Boyle v. Riti

• Decision Date: 21 July 1980
• Parties: Peter BOYLE, Joan Boyle, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. G. Thomas RITI, Director, New Jersey Division of Public Welfare, and MiddlesexCounty Welfare Board, Defendants-Respondents.
• Court: New Jersey Superior Court — Appellate Division

Page 158

175 N.J.Super. 158

417 A.2d 1091

Peter BOYLE, Joan Boyle, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. G. Thomas RITI, Director, New Jersey Division of Public

Welfare, and MiddlesexCounty Welfare Board,

Defendants-Respondents.

Superior Court of New Jersey, Appellate Division.

Submitted April 2, 1980.

Decided July 21, 1980.

Stephen M. Latimer, Camden Regional Legal Services, Inc., for plaintiffs-appellants (Phyllis G. Warren, Trenton, on brief).

John J. Degnan, Atty. Gen., for defendant-respondent State of New Jersey, Department of Human Services, Division of Public Welfare (Stephen Skillman, Asst. Atty. Gen., of counsel; Barbara A. Harned, Deputy Atty. Gen., on brief).

Before Judges FRITZ, KOLE and LANE.

The opinion of the court was delivered by

FRITZ, P. J. A. D.

This is an appeal from a determination in the Division of Public Welfare denying one month's benefits to appellants in connection with their application for Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC). We dispose of the appeal on appellants' motion for summary disposition (R. 2:8-3) which we grant even though we have no transcript of the hearing below since both parties agree that procedure seems appropriate, none of the material facts in this case are at issue (as appellants note at the very beginning of their brief) and the question, though novel, is not complex. Was the agency correct in determining eligibility on the basis of the applicants' resources at a time during the calendar month prior to the application or should eligibility be determined on the basis of resources in hand as of the date of the application? This is the only issue we here decide. We are persuaded that the agency approach is mandated by law and accordingly we affirm.

On September 26, 1979 appellant Peter Boyle was discharged from his employment as a truck driver because he was "guilty of an assault." On October 1, 1979 he deposited his final pay check, amounting to $300, in his checking account, bringing the balance of that account to $585.65. Between that date and October 5, 1979 appellants wrote checks reducing that balance to $5.21. ¹

On October 5, 1979 appellants applied for AFDC assistance for themselves and their three children through the Middlesex County Board of Social Services (Board). At that time they requested emergency assistance. They were advised that it was possible for them to receive a check the next business day, October 9, 1979, depending upon verification of the bank balances as of October 1, 1979.

On October 9 the Board determined that Peter and Joan Boyle were ineligible for assistance for one month due to the fact that Mr. Boyle's actions had caused his unemployment. This ruling is not challenged on appeal.

With regard to the eligibility of appellants' three children, the Board determined that the "available resources" of appellants during the month of October 1979 exceeded the standard allowance of $224 for three persons set by N.J.A.C. 10:82-1.2 by virtue of the $585 checking account balance on the first day of that month. Beyond this, later testimony from an "agency representative" at a hearing before an administrative law judge advises that since Peter Boyle received a salary check of $300 on October 1, 1979 for the employment that terminated in September 1979, ineligibility appeared even after the "$60 disregard" of N.J.A.C. 10:82-2.11(a)3. Therefore, the Board ruled that appellants' three children were also ineligible for AFDC assistance for the month of October. ²

On October 10, 1979 appellants requested a "fair hearing" pursuant to N.J.A.C. 10:81-6.1 et seq. to review the Board's determination. This hearing was held before an administrative law judge, who reversed the determination of the Board. She concluded that although appellants "did not have eligibility for assistance on October 1, 1979" since their resources had exceeded the monthly standard allowance of $224 on that date, their depletion of these resources by the date of the application, October 5, 1979, to a point well below the monthly standard allowance conferred eligibility for AFDC assistance for the three children for the last two-thirds of October, the period from October 11 to October 31, 1979.

The Board filed appropriate exceptions. Respondent, Director of the New Jersey Division of Public Welfare, rendered a final decision in which he reinstated the finding of ineligibility by the Board. This appeal followed.

The matter is somewhat confused by a tendency in the agency to treat income and resources as synonymous. The difficulty is more apparent than real. The simple question, as stated above, is whether the fact that the Boyles had more than $224 available on October 1, 1979 serves under the law to defeat eligibility of their children for AFDC assistance during that month. Appellants contend that the Board, in making its determination of initial eligibility, should have considered only the actual funds which appellants possessed on the date of their application for assistance, October 5, 1979.

An examination of the applicable regulations set forth in N.J.A.C. 10:81-1.1 et seq. leads us to reject appellants' contention. Under these regulations the need of an applicant's family is determined by comparing its income with the standard set by the regulations as representing the minimum amount which a family of its size would require to sustain itself for the month in question. If the income received by the family is more than the need, the family is ineligible for assistance. Motyka v. McCorkle, 58 N.J. 165, 170, 276 A.2d 129 (1971); N.J.A.C. 10:82-2.11.

On all new applications for AFDC assistance "initial financial eligibility must be established before a determination of the amount of the monthly grant can be made." N.J.A.C. 10:82-2.2. The procedure for establishing initial eligibility for assistance when both parents are in the home, but there is insufficient income, is set forth in N.J.A.C. 10:82-2.11 which provides:

(a) Initial eligibility rules are:

1. Identify the number of persons in the eligible unit;

2. Use schedule II to determine the appropriate public assistance allowance;

3. Identify all income as in section 1 of this subchapter. To establish amount of calculated earned income, determine gross earned income and deduct the first $60.00 for each employed person, provided, however, that each such person earns a minimum of $60.00. If earnings of any individual are less than $60.00, disregard such earnings. This initial disregard only shall be deducted in determining the calculated earned income for initial eligibility, unless subchapter 4 of this chapter is applicable;

4. When there is an adjusted allowance of any amount, eligibility is established. Determination of the amount of monthly grant must then be made in accordance with section 1 of this subchapter;

5. When total income as computed in paragraph 3 above equals or exceeds the public assistance allowance, the family is not eligible for assistance.

In establishing the amount of calculated earned income referred to in N.J.A.C. 10:82-2.11, the agency must "consider all income and resources of the eligible unit." N.J.A.C. 10:82-3.1. The amount of the calculated earned income is "based on monthly gross earnings." N.J.A.C. 10:82-2.14. Appellants do not dispute that "earnings" would include all funds available to them, such as those in a checking account. It is to be observed that the standard allowance with which an applicant's calculated earned income is to be compared is determined on a monthly basis and the amount of the grant of assistance to the family is determined on a monthly basis. N.J.A.C. 10:82-1.2.

The clear intent of these regulations is that in determining eligibility the Board consider all of the resources which an applicant has available to him during the entire month of his initial application. In the case at hand, appellants had $585.65 available to them on October 1, 1979. Even when the $60 "income disregard" is subtracted from this figure, as required by N.J.A.C. 10:82-2.11, the balance is well above the standard allowance of $224. We are satisfied that the Board did not err in ruling that appellants' children were ineligible for AFDC assistance for the month of October 1979.

Such a determination is in accord with the applicable federal regulations. Under these regulations "the State agency shall establish eligibility based on its best estimate of income and circumstances which will exist in the month for which the assistance payment is made." 45 C.F.R. § 233.22 (emphasis added).

Appellants' reliance upon N.J.A.C. 10:82-3.1, N.J.A.C. 10:82-4.1 and 45 C.F.R. § 233.20(a)(3)(ii)(D) is misplaced. Utilizing these provisions appellants reason...