The Vermont Statutes Online
The Statutes below include the actions of the 2025 session of the General Assembly.
NOTE: The Vermont Statutes Online is an unofficial copy of the Vermont Statutes Annotated that is provided as a convenience.
Subchapter
003
:
PROVISIONS OF GENERAL APPLICABILITY
(Cite as: 33 V.S.A. § 122)
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§ 122. Recovery of payments
(a) The amount of assistance or benefits may be changed or cancelled at any time if the
Commissioner for Children and Families or the Commissioner of Vermont Health Access
finds that the recipient’s circumstances have changed. Upon granting assistance or
benefits the Department for Children and Families or the Department of Vermont Health
Access shall inform the recipient that changes in his or her circumstances must be
promptly reported to the Department.
(b) When on the death of a person receiving assistance it is found that the recipient
possessed income or property in excess of that reported to the Department for Children
and Families or the Department of Vermont Health Access, up to double the total amount
of assistance in excess of that to which the recipient was lawfully entitled may be
recovered by the Commissioner for Children and Families or the Commissioner of Vermont
Health Access as a preferred claim from the estate of the recipient. The Commissioner
for Children and Families or the Commissioner of Vermont Health Access shall calculate
the amount of the recovery by applying the legal interest rate to the amount of excess
recovery paid, except that the recovery shall be capped at double the excess assistance
paid.
(c) When the Commissioner for Children and Families or the Commissioner of Vermont Health
Access finds that a recipient of benefits received assistance in excess of that to
which the recipient was lawfully entitled, because the recipient possessed income
or property in excess of Department standards, the Commissioner for Children and Families
or the Commissioner of Vermont Health Access may take actions to recover the overpayment.
(d) In the event of recovery, an amount may be retained by the Commissioner for Children
and Families or the Commissioner of Vermont Health Access in a special fund for use
in offsetting program expenses and an amount equivalent to the pro rata share to which
the United States of America is equitably entitled shall be paid promptly to the appropriate
federal agency. (Added 1967, No. 147, § 1; 1997, No. 155 (Adj. Sess.), § 20; amended 2005, No. 174 (Adj. Sess.), § 73; 2009, No. 156 (Adj. Sess.), § I.39.)