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West Virginia Income Maintenance Manual Chapter 5

West Virginia Income Maintenance Manual Page 78 Chapter 5 Assets

➢ Spouses Who Live Together For spouses who live together, the assets of one spouse are counted in their entirety for the other spouse. The asset limit for two is used. ➢ Spouses Who Do Not Live Together For spouses who do not live together, only the jointly owned assets that are accessible to the applicant are counted toward the asset limit. The asset limit for one is used. When one spouse is institutionalized, assets are treated as though they live together, even if they lived apart prior to institutionalization. See Chapter 24 for long term care applicants. 5.6.3.B.2 Joint Ownership with an SSI Recipient Treatment of assets jointly owned with an SSI recipient depends on the type of asset. ➢ Bank Accounts When the joint owner, who is an SSI recipient, does not successfully rebut the presumption of ownership through SSA, all account funds are considered to belong totally to the SSI recipient. Otherwise, the portion that SSA determines not to be his due to his successful rebuttal is considered to belong to the other joint owner(s). ➢ Other Assets For assets other than bank accounts, unless there is evidence to the contrary, assume that each owner owns only his fractional interest of the shared asset. 5.6.3.B.3 Joint Ownership with Other SSI Medicaid Group Clients When the joint owners include more than one applicant or client of an SSI Medicaid Group who are not spouses, the equity value of the asset is divided by the number of SSI Medicaid, M-WIN, CDCS, PAC, QDWI, QMB, SLIMB, or QI-1 clients, regardless of the number of other joint owners. The result is counted as an asset for each client.