Source: https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F2/976/942/47393/
Timestamp: 2019-04-26 04:18:12+00:00

Document:
Josephine V. Dye, Roger Gette, Dallas, Tex., for plaintiffs-appellants.
Sarah L. Anderson, Asst. Atty. Gen., Dan Morales, Atty. Gen., Austin, Tex., for defendants-appellees.
Before GOLDBERG, KING and GARWOOD, Circuit Judges.
Plaintiffs are a family who received financial assistance through Aid to Families with Dependent Children ("AFDC")1 and food stamps under the Food Stamp Program,2 until the Texas Department of Human Services ("TDHS") determined that the family was no longer eligible for those benefits because one child had come into the equivalent of a small inheritance upon the death of her father.3 Although the money is controlled by a representative payee who will not release the funds for purposes of supporting the family, the Texas Department of Human Services ("TDHS") nevertheless "deemed" the child's assets available to support the child and the rest of her family. Plaintiffs sued the commissioner of the Texas Department of Human Services under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (action for deprivation of civil rights under color of state law), 42 U.S.C. § 1396a(a) (17) (D) (Medicaid Program), 42 U.S.C. § 407 et seq. (Social Security), 7 U.S.C. § 2011 et seq. (Food Stamp Program).
Plaintiffs contend that a child does not have a duty to support her family with her own assets. We do not address this global claim, for it is not necessary to decide whether a child's assets may be reached in order to prevent the family's destitution. We find that it is well established that a child's assets may be reached by her siblings and other family members residing in the same household if necessary to prevent or reduce their reliance on welfare benefits. See Bowen v. Gilliard, 483 U.S. 587, 107 S. Ct. 3008, 97 L. Ed. 2d 485 (1987); Jackson v. Jackson, 857 F.2d 951, 955-56 (4th Cir. 1988).
As desirable as it may be for this child to have a trust fund which she might use for various purposes when she attains majority, we cannot agree that she may maintain that trust fund while her family languishes in poverty and is supported wholly or in part by the public purse. We hold that the child's assets are "deemable" for the purposes of determining her family's eligibility for AFDC and food stamps. If the representative payee will not release the funds necessary to make up the loss of the AFDC benefits and food stamps, plaintiffs are not left without a remedy. They may challenge the appointment of this particular representative payee (or seek her removal) under 42 U.S.C. §§ 405(j) (2) (E) (i) and 405(j) (2) (E) (ii), or they may sue the representative payee.
When title II [OASDI] benefits are paid to a representative payee on behalf of a member of the assistance unit and the payee lives in the same household as the assistance unit, the title II benefits must be counted as income. When the representative payee does not live in the household, the title II benefits are included only to the extent that the payee makes them available for the support of the beneficiary.
Plaintiffs concede that, "The representative payee is required to provide for the child's immediate needs, which the parties agree she does by providing a portion of the monthly Social Security income to the household. The lump sum (i.e., the resource in question), is invested in anticipation of [the child's] future education needs."

References: V. 
 § 1983
 § 1396
 § 407
 § 2011
 v. 
 v.