Exclude inherited payments from resources if the funds:

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  were inherited from or can be traced back to an individual who received the inherited funds as payments because of their status as a victim of Nazi persecution;

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  were or would have been excludable under the Victims of Nazi Persecution Act of 1994 for the original recipient;

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  are identifiable as reparation payments; and

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  are unspent

For the definition of inheritance, see SI 00830.550, Inheritances. For Payments to Victims of Nazi Persecution, see SI 01130.610.

The resource exclusion applies to reparation payments inherited by any individual. The individual inheriting the funds does not have to be related to the original recipient, nor do they have to inherit the funds directly from the original recipient. The exclusion applies to the funds as long as the SSI claimant provides evidence establishing that the criteria in SI 01130.612B.1 in this section are met.

An individual who received reparation payments died without a will. Their parents and spouse predeceased them, and they had no children. Under state laws of intestate succession, their sibling inherits the estate that includes $5,000 in identifiable reparation payments. Upon submission of appropriate evidence, the funds inherited by the sibling are excluded from resources for SSI purposes.

The original recipient of reparation payments from the German government died and left $10,000 of their conserved reparation payments to their spouse in their will. When their spouse died, they left the remaining $6,000 of conserved reparation payments to their child, who is an SSI recipient. Upon submission of appropriate evidence, the resource exclusion can apply to the funds inherited by the surviving child.

An individual alleges they received an inheritance from their parent that included $8,000 of Nazi reparation payments paid to their grandparent and inherited by their parent. The individual establishes that their grandparent received payments because of their status as a victim of Nazi persecution. However, the individual's parent had commingled the payments with regular funds in a savings account, of which other money had passed in and out for 20 years. The individual is unable to establish that the funds are identifiable as reparation payments. The $8,000 is income to the individual in the month of receipt, and any funds unspent count as a resource the following month.

Always determine if applying this exclusion would permit eligibility for regular or conditional benefits when an individual would otherwise be ineligible due to excess resources. If the exclusion would permit eligibility, develop per SI 01130.612D.2. in this section. It is not necessary to develop the resource exclusion under this section if the individual is eligible without the application of this exclusion.

Follow these steps if an individual alleges resources that include unspent inherited reparation payments that were originally made to a victim of Nazi persecution.

Obtain the claimant's statement either signed or recorded on a Report of Contact page as to the date(s) and amount(s) of any inherited funds corresponding to the payments originally made to the victim of Nazi persecution. Exclude the identifiable, unspent payments from countable resources.

An SSI claimant inherited a bank account containing $30,000 from their parent, whom they allege was a victim of Nazi persecution. They provide a copy of their parent’s will, which states that the bank account contains their pension payments from the German government. The claimant also provides a copy of a letter from the German government indicating the monthly payment amount and that the payments include pension credits received for the period the parent was subjected to persecution. Exclude the inherited funds from the SSI claimant's countable resources.