Deferred Adjudication 430-05-75-20-20

(Revised 01/01/04 ML2893)

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Deferred adjudication is when an individual plea bargains their case with a State’s Attorney. This results in no court hearing being held and the individual is placed on probation and required to pay restitution.

Counties have the option of allowing accused individuals to sign disqualification consent agreements for cases of deferred adjudication.

Example:

If the County State's Attorney, rather than prosecuting a suspected intentional program violator in court, chooses to execute an agreement with the individual.

Advance Notification of Deferred Adjudication

The county must enter into an agreement with the prosecuting official to provide for advance written notification to the individual of the consequences of consenting to disqualification in cases of deferred adjudication.

The written notification must include at a minimum:

1. A statement for the individual to sign that they understand the consequences of consenting to disqualification. The applicant must also sign the consent agreement if the accused individual is not the applicant.
2. A statement that the individual understands the disqualification and the reduction in benefits for the period that the disqualification will be imposed even though the individual was not found guilty of fraud.
3. A warning informing the individual of the SNAP IPV disqualification penalties and which penalty will be imposed.
4. A statement that the remaining household members, if any, will be responsible for repayment of the resulting claim, unless the individual has already repaid the claim.

Imposition of Deferred Adjudication Disqualification

When an individual suspected of IPV signs the deferred adjudication disqualification agreement, the individual is disqualified in accordance with the IPV disqualification periods, unless contrary to the court order.

If the court imposes a disqualification period or specifies the date for initiating the disqualification period, the worker must disqualify the household member in accordance with the court order.

Notification of Deferred Adjudication Disqualification

When the worker receives the signed Findings and Order, the worker must:

1. Disqualify the individual: For all disqualified individuals, including those not participating at the time of the disqualification order, the disqualification period begins with the first month following the date the individual receives written notification. Adequate notice is required.

Once a disqualification penalty has been imposed it continues uninterrupted until completed. The household remains responsible for repayment of any overissuance that may have resulted from this violation, regardless of eligibility for benefits.

2. Change the error cause code for the claim to "FR" (SEOO, function 5) and set the participation code for the disqualified individual to "DF" if currently participating. Send Notice F818 – IPV – Overissuance to the household and set an alert for 10 days as the household has 10 days to return the signed Notice F818. After the 10 days has elapsed, change the percent from 10% to 20% (SEOO, function 5).  For IPV claims, the amount of SNAP benefit reduction is the greater of 20% of the benefit or $20 per month.
3. Set a person/program alert on the PRAP screen (CAMM, function 19).

Reversed Disqualification

When a court reverses an administrative IPV or court conviction, the worker must reinstate the individual in the program if eligible. Benefits that were lost as a result of the disqualification must be restored.