The instructions in this section apply to joint accounts only and supplement those in Checking and Savings Accounts SI 01140.200.
If there is more than one claimant or recipient, assume that all the funds in the account belong to the claimant(s) or recipient(s), in equal shares.
Provided that none of the account holders is a claimant or recipient (in which case the assumption in SI 01140.205B.1. would apply), assume that all the funds in the account belong to the deemor(s), in equal shares, if there is more than one deemor.
entering the total account balance on each co-owner’s SSI Claims system Financial Institution Account page, and then
exclude the appropriate portion that belongs to the co-owner(s) using the excluded amount field in the Financial Institution Account page.
When a claimant or recipient co-owns an account with someone who is not eligible for SSI benefits, we assume that all the funds in the account belong to the SSI claimant or recipient. Document the alleged and verified account values by:
Posting the total balances on the claimant’s or recipient’s Financial Institution Account page.Record a zero balance on the deemor’s Financial Institution Account page if the co-owner is an ineligible deemor.
Inform the claimant or recipient of our ownership assumption and about the rebuttal process, described in SI 01140.205D.
Inform the claimant, recipient, or deemor:
of the applicable ownership assumption;of the corresponding income implications (for income derived from joint bank Accounts, see SI 00810.130); and
of his or her right to provide evidence rebutting the ownership assumption if he or she disagrees.If a claimant, recipient or deemor wishes to rebut the applicable ownership assumption, obtain his or her statement on a form containing the penalty clause regarding:
who owns the funds; why there is a joint account; who made deposits to and withdrawals from the account; and how the claimant, recipient, or deemor spent the withdrawals.To document the claimant, recipient, or deemor’s rebuttal statement, you may use:
the paper SSA-2574 (Information about Joint Checking/Savings Accounts), the paper SSA-795 (Statement of Claimant or Other Person), or the electronic version of the SSA-795 in the SSI Claims system.For an exhibit of the SSA-2574, see SI 01140.205G.
Inform the claimant, recipient, or deemor that he or she must submit the following evidence within 30 days:
A corroborating statement on an SSA-795 or the Person Statement page in SSI Claims system from each other account holder (if the only other account holder is incompetent or a minor, have the claimant, recipient, or deemor submit a corroborating statement from anyone aware of the circumstances surrounding establishment of the account); and
Account records showing deposits, withdrawals, and interest in the months for which ownership is an issue.
Full and partial rebuttals require the following additional evidence:
If the claimant, recipient, or deemor does not own any of the funds, evidence showing that he or she can no longer withdraw funds from the account.
If the claimant, recipient, or deemor owns only a portion of the funds, evidence showing removal from the account of such funds, or removal of the funds owned by the other account holder(s), and re-designation of the account.
If the evidence establishes that the other account owner owns the funds and that the claimant, recipient, or deemor can no longer withdraw from the account, then the funds were not, and are not, the claimant, recipient, or deemor’s resources. That is, rebuttal is both retroactive and prospective.
NOTE: Even if the tolerance for verifying liquid resources would otherwise apply, you must verify joint account balances if an individual rebuts ownership of any of the funds in an account.
Until the claimant, recipient, or deemor provides the necessary rebuttal statements and evidence, follow normal procedures and document the account on the SSI Claims system Financial Institution Account page, indicating it is co-owned, but that the whole balance is a resource to the claimant, recipient, or deemor.
Enter the claimant, recipient, or deemor’s rebuttal statement, including all of the information on the SSA-2574 about Checking or Savings Account, on the Person Remarks section for the relevant Financial Institution Account page.
Use the evidence screen to document other evidence showing removal of the claimant, recipient, deemor or co-owner's funds or name from the account.
Enter the corroborating signed rebuttal statement of the co-owner on the Person Statement page.
If the claimant, recipient, or deemor successfully rebuts ownership of some of the funds and the co-owner removes his or her funds from the account, continue to show the total in the account in the ALLEGED/VERIFIED AMOUNT field until the month following the month the co-owner removes the funds. In the month following the month the co-owner removes the funds, exclude retroactively the co-owner’s share and change the CO-OWNED field to show the account is no longer co-owned and the new amount in the account.
Use “Other” as the exclusion reason, and add these remarks: “co-owner’s share successfully rebutted; funds do not belong to claimant, recipient, or deemor.”
Annotate the evidence screen with all the evidence the claimant, recipient or deemor submitted and your rebuttal determination.
If the claimant, recipient, or deemor successfully rebuts ownership of all of the funds, show the total in the account in the ALLEGED/VERIFIED AMOUNT field until the month following the month of the rebuttal.
In the month following the month the rebuttal is complete, exclude retroactively the total monthly balances and change the CO-OWNED field to show the account is no longer co-owned.
Add “Other” as the exclusion reason, and the following remarks in the documentation screen, “account successfully rebutted; funds do not belong to claimant, recipient, or deemor.”
Also, annotate the evidence screen to indicate the actions taken.
If the claimant, recipient, or deemor removes his or her funds from the account and opens a new account:
Show the total in the account in the ALLEGED/VERIFIED AMOUNT field until the month following the month that the claimant, recipient or deemor removes the funds.
In the month following the month the claimant, recipient or deemor removes the funds, exclude retroactively the co-owner’s share and change the CO-OWNED field to show the account is no longer co-owned.
Use “Other” as the exclusion reason, and add these remarks: “co-owner’s share successfully rebutted; funds do not belong to claimant, recipient, or deemor.”
Enter the claimant, recipient or deemor’s new account information on a new Financial Institution Account page.