PM 10-04-04

A determination of liability is made when income is received by a parent living in the home who is not included in the assistance unit. The parent must be living with a minor caretaker under age 18 or be excluded from the case due to receipt of disability income.

This liability amount is determined centrally through data entered in the appropriate place by the FCRC.

  • ACM Entry

    Enter data on the Determination of Parent Liability Screen.

    This supplementary calculation screen only appears on ACM when requested. 

  • IPACS Entry

    Enter data on Form 2943 and submit to the financial unit with Form 552. 

Combined Liabilities

Combine the income of 2 parents and use it to compute a single parental liability.

revised textExample: The applicant, Ms. B, is an unmarried 17-year-old mother of 2 children. She lives in Chicago with her parents, who are both employed, and 2 younger brothers. The only income is her father's salary of $1,000 gross per month and her mother's salary of $909 gross per month.

Parents' gross monthly income:  $1,909
revised textInitial Employment Deduction for 2 persons:  - 289
 $1,620
Deduct 3 times the Payment Level for Mr. & Mrs. B & 2 sons:  -1,422
Amount applied as parent liability to Ms. B and her 2 children:  $ 198

The Payment Level is $432. Since $198 is less than $432, Ms. B and her children are eligible for cash benefits of $234 ($432 - $198 = $234).

Recomputing Liability

  1. Enter code R in Item 36 of Form 552 to indicate the presence of earned income when parent liability is budgeted for an active case and the parent has earned income.
  2. Recompute the liability at each redetermination.

Active TANF Cases

  1. SWAP the case to Medical when the unit is determined ineligible for TANF due to liability of the parent(s) of a minor caretaker.
  2. Include only the dependent child(ren) in the medical case.
  3. Do not include the minor caretaker.
  4. Use TAR 17 in Item 33 of Form 552 for the SWAP if the parent liability is enough to meet needs.
  5. Use TAR 65 if the parent's income was not verified.
  6. See WAG 18-02-00 for SWAP Instructions.

SWAPping to Medical

When SWAPping the case to Medical:

  1. Do not compute parent liability for the Medical case.
  2. Ensure there is no break in medical coverage.
  3. Send Notice of Change (Form 157), Worksheet for Computation of TANF Grant/Food Stamps - Work Pays (Form 553J), and Attachment to Worksheet for Computation of Grant/Food Stamps (Form 553G), advising the client of the persons who are ineligible for cash benefits and the reason for cancellation.

Include on the Form 157 the name of the persons being SWAPped to Medical and the effective date of the SWAP.

Parent Liability at Intake

When a benefit unit is found ineligible for cash because the parent of a minor mother has a liability sufficient to meet the needs of the benefit unit or the minor mother fails to verify the parent's income, do the following:

  1. (FCRC) Change the category of benefits to Medical (see WAG 17-01-03-a).
  2. (FCRC) Approve the Medical case, using the date of the original cash application. Include only the dependent child(ren) in the Medical case.
  3. (System) Sends Form 360C, Form 553I, and Form 553GC to notify the client of the denial reason for the cash determination and of the medical approval.