Title 38

SECTION 3.261

3.261 Character of income; exclusions and estates.

§ 3.261 Character of income; exclusions and estates.

The following factors will be considered in determining whether a claimant meets the requirements of §§ 3.250, 3.251 and 3.252 with reference to dependency, income limitations and corpus of estate:

(a) Income.

Income Dependency (parents) Dependency and indemnity compensation (parents) Pension; old-law (veterans, surviving spouses and children) Pension; section 306 (veterans, surviving spouses and children) See -
(1) Total income from employment, business, investments, or rents Included Included Included Included § 3.262(a).
(2) Income of spouse ......do ......do Excluded ......do § 3.262(b).
(3) Earnings of members of family under legal age ......do Excluded ......do Excluded § 3.250(b)(2).
§ 3.252(e)(3).
(4) Earned income of child-claimant Included ......do
(5) Gifts, including contributions from adult members of family:
Property ......do Included ......do ......do § 3.262(k).
Money ......do ......do ......do Included
(6) Value of maintenance by relative, friend, or organization Excluded Excluded Excluded Excluded § 3.262(c).
(7) Rental value of property owned by and resided in by claimant ......do ......do ......do ......do
(8) Charitable donations ......do ......do Included ......do § 3.262(d).
(9) Family allowance authorized by service personnel Included Included ......do Included
(10) Reasonable value of allowances to person in service in addition to base pay ......do ......do ......do Included except as earned income of child-claimant
(11) Mustering-out pay Excluded ......do Excluded ......do
(12) Six-months' death gratuity ......do Excluded ......do Excluded
(13) Bonus or similar cash gratuity paid by any State based on service in Armed Forces of United States Excluded Excluded Excluded Excluded
(14) Retired Serviceman's Family Protection Plan; Survivor Benefit Plan (10 U.S.C. ch. 73):
Retired Serviceman's Family Protection Plan (Subch. I):
Annuities ......do ......do ......do ......do
Refund (10 U.S.C. 1446) Included Included Included Included
Survivor Benefit Plan (Subch. II) (Pub. L. 92-425; 86 Stat. 706) ......do ......do ......do ......do § 3.262(e).
Annuity under § 653, Pub. L. 100-456 Included Included Excluded Excluded § 3.262(r)
(15) Retirement pay received direct from service department Included
......do
Included
......do
Included
......do
Included
......do
§ 3.262(e).
§ 3.262(h).
(16) Retirement benefits; general ......do ......do ......do ......do § 3.262(e).
(17) Social security benefits:
Old age and survivors', and disability insurance Included Included Included Included § 3.262(f).
Charitable programs Excluded Excluded ......do Excluded
Lump-sum death payments Included ......do ......do ......do
Supplemental security income Excluded Excluded ......do ......do
(18) Railroad Retirement benefits ......do Included Disability pension - Excluded Death pension - Included Included § 3.262(g).
(19) Retirement pay waived under Federal statute Excluded Excluded Excluded ......do § 3.262(h).
(20) Department of Veterans Affairs payments:
Pension Excluded Excluded Excluded Excluded
Compensation and dependency and indemnity compensation ......do ......do ......do ......do
World War I adjusted compensation ......do Included ......do Included
U.S. Government life insurance or national service life insurance for disability or death, maturity of endowment policies, and dividends, including special and termination dividends Excluded Excluded Excluded Excluded
Servicemembers' group life insurance ......do ......do ......do ......do
Veterans' group life insurance ......do ......do ......do ......do
Servicemembers' indemnity ......do ......do ......do ......do
Subsistence allowance (38 U.S.C. ch. 31) Included Included Included Included
Veterans educational assistance in excess of amounts expended for training (38 U.S.C. ch. 34) ......do ......do ......do ......do
Educational assistance (38 U.S.C. ch. 35) Excluded Excluded
Special allowance under 38 U.S.C. 1312(a) Excluded Included ......do Included
Statutory burial allowance ......do Excluded ......do Excluded
Accrued ......do Included, except accrued as reimbursement ......do Included, except accrued as reimbursement
(21) Compensation (civilian) for injury or death Included Included Included Included § 3.262(i).
(22) Contributions by a public or private employer to a:
Public or private health or hospitalization plan for an active or retired employee Excluded Excluded Excluded Excluded
Retired employee as reimbursement for premiums for supplementary medical insurance benefits under the Social Security Program (Pub. L. 91-588; 84 Stat. 1580) Included Included Excluded Excluded
(23) Overtime pay; Government employees Included Included Disability pension - Excluded. Death pension - Included Included
(24) Commercial life insurance; disability, accident, or health insurance, less payments of medical or hospital expenses resulting from the accident or disease for which payments are made Included (as received) Included (as received) Included (special provision) Included (as received) § 3.262(j).
(25) Commercial annuities or endowments ......do Included (special provision) ......do Included (special provision) § 3.262(j).
(26) Dividends from commercial insurance Excluded Excluded Excluded Excluded
(27) Insurance under Merchant Marine Act of 1936, as amended Included Included Included Included
(28) Reimbursement for casualty loss (Pub. L. 100-687) Included Excluded Included Included § 3.262(t)
Other fire Insurance Excluded Excluded Excluded Excluded § 3.262(t)
(29) Bequests, devises and inheritances:
Property Included Excluded Included ......do § 3.262(k).
Money ......do Included ......do Included
Joint bank accounts ......do ......do ......do Excluded § 3.262(k)(1).
(30) Profit from sale of property Excluded Excluded Excluded Excluded § 3.262(k).
(31) Jury duty or obligatory civic duties ......do ......do ......do ......do
(32) Relocation payments (Pub. L. 90-448; Pub. L. 90-495) ......do ......do ......do ......do § 3.262(c).
(33) The following programs administered by the ACTION Agency:
Foster Grandparent Program and Older Americans Community Service Programs payments (Pub. L. 93-29; 87 Stat. 55) ......do ......do ......do ......do § 3.262(q)(1).
Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA), University Year for ACTION (UYA), Program for Local Services (PLS), ACTION Cooperative Volunteers (ACV), Foster Grandparent Program (FGP), and Older American Community Service Programs, Retired Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP), Senior Companion Program (Pub. L. 93-113; 87 Stat. 394) ......do ......do ......do ......do § 3.262(q)(2).
(34) The Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE) and Active Corps of Executives (ACE) administered by the Small Business Administration. (Pub. L. 93-113; 87 Stat. 394) ......do ......do ......do ......do § 3.262(q)(2).
(35) Income received under Section 6 of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (Pub. L. 101-426) Excluded Excluded Included Included § 3.262(t)
(36) Income received from income tax returns Excluded Excluded Excluded Excluded § 3.262(u)
(37) Other amounts excluded from income by statute Excluded Excluded Excluded Excluded § 3.262(v)
§ 3.279

1 The compensation received through a crime victim compensation program will be excluded from income computations unless the total amount of assistance received from all federally funded programs is sufficient to fully compensate the claimant for losses suffered as a result of the crime.

(b) Deduction of amounts paid by claimant.

Deduction Dependency (parents) Dependency and indemnity compensation Pension; old-law (veterans, surviving spouses, and children) Pension; section 306 (veterans, surviving spouses, and children) See
(1) Unusual medical expenses Not authorized Authorized Not authorized Authorized §§ 3.262(b)(1) and (1).
(2) Veteran: just debts, expenses of last illness and burial Not authorized Authorized, except debts Not authorized Authorized §§ 3.262(m) and (o).
(3) Veteran's spouse or child: expenses of last illness and burial Not authorized Not authorized Not authorized Authorized § 3.262(n).
(4) Parent's spouse: just debts; expenses of last illness and burial Not authorized Authorized § 3.262(o).
(5) Prepayment on real property mortgages after death of spouse (Pub. L. 91-588) Not authorized Not authorized Not authorized Authorized §§ 3.262(k)(6).

(c) Corpus of estate.

Dependency (parents) Dependency and indemnity compensation Pension; old-law (veterans, widows, and children) Pension; section 306 (veterans, surviving spouses, and children) See
Considered conditionally Not considered Not considered Considered § 3.263.
[28 FR 31, Jan. 1, 1963, as amended at 29 FR 15205, Nov. 11, 1964; 31 FR 15632, Dec. 13, 1966; 33 FR 15286, Oct. 15, 1968; 36 FR 8446, May 6, 1971; 37 FR 6677, Apr. 1, 1972; 37 FR 7092, Apr. 8, 1972; 37 FR 21436, Oct. 11, 1972; 38 FR 872, Jan. 5, 1973; 38 FR 26804, Sept. 26, 1973; 38 FR 28826, Oct. 17, 1973; 40 FR 13305, Mar. 26, 1975; 40 FR 57459, Dec. 10, 1975; 41 FR 17386, Apr. 26, 1976; 42 FR 43834, Aug. 31, 1977; 57 FR 59298, Dec. 15, 1992; 58 FR 12174, Mar. 3, 1993; 58 FR 31909, June 7, 1993; 58 FR 33766, June 21, 1993; 59 FR 37696, July 25, 1994; 60 FR 2522, Jan. 10, 1995; 60 FR 18355, Apr. 11, 1995; 62 FR 51278, Sept. 30, 1997; 67 FR 49586, July 31, 2002; 68 FR 60852, Oct. 24, 2003; 70 FR 15591, Mar. 28, 2005; 76 FR 4248, Jan. 25, 2011; 83 FR 47268, Sept 18, 2018]