e. Presumption of Child Custody In the absence of evidence that a parent or guardian has been divested of either the legal right to exercise parental control over the child or legal responsibility for the child’s support, presume that the child is in the parent’s or guardian’s custody for current-law Pension purposes. If a question arises as to whether or not some positive legal action has divested an individual of the legal right to exercise parental control over the child as well as legal responsibility for the child’s support, request a legal opinion from the Office of General Counsel. Reference: For more information on the legal right to exercise parental control, see . Under , the request for a legal opinion should specifically pose the question in terms of whether positive legal action has divested the parent or guardian of the legal right to exercise parental control over the child, or legal responsibility for the child’s support. This is because divestiture of legal custody by means other than a court order or agreement does not take the child out of custody for current-law Pension purposes. f. Determining Surviving Child’s Rate Based on Custody If a child is not “in custody,” or if the child is in the custody of an institution, determine the child’s rate of Pension by subtracting the child’s IVAP from the child MAPR in the Pension rate charts in , per . Under , if the child is in custody, pay the lesser of the following two pension rates: child alone MAPR reduced by the child’s IVAP only, or surviving spouse and child MAPR reduced by the combined IVAP of the child person having custody of the child, and spouse of the person having custody of the child if the child is in the custody of a biological or adoptive parent. Note: The income of the spouse of a legal guardian who is not the child’s parent is not a factor in determining IVAP.
d. Definition: Recurring Income Recurring income is income that comes to the income recipient on a regular basis, such as weekly or monthly, and is received in regular amounts. A monthly SS check is the most common example of recurring income. For current-law Pension purposes, recurring type income, such as monthly SS payments, must be counted on the VA award for at least 12 months to be considered recurring income. Treat retroactive payments of recurring type benefits as nonrecurring income. Reference: For an example of how to count recurring income, see M21-1, Part V, Subpart iii, 1.E.6.e e. Definition: Short-Term Recurring Income Short-term recurring income is recurring income that has not been counted on the VA award for at least 12 months. An example of short-term recurring income is regular wages that are counted on the award for six months when the beneficiary is laid off and the income stops. Note: VA treats short-term recurring income as nonrecurring income for income calculation purposes. See and M21-1 V.iii.1.E.6 f. Definition: Irregular Income Irregular income is an intermediate category of income that has characteristics of both recurring and nonrecurring income. In general, irregular income is income that is received several times during an income reporting period, but which comes at irregular intervals or in irregular amounts. Examples of irregular income include earned income from odd jobs, and interest income where the rate of return fluctuates. Normally, irregular income is reported after the fact. Reference: For examples of how to count irregular income, see M21-1, Part V, Subpart iii, 1.E.6