11128 Transfers of Claims (Cash and Food Stamps Only)

11128 Transfers of Claims (Cash and Food Assistance Only)

11128.1 Households Separate After a Claim is Established -

For recovery purposes, a claim in KAECSES shall normally follow the PI and should remain active on the case that is active in KAECSES. If, however, a household splits and both adults remain on assistance, the entire balance of the claim should follow the person deemed most responsible for the overissuance or the person found guilty of fraud. If the case on which the claim is active is closed and the other adult becomes active in KAECSES, the claim should be transferred to the active case for recovery purposes. This is a guideline and should be followed if possible, however, exceptions can be made if Fraud Unit staff are involved and specifically request that a claim be separated and established on two cases (e.g., both adults found guilty of fraud). Careful documentation is required in all situations. For proper claim transfer procedures, see the next item.

11128.2 Transferring Claims - In certain situations, an active claim may exist on a closed case and the client that was responsible for the claim is receiving cash or food assistance benefits on another case. If the recovery method is to be by benefit reduction or offsetting, the claim must be transferred from the closed case to the active case. (Only cash benefits can be recovered from a cash case and food assistance from a food assistance case.) If recovery is by any other method, the claim need not be transferred.

To transfer a claim (with or without payments already credited), the following procedures are to be followed:
1. NO Payments Have Been Made on the claim:
  1. On the closed case with the active claim, screen print OVCA to determine and document the amount of the claim. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT, because once the claim is deleted, the amount of the claims will NOT be accessible.
  2. Once the amount of the claim is documented by the screen print of OVCA, use the delete (DL) function and delete the claim from the closed case. This will automatically close the claim and set the balance to zero.
2. Payments Have Been Made on the claim:
  1. On the closed case with the active claim, screen print OVCA to determine and document the balance remaining on the claim. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT, because once the claim is modified, the balance remaining will not be accessible.
  2. Once the amount of the remaining balance is documented by the screen print of OVCA, use the change action function and modify the claim (each month, as needed) such that the remaining balance is equal to the amount of payments that have been made on the claim. Once processed, this will set the claim balance to zero.
    
    Example: A claim was established in 1998 for $135.00, for the months of January 1998 through May 1998. The breakdown for each month is as follows: January - $25, February - $30, March - $30, April - $20, May - $30. Benefit reduction in 1999 collected $50 and the balance of the claim is now $85. The claim amount must be reduced to $50 in order for the claim to show a balance of zero. To do this, the change (C) function must be used to modify the claim for January to 0, February to 0, and March to 0. April will be left at $20 and May at $30 equaling $50. Since $50 was paid on the claim, it will zero out the claim balance once this change is processed. The remaining balance of $85 will be established on the new case. Any problems with this procedure should be referred to Help Desk.
Document why the claim is being transferred, and the name and case number of the case it is being transferred to.
In the case where the individual responsible for the claim is active, establish a claim with the remaining balance, documenting where the claim was transferred from, the original date the claim was established, and any other pertinent information.
Start benefit reduction, or complete offsetting as appropriate. Notify the PI of the recoupment (or offsetting) and explain why the reduction is occurring.

11128.3 Collecting GA Overpayments From TANF Benefits - The following procedures should be followed:

Delete the GA overpayment from the case on OVCA by entering D in the action field next to each month of the claim and press enter. Note the remaining balance of the claim as this will be the amount that is used when the TANF overpayment is created. If any repayments have been made on this claim, an info edit will appear stating that the total outstanding is less than zero. Press enter after the edit appears and the claim will be deleted.
If the GA case is in another county and is closed, contact Help Desk to have the overpayment deleted.
Create a TANF overpayment on OVCA for the amount of the remaining balance of the GA overpayment.
Document the AF overpayment creation and the balance and the months involved in the GA claim in the case file.
Initiate benefit reduction on the TANF case.

11129 Compromising Claims - The compromise method of payment shall be used in the following situations when the amount of the claim is reduced in accordance with a court or Fraud Unit agreement. The amount determined uncollectable shall be entered as the amount compromised.

All actions to compromise the balance of a claim are done by Central Cashier following established practices for submitting payments. The compromise method can be used on all programs, and must be pre-authorized by Fraud Unit staff and/or the TOP Administration Unit.

11130 Expunged Benefits - Expunged food assistance, child care and cash benefits are benefits that have been aged off and not returned to KAECSES/KsCares and the EBT account within 12 months from the date they were initially made available. These benefits cannot be used as payment on a claim, however, they shall be used to reduce the amount of any active claims with a balance of $10 or more that the client has.

Expunged food assistance benefits can only be used to reduce the amount of food assistance claims. Expunged child care benefits can only be used to reduce the amount of child care claims. Expunged cash benefits can be used to reduce the amount of cash claims and food assistance claims if no cash claims exist.

This activity is managed by the EES Administration EBT Unit including identification of the expunged benefits, modification of the claim, and notification of the activity to the local office. Local staff will be notified when expunged benefits are used to modify a claim by receipt of a collateral notice, I011-Field Notice -

Expunged Food Assistance/Cash Claim Change. This notice will be sent to one designated staff person in each Area, who will in turn provide the notice to the caseworker if the case is open, or have it filed in the casefile if the case is closed. Local staff shall document the claim reduction in the case file, and notify the client of the new claim balance. A special notice, V831 - Unused EBT Benefits Applied to Claim has been developed for this purpose. This notice shall be sent on all cases, open and closed. (Send notices on closed cases to the last known address.) In addition, if claim modification affects a fraud claim that has Fraud Unit involvement, the designated Area staff person should also share a copy of the I011 notice with the Fraud Unit.

NOTE: The month of overpayment does NOT have to match the month of the expunged benefits. If it is determined that the month of expunged benefits matches the month of the claim, then that claim will be modified. If there is not a match, then any active claim will be modified, with a priority order of agency, client and fraud.