PM 04-05-01: SNAP Household Definitions

WAG 04-05-01

Use the following special definitions when deciding who to include in a SNAP household.

  • Elderly Disabled Status - A person who meets elderly disabled status and lives with others can be a separate SNAP household. If the elderly disabled person lives with their spouse, the spouse must be included in the same SNAP household.

    A person meets elderly disabled status ifrevised manual text: 

    • age 60 or older, and
    • cannot buy and prepare their food because they suffer from a severe disability considered permanent under the Social Security Act (see WAG 05-06-01-a for the list of disabilities), and
    • the gross income of the people that they live with is less than 165% of the poverty level (see WAG 04-05-02 for the gross income chart).
  • A parent, defined as:
    • biological parents (natural); or
    • legal parents (adoptive), (a civil union partner when a child is born into the civil union, see (WAG 04-05-03); or
    • stepparents.

      Note:When a SNAP household member states that the parent of a child lives with the household, accept their statement and include the parent. No other proof is needed. 

  • Parental control means that a person is financially or nonfinancially dependent on a non-parent adult SNAP household member.

    Parental control does not apply to persons living with their spouse and/or child(ren). 

  • Spouses are persons who are:
    • married to each other under state law, including same sex marriages, see (WAG 04-05-03); or
    • living together and holding themselves out to the community as husband and wife by representing themselves as such to friends, relatives, neighbors, or tradespeople. 

Note: Couples who are in a civil union are not considered spouses. Grant separate SNAP household status if food is bought and prepared separately, see (WAG 04-05-03).