Annulments require court action, but under common law, an annulment is retroactive to the date of marriage.

Divorce — Requires court action, and the marriage is dissolved effective the date of the divorce decree.

Persons with void marriages or who have obtained a court annulment of their marriages are treated as though they were always individuals. In the instance of a divorce, persons are considered married through the end of the calendar month in which the divorce is issued.

For spouse-to-spouse deeming purposes, consider the following in the budget:

the eligible individual; and

the spouse; or

any of the couple's children (or children of either member of the couple).