(1) For the purposes of this section, burial funds are funds set aside and clearly designated solely for burial and related expenses, and kept separate from all other resources not intended for burial. These include:

(a) Revocable burial contracts;

(b) Revocable burial trusts; or

(c) Other revocable burial arrangements. The designation is effective the first day of the month in which the person intended the funds to be set aside for burial.

(2) Burial funds in a revocable burial contract, burial trust, cash accounts, or other financial instruments with a definite cash value are excluded as resources for the person and their spouse, up to $1,500 each, when set aside solely for burial or cremation and related expenses.

(3) Interest earned in burial funds and appreciation in the value of excluded burial arrangements in subsection (2) of this section are excluded from resources and are not counted as income if left to accumulate and become part of the separate burial fund.

(4) An irrevocable burial account, burial trust, or other irrevocable burial arrangement, set aside solely for burial and related expenses, is not considered a resource. To be excluded, the amount set aside must be reasonably related to the anticipated death-related expenses.

(5) The $1,500 exclusion for burial funds described in subsection (2) of this section is reduced by:

(a) The face value of life insurance with CSV excluded in WAC 182-512-0450; and

(b) Amounts that meet the requirements of subsection (4) of this section.

(6) A person's burial funds are no longer excluded when they are mixed with other resources that are not related to burial.

(7) When excluded burial funds are spent for other purposes, the spent amount is added to other countable resources and any amount exceeding the resource limit is considered available income on the first of the month it is used. The amount remaining in the burial fund remains excluded.

(8) Burial space and accessories for the person and any member of the person's immediate family described in subsection (9) of this section are excluded. Burial space and accessories include:

(a) Conventional gravesites;

(b) Crypts, niches, and mausoleums;

(d) Necessary and reasonable improvements to the burial space including, but not limited to:

(i) Vaults and burial containers;

(ii) Headstones, markers and plaques;

(iii) Arrangements for the opening and closing of the gravesite; and

(iv) Contracts for care and maintenance of the gravesite.

(e) A burial space purchase agreement that is fully or partially paid, and any accrued interest.

(9) Immediate family, for the purposes of subsection (8) of this section includes the person's:

(a) Spouse;

(b) Parents and adoptive parents;

(d) Siblings (brothers and sisters), including adoptive and stepsiblings;

(e) Spouses of any of the above.

None of the family members listed above, need to be dependent on or living with the person, to be considered immediate family members.

PDFWAC 182-512-0500

SSI-related medical—Burial funds, contracts and spaces excluded as resources.