402-3  When the Entitlement Differs From the Payment Amount

Effective: May 1, 2008

Previous Policy

Where an entitlement amount differs from the actual payment amount, use the following criteria to determine what unearned income is countable:

  1. When there are involuntary reductions from an entitlement amount, such as an overpayment deduction, count only the actual amount available to the client as income.

  2. When there are voluntary reductions from an entitlement amount, such as (but not limited to) insurance premiums, savings, garnishments to pay an owed obligation (besides an overpayment amount), count the gross payment amount as income instead of the actual amount issued.

  3. Civil Service benefits.

If a Civil Service recipient is divorced, the divorce decree may award a portion of the Civil Service benefits to the spouse.  This is because the laws governing Civil Service benefits allow a spouse who meets certain criteria, to receive a portion of benefits under a domestic support order from the divorce court.  The Civil Service office has a formula for calculating the benefit amount for the spouse.  Upon receiving the order, Civil Service will determine the amount to be paid to the spouse, and begin sending a check directly to the spouse.  The benefit amount for the Civil Service recipient will be decreased by that amount.  Once this has been done, count only the amount of Civil Service benefits actually received by the client when determining CHIP eligibility.

EXAMPLE:     Mr. and Mrs. Brown have been married for 25 years.  Mr. Brown was a Civil Service employee for 32 years.  He is retired and receives a Civil Service pension of $1200.   They file for divorce and Mrs. Brown files for support from his Civil Service.  The court grants the divorce and orders Mr. Brown to pay support to Mrs. Brown from his Civil Service pension.  After Civil Service Administration receives the order for support, they calculate the portion of benefits Mrs. Brown can receive.  She is awarded $450 a month support from the Civil Service pension.  This leaves Mr. Brown with $750 a month in Civil Service benefits.  Count only the $750 a month as income for Mr. Brown.