WAC 388-513-1330 Determining available income for legally married couples for long-term care (LTC) services



This section describes income the department considers available when determining a legally married client's eligibility for LTC services.   

1. The department must apply the following rules when determining income eligibility for LTC services:
   1. WAC 182-512-0600  Definition of income SSI-related medical;
   2. WAC 182-512-0650  Available income;
   3. WAC 182-512-0700  Income eligibility;
   4. WAC 182-512-0750 Countable unearned income;
   5. WAC 182-512-0840  (3) Self employment income-allowance expenses;
   6. WAC 182-512-0960  SSI related medical clients; and
   7. WAC 388-513-1315   Eligibility for long-term care (institutional, waivered, and hospice) services.
2. For an institutionalized client married to a community spouse who is not applying or approved for LTC services, the department considers the following income available, unless subsection (4) applies:
   1. Income received in the client’s name;
   2. Income paid to a representative on the client’s behalf;
   3. One-half of the income received in the names of both spouses; and
   4. Income from a trust as provided by the trust.
3. The department considers the following income unavailable to an institutionalized client:
   1. Separate or community income received in the name of the community spouse; and
   2. Income established as unavailable through a court order.
4. For the determination of eligibility only, if available income described in subsections (2) (a) through (d) minus income exclusions described in WAC 388-513-1340 exceeds the special income level (SIL), then:
   1. The department follows community property law when determining ownership of income;
   2. Presumes all income received after marriage by either or both spouses to be community income; and
   3. Considers one-half of all community income available to the institutionalized client.
   4. If the total of subsection (4)(c) plus the client's own income is over the SIL, follow subsection (2).
5. The department considers income generated by a transferred resource to be the separate income of the person or entity to which it is transferred.
6. The department considers income available to the client not generated by a transferred resource available to the client, even when the client transfers or assigns the rights to the stream of income to:
   1. The spouse; or
   2. A trust for the benefit of their spouse.
7. The department evaluates the transfer of a resource described in subsection (5) according to WAC 388-513-1363, 388-513-1364, and 388-513-1365 to determine whether a penalty period of ineligibility is required.