Inaccessible Resources

Exemption [63-501.3h]

Exempt the cash value of a resource which is inaccessible to the household. This includes, but is not limited to:

  • NAP benefits
  • Irrevocable trust funds
  • Security deposits on rental property or utilities
  • Property in probate
  • Real property which the household is making a good faith effort to sell at a reasonable price and which has not been sold.
  • Property unlikely to produce significant funds or return if sold (this exemption does not apply to financial instruments such as stocks, bonds, or legally binding promissory notes.)

Verification

The following verification must be required for an inaccessible resource:

  • Cash value
  • Inaccessibility of the resource

Nutritional Assistance Program (NAP)

NAP benefits issued in the U.S. territories of Puerto Rico, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Marinas are inaccessible in the United States. NAP benefits must be treated as inaccessible resources for CalFresh applicants.

Irrevocable Trust Funds

All of the following conditions must exist to exempt a trust fund or income from a trust fund which is inaccessible.

  1. TRUSTEE
    1. The trustee administering the funds is either:
      1. A court; or
      2. An institution, corporation or organization which is not under the direction or ownership of any household member; or
      3. An individual appointed by the court who has court-imposed limitations placed on their use of the funds.
  2. SOURCE/PURPOSE
    1. The funds are either:
      1. Established from nonhousehold funds by a nonhousehold member regardless of how the funds will be used; or
      2. Established from the household's own funds if the trustee uses the funds solely to make investments on behalf of the trust or to pay the educational or medical expenses of any person named by the household creating the trust.
  3. LENGTH
    1. The trust arrangement is not likely to end during the certification period.
  4. HOUSEHOLD CONTROL
    1. No household member has the power to:
      1. Revoke the trust arrangement; or
      2. Change the name of the beneficiary during the certification period.
    2. The trust investments do not directly involve or assist any business or corporation under the control, direction or influence of a household member.

Property Unlikely to Produce Significant Funds or Return

Exempt property that, if sold or otherwise disposed of, is unlikely to produce a “significant amount of funds” or a “significant return”, except for the following property:

  • Financial instruments (stocks, bonds, legally binding promissory notes, etc.).

Significant Amount of Funds

A “significant amount of funds” is over $1500.

Significant Return

A “significant return” is an estimated value (based on the household's ownership interest in the property) which is over $1500 after subtracting the estimated cost of the sale or disposition of the property.

ExampleExample

A household owns 1/6 interest in a time share which has a total appraised value of $11,000. The cost of selling the time share is $1,000. The household's resource limit is $2,000


$11,000  Estimated time share value
– 1,000  Estimated sales cost
----------
$10,000  Estimated return

 

$10,000 Estimated return - HH's 1/6 interest = $1,666.67 HH share
The household's estimated return on the time share sale is $1,666.67 which exceeds the $1500 limit. Therefore, the sale of the household's portion of the time share is likely to produce a “significant amount of funds”, and the time share cannot be exempt.
The full amount of the household's interest in the time share (without the sales or disposition cost) must be counted as a resource. 

This is computed as shown below.

1/6 of $11,000 Estimated time share value = $1,833.33 HH share.

Combat Zone Pay

If the combat zone pay is accessible to the CalFresh household solely for the purposes of paying the service person’s bills and the household cannot use the funds for its own purposes, these funds are considered inaccessible and are excluded as a resource.

Exception: If the CalFresh household has full access to the combat zone pay and can use it for it’s purposes, it must be counted as a resource for the household.

Verification

The inaccessibility of the combat zone funds can be verified with:

  • a written statement from the service person,
  • a statement from the involved financial institution or
  • other means of attesting to the fact (i.e. sworn affidavit from the household).

Related Topics

Countable Resources

Exempt Resources