WAC 182-527-2746 Estate recovery-Asset-related limitations.

WAC 182-527-2746 Estate recovery—Asset-related limitations.

Effective March 14, 2016

For the purposes of this section, the term "agency" includes the agency's designee.

1. Before July 25, 1993. For services received before July 25, 1993, that are subject to recovery, the agency may exempt:
   1. The first fifty thousand dollars of the estate's value at the time of the client's death; and
   2. Sixty-five percent of the remaining value of the estate.
2. July 24, 1993, through June 30, 1994. For services that are subject to recovery that were received on or after July 25, 1993, through June 30, 1994, the agency exempts two thousand dollars' worth of personal property.
3. Life estate.
   1. The agency may file a lien against a client's life estate interest in real property.
   2. The agency's lien against the property may not exceed the value of the client's life estate. Under this subsection, value means the fair market value of the property multiplied by the life estate factor that corresponds to the client's age on the client's last birthday. For a list of life estate factors, see the life estate and remainder interest tables maintained by the Social Security Administration.
   3. The agency may not enforce a lien under this subsection against any property right that vested before July 1, 2005.
4. Joint tenancy.
   1. The agency may file a lien against property in which a client was a joint tenant when the client died.
   2. The agency's lien against the property may not exceed the value of the client's interest in the property. Under this subsection, value means the fair market value of the property divided by the number of joint tenants on the day the client died.
   3. The agency may not enforce a lien under this subsection against any property right that vested before July 1, 2005.
5. Qualified long-term care partnership.
   1. Assets designated as protected by a qualified long-term care partnership (QLTCP) policy issued after November 30, 2011, may be disregarded for estate recovery purposes if:
      1. The insured person's estate is the recipient of the estate recovery exemption; or
      2. The insured person holds title to property which is potentially subject to a predeath lien and that person asserts the property is protected under the QLTCP policy.
   2. A person must provide clear and convincing evidence to the office of financial recovery that the asset in question was designated as protected, including:
      1. Proof of a valid QLTCP policy;
      2. Verification from the LTC insurance company of the dollar amount paid out by the policy; and
      3. A current department of social and health services QLTCP asset designation form when the QLTCP policy paid out more than was previously designated.
   3. The insured person's estate must provide clear and convincing evidence proving an asset is protected before the final recovery settlement.
6. Rules specific to American Indians and Alaska natives.
   1. Certain properties belonging to American Indians/Alaska natives (AI/AN) are exempt from estate recovery if at the time of death:
      1. The deceased client was enrolled in a federally recognized tribe; and
      2. The estate or heir documents the deceased client's ownership interest in trust or nontrust real property and improvements located on a reservation, near a reservation as designated and approved by the Bureau of Indian Affairs of the U.S. Department of the Interior, or located:
         1. Within the most recent boundaries of a prior federal reservation; or
         2. Within the contract health service delivery area boundary for social services provided by the deceased client's tribe to its enrolled members.
   2. Protection of trust and nontrust property under subsection (4) of this section is limited to circumstances when the real property and improvements pass from an Indian (as defined in 25 U.S.C. Chapter 17, Sec. 1452(b)) to one or more relatives (by blood, adoption, or marriage), including Indians not enrolled as members of a tribe and non-Indians, such as spouses and stepchildren, that their tribe would nonetheless recognize as family members, to a tribe or tribal organization and/or to one or more Indians.
   3. Certain AI/AN income and resources (such as interests in and income derived from tribal land and other resources currently held in trust status and judgment funds from the Indian Claims Commission and the U.S. Claims Court) are exempt from estate recovery by other laws and regulations.
   4. Ownership interests in or usage rights to items that have unique religious, spiritual, traditional, and/or cultural significance or rights that support subsistence or a traditional life style according to applicable tribal law or custom.
   5. Government reparation payments specifically excluded by federal law in determining eligibility are exempt from estate recovery as long as such funds have been kept segregated and not commingled with other countable resources and remain identifiable.