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The customer has irrevocably assigned ownership of a life insurance policy to a funeral home to fund a burial contract for himself. The equity value of the life insurance policy is $3,000.
The burial contract identifies the purchase of $1,300 of burial space items and $1,700 of burial services. Since the contract is funded by the irrevocable assignment of a life insurance policy it can be totally excluded. $1,300 is excluded as Burial Plot Items and $1,700 is excluded as an Irrevocable Burial Fund.
The customer opened a bank account in 1968 to set aside $400 for her future burial expenses. She has no irrevocable burial arrangement or other burial fund. She applied for AHCCCS benefits in late January. In February, she completes the DE-157 and lists the date she opened the account in 1968 as the date she considered these funds set aside for burial expenses.
The effective date of the exclusion is January. Her account balance in the month of application is $1,000. She receives a burial fund exclusion of $1,000 for the month of January.
The customer applied for ALTCS on November 21st. He has a revocable burial contract valued at $200. He also has a checking account with a balance of $1,900. At his interview on December 2nd he reports that on December 1st he decided to use $1,700 of the money in his checking account to buy a Certificate of Deposit to help cover his burial expenses. He completes the DE-157 and states that December 1st is the date he set aside the funds for burial.
Since he already has a revocable burial contract worth $200, the available burial fund exclusion is $1,300 ($1,500 - the $200 revocable burial contract). $1,300 of the CD balance is excluded as a designated burial fund beginning with the budget month of December. The remaining $400 is a counted resource.
The customer designated her savings account as her burial fund at her interview on November 8. She has no other burial-related resources.
The opening account balance on November 1st was $1,000. Interest in the amount of $0.33 was posted to the savings account on November 23rd. The burial fund exclusion is $1,000.33 because the interest was paid in the month of designation. The savings account is an excluded burial fund beginning with the budget month of November.
The customer applied in February and has a single revocable burial contract worth $4,500.00 that he purchased two years before. Because the resource includes only burial-related resources, it does not have to be separated to allow the Burial Fund Exclusion.
The contract lists $2,500 in burial services and $2,000 in burial plot item. The full $2,000 for the burial plot items are excluded if separately listed and value given. $1,500 of the contracted burial services is excluded as a burial fund. The remaining $1,000 is a counted resource. Since the funds were designated by title before the application date and do not need to be separated, the exclusions begin with the application month.
The customer applies in May. She has a bank account of $1,200. She states that $500 of the funds in the account is designated for burial, and the remaining $700 is for living expenses. Since the funds designated for burial expenses are kept in the same account as funds that are not related to burial, the $500 cannot be excluded as a burial fund. If customer moves the $500 to a separate account, the exclusion may be given the month the funds are separated.
The customer applied and was approved in May. At the time he applied, he had a bank account for burial expense funds that he designated by title in 2006. The value of the fund in the application month was $2,102. The burial fund exclusion was $1,500 and the remaining $602 is a counted resource. The fund as a whole earns about $0.30 per month, which the customer leaves in the account. All of the interest earned since May is excluded, even though part of it was generated by the original $602 that is counted.
The customer has an excluded burial fund that was valued at $1,485 in April 2009 when the exclusion began. In December of the current year he gets a lump sum payment and is over income. Some of the lump sum payment is not spent, and he customer is over the resource limit in January and February. In March, his resources are again under the limit and his eligibility is no longer suspended. Because his eligibility was suspended and not ended, the value of his excluded burial fund remains unchanged at $1,485 and the interest earned since April 2009 left in the account is also still excluded.
NOTE If the customer had used $50 of the burial fund to buy groceries in December, the exclusion would have ended effective January. The customer would have to re-designate the funds in the account all over again at the current value.
The customer has designated a bank account of $1,000 as a burial fund, and received a Burial Fund Exclusion of $1,000. Two years later, the customer wants to add to her burial account. Even though her burial account balance is now $1,050 due to accumulated interest, she may add up to $500 to the account (the difference between the original designated amount and the maximum of $1,500).