Participant Claiming Grandchild as Part of Family

[kytward]

Q: A participant wants to include a minor grandchild as part of her family for SCSEP eligibility purposes. She neither claims the grandchild on her tax return nor has legal guardianship. However, she has third-party attestation that the grandchild does in fact live with her and has for quite some time and that she does indeed provide for the grandchild. Is the third-party documentation enough for SCSEP purposes? Does the participant need to have legal guardianship to be able to include the grandchild as part of the family for SCSEP purposes? Is claiming the grandchild on the participant's taxes as a dependent enough documentation to include the grandchild in the family?

[charteroakadmin]

A: DOL has determined that an applicant can claim a dependent child as a member of the family if the child qualifies as a dependent under the four-part IRS test found at http://taxes.about.com/od/dependents/a/Dependents_2.htm . The test considers relationship, residence, age, and support. All four parts must be satisfied. Under the SCSEP eligibility TEGL, legal guardianship would also satisfy the relationship test, but it is not required for the IRS test.