Death of a Participant – Effecting Changes
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This section includes information about what happens when the death of a participant is reported.
Policy
Notification of a participant’s death may be reported by any of the following:
●Another participant in the budgetary unit
●Third-party source
●System Interface (See Crossmatch Reports for more information)
When FAA is notified of a participant’s death by the budgetary unit or a third-party source, it is considered unclear information(g), verification is required before removing or stopping the deceased participant’s benefits. FAA must send the Verification of Death Information (C026) notice.
When the death of a participant is verified, the deceased participant is removed from the case. (For guidelines regarding the appropriate month, see When to Effect Changes). Allow for one of the following:
●Notice of Adverse Action(g) is sent when the removal of the deceased participant causes a benefit decrease and there are remaining participants in the budgetary unit.
●No notice is required when the deceased participant is the only participant or all participants in the budgetary unit are deceased.
When FAA determines there is unclear information and additional verification is required, a notice requesting the verification is sent no later than the close of business on the workday(g) after the change is received. When the participant does not return the verification requested, one of the following occurs:
●The benefit amount is reduced
●An open case is closed
●A new application is denied
Death of the Primary Informant (PI)
Once a case has been registered and a Primary Informant (PI) is assigned in AZTECS(g) that participant(g) is required to remain as the PI of the case.
When the death of the NA PI becomes known, one of the following applies:
●For a budgetary unit of two or more participants, FAA sends a notice to the last known address. The notice informs the remaining participants they must submit an application to continue receiving benefits.
NOTE Any of the following individuals may be established as an Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) Alternate Cardholder when the budgetary unit needs access to the remaining NA benefits after a case is closed:
●An adult budgetary unit member
●A non-participant adult who has parental control of the remaining budgetary unit members. The identity of the adult having parental control is required to be established. Living arrangements are not verified unless questionable
●For a single participant budgetary unit, all of the following apply:
The Fidelity Information Services (FIS) deactivates the EBT card and sets an early expungement deactivation date.
When the deactivation date expires, any remaining benefits on the EBT card are purged and cannot be reactivated.
When NA benefits are closed in error, FAA can only reactivate benefits within 62 calendar days or less of the closure.
When the death of the CA PI becomes known, all of the following apply:
●An individual acting as a representative for, or on behalf of the deceased CA PI may be named as an emergency Alternate Cardholder. (See CA EBT Alternate Cardholder - Emergency Situations for additional information)
●When no CA EBT Alternate Cardholder is available, the CA case is closed.
Verification
The participant has the primary responsibility for providing verification. (See Participant Responsibilities – Providing Verification for additional policy.)
Documents used for verification include, but are not limited to, any of the following:
●A letter from an out-of-state vital statistics agency
●Death Certificate
●Birth certificate
●Hospital records
●In Memoriam card
●Indian census records
●Institutional records
●Insurance company records
●Minister statement
●Newspaper obituaries
●Policy records
●Signed funeral director’s statement
●VA or military service records
Legal Authorities
7 CFR 273.14
7 CFR 272.14 (c)(1)
7 CFR 273.13
7 CFR 273.18
last revised 12/16/2024