20-01 Version of 3.3 Buening Cases - Special Rules for Two Parent Cases

3.3.1 Two Parent Households (including Non-Marital Co-parents and Married Parents)

In a decision dated and released on September 30, 1996, the U.S. Court of Appeals, District IV, ruled in the case of Buening v. Wisconsin Department of Health and Social Services that special consideration must occur when the income of co-parents is calculated in AFDCAid to Families with Dependent Children eligibility determinations. For the sake of simplicity, cases to which this court decision applies are referred to as Buening cases. Since CTSCaretaker Supplement - An additional amount of monthly cash benefit provided to certain SSI recipients in Wisconsin who reside with their dependent children. Wisconsin funds this benefit with a combination of state dollars and its federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) grant. eligibility is based on criteria that applied to AFDC eligibility prior to the elimination of AFDC by the federal government in 1997, the Buening decision applies to CTS rules, as well.

Normal Standard Filing Unit (SFU) (see Section 3.1.1 Standard Filing Unit (SFU)) rules require us to count the income and assets of any non-SSI co-parent, his or her child in common with the SSI parent and all of that child in common’s full and half siblings in the home, unless the child is also an SSI recipient. The Buening ruling means that the non-SSI co-parent and any children in common may only be included in the SFU if it is determined that these children in common and the non-SSI parent are “needy.” To meet the definition of needy, the gross and net income and assets for the non-SSI parent and child(ren) in common have to be at or below the CTS eligibility limits for their smaller group size.

Buening cases occur in two-parent households in which:

There is a child of the SSI parent who is being tested for CTS
The SSI parent and the non-SSI co-parent have at least one child in common
The income or assets of the non-SSI parent and the child (or children) in common causes the child of the SSI parent to be financially ineligible for CTS.

Note:

The non-SSI co-parent is treated in the same way whether or not he or she is married to the SSI parent.

See Section 5.4 Illustrations, Scenarios 12 and 13 for visual depictions of Buening case configurations.

If the non-SSI parent and child in common are considered needy, the whole group of children along with the non-SSI parent are considered one SFU and must have their income and assets counted together. If the child(ren) in common and the non-SSI parent are not considered needy, the child(ren) in common and their non-SSI parent must be excluded from the CTS SFU, which means their income and assets are not considered when determining financial eligibility for the SSI parent’s other child(ren).

Example 1:

Mary is on SSI and is requesting CTS for her daughter Jill. Mary also has a son, Tim. Tim’s father, Dan, who is not on SSI, is also in the home. Since Tim’s dad is not on SSI, Tim is not eligible for CTS. The CTS SFU originally consists of Jill, Tim and Dan. Dan is getting $700 of unemployment insurance monthly. The net income limit for an SFU of three is $647, so the $700 would make Jill ineligible for CTS. This requires the Buening rules to be applied. To determine if Tim and Dan are needy, their income is tested against the income limit for a group of two. The net income limit for Tim and Dan alone is $550. Since their income exceeds the limit, Tim is not considered needy. As such, Tim and Dan are excluded from Jill’s SFU. Jill has no income and is eligible, so Mary will receive a CTS payment of $250 for Jill.

Example 2:

Same case as above, except Jill is getting Social Security Survivor benefits of $200 per month and Dan is getting only $500 in unemployment insurance. Again, the original SFU consists of Jill, Tim and Dan. The net income limit for an SFU of three is $647, so the combined income of $700 makes Jill ineligible for CTS. This time when the Buening rule is applied, Dan’s income of $500 is less than the $550 net income limit for 2. This means Tim and Dan are needy, so Tim and Dan must be included in the SFU, and Dan’s income may not be excluded. Jill is not eligible and Mary will receive no CTS payment for Jill.

This page last updated in Release Number: 20-01
Release Date: 11/23/20
Effective Date: 11/23/20