Effective Dates: 02/09/2016 - Present Previous | Next

TN 6 (03-24)

SI 01410.040 Procedures for Determining the State and County of Residence

A. Introduction

Frequently, the mailing address and the residence address of claimants/ recipients are the same. Ordinarily, there is no reason to doubt a claimant's or recipient's allegation as to residence. However, recipients do change address, reside in institutions or allege a State/county of residence that seems improbable. This subsection provides some guidelines. Usually the State and county of residence is clear from other information in the file or on the Supplemental Security Income Record Display (SSIRD).

B. Procedure - When to Develop

Use the following instructions to determine state and county of residence.

Presume adults are capable of stating intent, absent evidence to the contrary. The presence of a representative payee or lack of capacity to handle funds does not indicate an inability to indicate intent for residency purposes.

Do not develop residency unless it is needed.

1. Abbreviated Applications

Do not develop residency in abbreviated applications (ABAPs) or during initial interviews of claims which will have nondisability development deferred. Accept the alleged State/county of residence to determine which DDS to route the claim to in these cases. Defer residency development if needed until after the DDS allowance.

2. Initial Claims

Remember that residency development may be indicated in initial claims from claimants who may be incapable of stating intent (e.g., disability determination services (DDS) documentation of item 34 of the SSA-831-U3, the Disability Determination and Transmittal, with a “Y” or “U”), and in claims from the institutionalized and disabled/blind children who appear not to be living at home. In posteligibility situations, review changes for an indication that residency development may be appropriate. Also, look in the CO segment of the RP field of the SSR for information about legal competence and the presence of a legal guardian. Also remember that the presence of a representative payee for an adult does not tell you about the ability to formulate intent.

Routinely review residency in posteligibility changes and moves at the first redetermination after an individual no longer meets the definition of a child, and when an individual is deinstitutionalized.

Keep in mind that the Modernized SSI Claims System (MSSICS) will prefill a State and county code based on the individual's alleged State and county of residence. If the prefilled code is wrong (e.g., your knowledge of the service area informs you that the county is wrong), overwrite it (Intranet SSI 010.007).

C. OSS Payable During a Change

Pay OSS of the former State (or county) of residence using the individual's (or couple's) most financially advantageous circumstance during the month. When more than one OSS code could apply due to a change in circumstance (e.g., from own household to congregate care), use the most advantageous OSS code that could apply. Remember, the new State and county of residence will not apply until the month after the month of arrival. Also, remember automated notices will tell the recipient that they are living in a place from which they may have already moved.

EXAMPLE 1: Intrastate Move

A New York city recipient moves from their own household to congregate care on the fifteenth of the month. The OSS rate payable for the month of move is the applicable congregate care rate based on New York city residence.

EXAMPLE 2: Interstate Move

A New Jersey recipient moves from their own household to congregate care in New York on the fourteenth of the month. Since the most financially advantageous rate the individual could have received during the month of move would have been congregate care, but the recipient was a New Jersey resident at the time, the OSS rate payable for the month of move is the New Jersey congregate care rate (NJ AA). (Note, however, that if the individual were disabled and had moved from Nevada to congregate care in New York, no supplement would be payable until New York residence was established, since Nevada does not supplement the disabled.)

D. Procedure - Documentation

Use the instructions below to document state and county of residence.

1. Termination of Parental Rights/ Emancipation

Gather documentation to show that parental rights to a child have been terminated, or that a child has been emancipated for deeming or household composition.

2. Legal Guardian

Gather documentation to establish the legal guardianship of an individual for representative payment purposes is sufficient. Obtain legal guardian information on the SSR by using an SSI2 query (MSOM QUERIES 003.006) to look at the CO segment of the RP field.

3. Temporary Absence

Before documenting temporary absence, review the other evidence in file. For example, if a child is subject to deeming from a parent residing in another State or county, do not further document the child's temporary absence from the household.

If it is unclear that the recipient is temporarily absent from the usual residence, accept a capable individual's allegation if it is consistent with the circumstances and other evidence in file. If inconsistent, request other supporting evidence, such as:

  • •

    agreements showing rental liability;

  • •

    banking records;

  • •

    magazine subscription addresses;

  • •

    driver's license;

  • •

    current utility bills; and/or

  • •

    other information which supports where the residence actually is.

4. Institutional Placements

Gather documentation about State and county placements and age at placement from the institution's records, the social worker servicing the case, and/or the representative payee (or prospective representative payee).

E. Procedure - Correcting Records

Use the following instructions to correct records showing the incorrect state and county.

1. Children

If you are reviewing the record of a child who is not living with the parents but is under parental control and who has not been placed by a jurisdiction, correct it by entering the State and county of residence of the parents who exercise control. (Instructions in the previous BASIC to this subchapter may have led you to input the State and county code of a school away from home as the residence even when the parents were exercising control.)

Check the State and county code of residence on the SSR for all children who may be affected during redeterminations and other posteligibility events.

2. ZIP Codes

FO Responsibilities:

Remember that most ZIP codes correspond to political lines. Also remember that, in the majority of cases, each ZIP code will belong wholly to one county. (However, there are some “border” ZIP codes which are shared by more than one county.) Use your knowledge of the service area to enter the appropriate State and county code on the SSR.

Overwrite the system's incorrect prefilled codes since MSSICS LRES entries will prefill the State and county code from the ZIP code of the residence.

As MSSICS is extended to include posteligibility SSI actions, be ever more careful to check to see if the prefilled ZIP code or the previous State and county code accurately reflect the SSI individual's State and county of residence.

F. References

  • •

    Capability Determinations, GN 00502.060

  • •

    Change of Address (Posteligibility), SI 02306.010

  • •

    Child for SSI Purposes, SI 00501.010

  • •

    Computation History (CMPH) Segment of the SSR,

    SM 01601.790

  • •

    Application Effective Date, SI 00601.009

  • •

    Effective Dates for Policy Changes (Redeterminations),

    SI 02305.030

  • •

    Eligible Child for Deeming Purposes, SI 01310.115

  • •

    “Grandfathered” Income and Resources Provisions,

    SI 01210.100 ff. and SI 01220.001 ff.

  • •

    Home Exclusion — Continued Exclusion from Resources of Home Property Based on Intent to Return,

    SI 01130.100B.

  • •

    Incompetency Decisions, GN 00502.010

  • •

    Institutionalization and SSI Payment, SI 00520.011

  • •

    Interviewing, Other Benefits — Applications, SI 00601.060

  • •

    Interviewing, Other Benefits — Posteligibility, SI 02305.094 and SI 02305.099

  • •

    Legal Guardian Recorded on the SSR, SM 01601.505

  • •

    LRES (Residence Address), Intranet SSI 010.007

  • •

    Medicaid Retroactivity, SI 01715.001C.3.

  • •

    Overkeying Prefilled State and County Codes, Intranet SSI 010.007

  • •

    Redeterminations and Changes of Residence, SI 02305.115

  • •

    Representative Payee (RP) Data on the SSR, SM 01601.565

  • •

    Residence Address (LRES), Intranet SSI 010.007

  • •

    SSI2 Query, SM 01601.175 ff., MSOM QUERIES 003.006

  • •

    Systems Input of Address Changes, SM 01301.390 ff.,

    SM 01301.485 ff., SM 01301.540 ff.

  • •

    Temporary Absence from the Household, SI 01310.165

  • •

    Temporary Absence from a Federal Living Arrangement, SI 00835.040 - SI 00835.043

To Link to this section - Use this URL:
http://policy.ssa.gov/poms.nsf/lnx/0501410040
SI 01410.040 - Procedures for Determining the State and County of Residence - 02/09/2016
Batch run: 09/22/2025
Rev:02/09/2016