This Fund will reimburse a large number of Individual Indian Money (IIM) account holders due to inadequate historical accounting of funds held in trust by the federal government. There are two types of settlement payments made through this Fund. An individual may receive one or both types.

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  Each Historical Accounting Class member will receive a per capita payment of $1,000 per person.

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  Each Trust Administration Class member will receive no less than a per capita payment of $500 per person. The average payment will be about $800. However, based on the amount of money a member received in his or her IIM account, the payment could be significantly larger than $800.

Currently, many parcels of trust land have multiple owners, making it difficult for an individual owner to use or sell his or her land. This fund will allow individual Indians to sell their portion of jointly owned trust land to the Federal government. The Federal government will then turn the land over to individual Indian tribes.

This fund will improve access to higher education for Indian youth by providing scholarships. A portion of the Trust Administration Adjustment Fund and the Trust Land Consolidation Fund will finance this scholarship fund.

For purposes of determining eligibility for Supplemental Security Income (SSI), exclude these payments from income.

For purposes of determining eligibility for SSI, exclude these payments from resource counting for 1 year from the date of receipt.

NOTE: If a recipient is 18 years of age and has an IIM account exclude the funds and the interest earned from resource counting for 1 year from the recipient's 18th birthday, when the funds are no longer considered restrictive.

Example: A class member receives a settlement payment on 10/5/11. We exclude this money for one year (November 2011 through October 2012). If retained, the money would be a countable resource starting November 2012.

The Trust Land Consolidation Fund is a buy-out program (see SI 00830.852B.2. in this section). The funds received from the sale of this land are not income but rather a conversion of a resource per SI 00815.200. Exclude funds received from sale of this land from resource counting for 1 year from the date of receipt. Funds retained longer than 1 year are countable as a resource.

Exclude funds received under the Indian Education Scholarship fund from income. Exclude funds received under this program from resources for 1 year.

If a recipient contacts SSA to report any of the above-mentioned settlement payments, document the information on a Report of Contact page screen, including:

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  the type of settlement fund;

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  the amount; and

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  the date of receipt (i.e. If the settlement payment was received on 10/15/2011 it would be countable as a resource as of 11/01/2012).

NOTE: If the recipient does not provide evidence, accept the recipient’s allegation without further development and document on a Report of Contact page. However, if the recipient provides evidence such as an award notice, please state “Evidence provided” on the Report of Contact page and fax a copy of the evidence into the electronic folder. Verifying the date and amount of a settlement payment may be useful for a future redetermination.

EXAMPLE: On a Report of Contact page the claims representative inputs, “The recipient reported receipt of a $1,000 Cobell settlement payment on December 21, 2011. Exclude this money from income. Exclude this money from resources for 1 year from the date of receipt. Recipient provided copy of award notice.”

If a recipient reports any of the above-mentioned settlement payments during an initial claim, redetermination, or other posteligibility action, and the recipient has resources over the SSI limit for any months under consideration:

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  obtain evidence to verify the type of settlement fund, the amount of the payment, and the date of receipt;

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  ask the recipient how much, if any, of the settlement payment has be retained; and

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  determine whether the one-year resource exclusion is still applicable to the recipient’s resources.