PDFWAC 388-455-0015

When and how does the department treat lump sum payments as income for cash assistance programs?

This section applies to cash assistance programs.
(1) If you receive a lump sum payment that is not awarded for wrongful death, personal injury, damage, or loss of property, we count this payment as income to your assistance unit. We budget this income according to effective date rules under WAC 388-418-0020.
(2) For cash assistance, if you cannot access some or all of your lump sum payment for reasons beyond your control, we will adjust the amount we count as income to your assistance unit as described under WAC 388-450-0005.
(3) To decide the amount of your lump sum we count as income, we take the following steps:
(a) First, we subtract the value of your current resources from the resource limit under WAC 388-470-0005;
(b) Then, we subtract the difference in (3)(a) from the total amount of the lump sum; and
(c) The amount left over is what we count as income, as specified in WAC 388-450-0025 and 388-450-0030.
(4) When the countable amount of the lump sum payment is:
(a) Less than your payment standard plus additional requirements, we count it as income in the month it is received.
(b) More than one month's payment standard plus additional requirements but less than two months:
(i) We count the portion equal to one month's payment standard plus additional requirements as income in the month it is received; and
(ii) We count the remainder as income the following month.
(c) Equal to or greater than the total of the payment standard plus additional requirements for the month of receipt and the following month, we count the payment as income for those months.
(5) If you receive a one-time lump sum payment, and you are ineligible or disqualified from receiving cash benefits:
(a) We allocate the payment to meet your needs as described under WAC 388-450-0105; and
(b) Count the remainder as a lump sum payment available to eligible members of your assistance unit according to the rules of this section.
[Statutory Authority: RCW 74.04.050, 74.04.055, 74.04.500, 74.04.510, 74.08.090, 74.08A.120, and 2011 1st sp.s. c 15. WSR 13-18-007, § 388-455-0015, filed 8/22/13, effective 10/1/13. Statutory Authority: RCW 74.08.090 and ARRA of 2009, Public Law 111-5, Section 5006(b); 42 C.F.R. 435.601, EEOICPA of 2000, Public Law 106398, Sec. 1, app., Title XXXVI (Oct. 30, 2000) (section 1 adopting as Appendix H.R. 5408), Section 3646 of the Appendix. WSR 10-15-069, § 388-455-0015, filed 7/16/10, effective 8/16/10. Statutory Authority: RCW 74.04.050, 74.04.055, 74.04.057, 74.04.510, and 74.08.090. WSR 08-11-105, § 388-455-0015, filed 5/20/08, effective 7/1/08. Statutory Authority: RCW 74.08.090 and 74.04.510. WSR 99-24-008, § 388-455-0015, filed 11/19/99, effective 1/1/00.]