TN 7 (12-11)

A. General information on dual entitlement deductions

As the result of the Parisi by Cooney v. Chater reduction of benefits under the family maximum in cases involving dual entitlement – Title II of the Social Security Act) court case decision, Acquiescence Ruling 97-1(1), now applies to all States. Under this ruling, we will consider only the benefit actually payable when reducing the benefits of dually entitled auxiliaries or survivors. (The benefit payable to the dually entitled person is the amount before any applicable reduction for age, government pension offset (GPO), or workers' compensation offset (WC).) Pay any resulting increase to other auxiliaries or survivors entitled on the same record.

NOTE: Only pay this increase to others who are not dually entitled. If there are no other beneficiaries who are not dually entitled, this change does not apply. As used in the following section, the phrase decision or determination means any decision by a court, Appeals Council, or administrative law judge or any initial or reconsideration determination that awards benefits.

B. Effective dates for changes in procedure due to court ruling

1. Claimant resides inside the First Judicial Circuit

This change applies to any claimant on the record who lives in the First Judicial Circuit (Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Puerto Rico, and Rhode Island) during a month that benefits are paid or payable. This change also applies to:

• all benefits (including retroactive benefits) payable as the result of a decision or determination made after 01/13/1997;

• all benefits (including retroactive benefits) payable as the result of a decision or determination made from 11/09/1995 through 01/13/1997 if the claimant asks for a reopening of that decision or determination under the acquiescence ruling; and,

• all other beneficiaries in the First Judicial Circuit who do not meet these requirements will have his or her benefits adjusted beginning with those payable for October 1999.

2. Claimant resides outside the First Judicial Circuit

For claimants who reside outside of the First Judicial Circuit this change is effective for all benefits beginning with those payable for October 1999.

C. Processing

Always consider the possibility of a Combined Family Maximum based on children who are simultaneously entitled on more than one record before applying deduction before reduction based on dual entitlement. See RS 00615.000.

• See RS 00615.768 for computation instruction.

• See MSOM MCS 0014.006 D 10-C for required A101 remarks.

• See MSOM MCS 0014.008 D 5-C for coding the MBEN screen in the A101.