Alaska Administrative Code › Title 7 - Health and Social Services › Part 3 - Public Assistance and Medical Assistance › Chapter 45 - Alaska Temporary Assistance Program › 7 AAC 45.300 - Exempt resources

Current through May 31, 2024
(a) Exempt resources are not considered in
				determining eligibility for ATAP benefits. A resource is not exempt unless it
				is determined to be wholly or partially exempt under this section or
				7 AAC 45.301.
(b) The physical structure that serves as the
				applicant's or recipient's residence, and the land upon which that structure is
				situated, are an exempt resource. For any other land to be exempt, it must be
				fully contiguous to the land upon which the residence is situated.
(c) A business property is a nonexempt
				resource unless the property is also the applicant's or recipient's residence
				or is land that is fully contiguous to the land on which the residence is
				situated.
(d) For purposes of (b)
				and (c) of this section, land is fully contiguous if it touches the land upon
				which a residence is located. An easement or right-of-way on the land does not
				cause that land to cease to be fully contiguous. Land is not fully contiguous
				if it can be sold separately from the land upon which the residence is located
				without platting or other intervention of a federal, state, or local
				government.
(e) Land and stock
				distributed to Alaska Natives and their descendants under
				43 U.S.C.
				1601 -
				1629 h (Alaska Native Claims
				Settlement Act (ANCSA)) and held by an Alaska Native, or a descendant of that
				Alaska Native, to whom it was distributed, are exempt resources. The first
				$2,000 cash of distributions that an individual retains in a calendar year from
				a village or regional corporation established under ANCSA is an exempt
				resource. Any amount received and retained in excess of $2,000 in a calendar
				year is a nonexempt resource. If an individual receives cash distributions from
				one or more ANCSA corporations, the combined total amount of those
				distributions that is retained and that exceeds $2,000 in a calendar year is a
				nonexempt resource. This $2,000 exemption applies to each individual in an
				economic unit and to each calendar year.
(f) Payments made to or held in trust for a
				member of an Indian tribe under
				25 U.S.C.
				117 a - 117c, 459 - 459e, 1261, and 1401 -
				1407, and purchases made with that money, are exempt resources.
(g) Land that is classified as "Native
				Restricted Deed" and that cannot be sold without approval of the Bureau of
				Indian Affairs, or land that may not have the same classification but that has
				substantially similar title restrictions, is an exempt resource.
(h) Personal effects and household goods that
				are essential to day-to-day living are exempt resources. Luxury items that are
				not essential to daily life are determined to be either exempt or nonexempt
				resources under (o) of this section.
(i) Tools, light machinery, or farm machinery
				necessary to produce income are exempt resources.
(j) Stock and inventory necessary to produce
				self-employment income, including fish nets, traps, motor vehicles,
				transferable limited entry fishing permits issued under AS 16.43 (Regulation of
				Entry into Alaska Commercial Fisheries), and handicrafts on consignment for
				sale, are exempt resources if they are actually producing gross self-employment
				income as defined in
				7 AAC 45.445, or would be producing income except for
				temporary factors beyond the applicant's or recipient's control.
(k) Unless otherwise exempt under this
				section, real property is an exempt resource if the applicant or recipient is
				making a good faith effort to sell the property. For purposes of this
				subsection, the department will consider an applicant or recipient to be making
				a good faith effort to sell if the property is actually being offered for sale
				on a continuous basis by being listed with a realtor or, if offered privately,
				by being advertised in the local newspaper at least once a month. A visible
				"for sale" sign must be posted on the property. The property must be offered at
				a price that is not greater than the prices for similar properties in the
				area.
(l) A corrective payment of
				ATAP benefits is an exempt resource in the month that it is received.
(m) A resource placed in trust for a member
				of an ATAP economic unit is considered an available and nonexempt resource,
				unless the trust is established by an individual who is not a member of the
				economic unit and the trust document prohibits distribution for basic living
				expenses. The department will individually examine all other trusts that
				pertain to a member of an assistance unit, to determine if the property of the
				trust, or its income, are exempt resources. For a trust for which the
				department determines that trust property or trust income is a nonexempt
				resource, the applicant must provide a copy of the trust document and any
				related documents necessary to determine the net worth of that trust. If an
				individual who has the power to terminate or modify the trust agrees to
				terminate or modify the trust and release the property or the balance of the
				trust to the caretaker relative, the relative's spouse, or to the child
				receiving ATAP benefits, the trust property and trust income are nonexempt
				resources.
(n) A motor vehicle is
				exempt if the motor vehicle is used for family transportation necessary to meet
				basic needs, including obtaining food, medical care, other essentials, or for
				transportation to or from school, work, or training. A motor vehicle also is
				exempt if necessary to transport a disabled family member, to produce
				self-employment income, or for a family member to participate in a work
				activity approved by the department, or if used as the family's home. The
				equity value of a motor vehicle that is not exempt under this subsection is
				considered a nonexempt resource.
(o) The equity value of household goods and
				personal effects that are nonessential luxury items are exempt resources, with
				the following exceptions:
(1) a luxury item
				is exempt if its equity value is $1,000 or less;
(2) entertainment devices, personal apparel,
				rare-metal service items regularly used by the family, and religious articles
				are exempt regardless of value;
(3)
				a decorative object of art is totally exempt, regardless of its value, if the
				object
(A) was made by a person whose
				relationship to the applicant or recipient would qualify that person as a
				caretaker relative if that person were actually providing care and control of
				the dependent child; or
(B) has an
				important cultural significance to the applicant's or recipient's clan,
				village, ethnic group, or racial community, such that the applicant or
				recipient is, in effect, acting as caretaker or agent of the community and is
				not free to dispose of the item without suffering personal or social
				consequences for violating rules or unwritten traditions of the clan, village,
				ethnic group, or racial community.