TO:	Commissioners; TA & FS Directors; Finance Directors; CAP Coordinators, Resource and Recovery Staff

FROM:	Patricia A. Stevens, Deputy Commissioner, Division of Temporary Assistance

SUBJECT: Overpayment/Repayment Detail Worksheet

EFFECTIVE DATE:	Immediately

CONTACT PERSON:	Central Regional Team @ 1-800-343-8859, extension 4-9344	

When calculating an overpayment, districts must consider potential sources of repayment/recovery.  Recipients of Temporary Assistance are obligated to repay overpayments. This is done by recoupment when the overpaid household is in receipt of TA.  The head of household may enter into a repayment agreement if the family is no longer in receipt of TA.  There are other sources of recovery of TA, correctly paid or not.  These include child support collections, lawsuit settlements, lottery offsets, Interim Assistance Reimbursement, property liens, EBT expungements, etc.  It is possible that one or more such sources will repay all assistance for the period of an overpayment. Due to the number of different possible sources of repayment, the potential for failure to credit one or more payments or payment types exists.

When an overpayment is being calculated, when a tally of unreimbursed TA is being calculated, or when a client requests a review of an overpayment amount, each potential source of repayment or recovery must be considered.  In addition, some districts ask an individual to sign a Confession of Judgment (COJ) for an overpayment.  Before being asked to sign a COJ, the individual must understand the debt amount and that by signing, he or she will legally acknowledge the debt.   When a recipient or former recipient of TA will be asked to sign a confession of judgment for an overpayment debt owed, he or she must be offered an accounting.

The Overpayment/Repayment Detail Sheet must be used as part of the review process.  The DSS reviewer must consider each source from which repayment or recovery could have been received as of the date of the review and determine if the overpayment balance is correct. The Overpayment/Repayment Detail Sheet must be offered prior to an individual being asked to sign a COJ.  The individual must sign the form and indicate that a review is requested or not.  The individual must be provided with a copy of the signed, and if a review is requested, completed form.  A copy must be retained in the case file.

The Overpayment/Repayment Detail Sheet will allow the recipient/former recipient to see which repayment/recovery sources DSS has considered for the assistance period, or the period during which an overpayment accrued.  It will also serve to inform the individual of the implications of acknowledging the overpayment balance amount in a confession of judgment.

If a source of repayment was received for the overpayment period, that does not necessarily mean that the amount that the individual or family owes will be reduced.

For example:

•	If child support was collected for the period of an overpayment, it will not reduce the overpayment unless the support is more than the correctly paid TA plus the support pass-through payments for that period.   

•	The Support Collection Unit may inform TA via the monthly CSMS 8649 Report: “Obligations and Collections Greater Than Assistance Granted” that more child support was collected and retained than the family received in TA.  If so, that information will affect other potential collections.  For example, if the family accrued overpayments while on TA but all TA has been repaid by the support collections, the overpayment balances must be adjusted to zero.  If a lien was placed against a family home, the lien must be removed if the case closed with all TA repaid.

Medicaid:

Medicaid recipients should not be asked to sign a Confession of Judgment.  In order to enforce a recovery of incorrectly paid Medicaid against the property of a Medicaid recipient, it is necessary for the district to commence an action or proceeding in a court of competent jurisdiction, and obtain a determination by such court affirming the recipient's legal liability to repay the incorrectly paid Medicaid.

Districts are allowed to request and accept voluntary repayments of Medicaid incorrectly paid, subject to the conditions specified in administrative directive 02 OMM/ADM-3, pages 19-20.

An Administrative Directive will follow.