Exempt Personal Property

Exempt for a woman, alone or with children, who temporarily resides in a shelter for battered women and children if:

• The property is jointly owned with members of the former family from which the resident fled, and
• The resident's access to jointly owned property requires the consent of both the resident and members of the former family.

IRREVOCABLE/INACCESSABLE TRUST FUNDS

Condition #1: TRUSTEE

Exempt a trust fund or income from a trust fund which is inaccessible, when ALL four of the following conditions exist:

The trustee administering the funds is either:

• A court; or
• An institution, corporation or organization which is not under the direction or ownership of any AU member; or
• An individual appointed by the court who has court-imposed limitations placed on his/her use of the funds.

The funds are either:

• Established by a person who is not in the CalWORKs family from funds that were also not from the CalWORKs family, regardless of how the funds will be used; or
• Established from the AU’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 AU creating the trust.

No AU member has the power to:

• Revoke the trust arrangement; or
• Change the name of the beneficiary before the next RD.

The trust investments do not directly involve or assist any business or corporation under the control, direction or influence of an AU member

Exempt IDA funds. The “Assets For All Alliance” collaborative offers a unique, matched savings account and money management education to current and former CalWORKs recipients. As an IDA investor, the current or former Cal- WORKs recipient must:

• Sign a “Program Agreement,”
• Agree to save monthly, over a two to three-year period from the date of enrollment, and
• Be able to deposit up to $2,250 in their IDA Client Account.

The IDA Client Account is matched $2 for every $1 deposited, up to $4,000, in an IDA Matching Fund Account. The IDA investor can accumulate a total of $6,000 in both accounts for direct investment in their long-term goal. All resources / property (including interest and match funds) retained in the IDA accounts do not affect CalWORKs benefits. It is required that the investor deposit only earned income into the IDA. The funds in the Client Account and in the Matching Fund Account are considered an "unavailable resource" for eligibility and grant computation.    

Funds are:

• Held at Citibank with an IDA Case Manager,
• Not accessible to the IDA Investor, and
• Only released directly to an Asset Vendor specifically for;
  • First-time home ownership, or
  • Post-secondary education or training for themselves or their children, or
  • Business start-up or expansion.

The matching funds will never go directly to the investor. Rather, the matching funds are held in a parallel account and are only released to the investor’s Asset Vendor (for example; a mortgage provider; post-secondary education institution). In addition, IDA investors do not have access to their own Client Account. Withdrawals must be goal-related, approved, and co-signed by the IDA case manager. The funds will only be paid directly to the vendor.

However, if an extreme emergency occurs and a non-goal related withdrawal from the Client Account occurs, monies in the Matching Fund account are forfeited.

If the IDA case manager co-signs a CalWORKs recipient’s non-asset withdrawal, the client must also notify the EW and the EW must:

• Count the withdrawal as earned income in the month of withdrawal (unless these funds have previously been counted as income),
• Count the withdrawal as a resource in determining eligibility,
• Determine if there is a period of ineligibility for the Assistance Unit.

Note: The IDA contract between Social Services Agency and the "Assets for All Alliance" ended in August of 2004.

The cash value of pension plans is excluded from recipient’s resources, except for:

• Keogh plans that do not involve a contractual obligation with an individual (or entity) who is not a household member (such as a partnership’s Keogh).

The exclusion from resources for pension plans other than Keogh and IRAs applies regardless of whether the recipient is currently employed. These pension plans include but are not limited to:

• *457 plans,
• *401 (k) plans,
• The Federal employee thrift savings plan,
• *403 (b) plans,
• 501 (c) (18) plans,
• 529 plans, and
• SEP plans.

*=These accounts are also excluded from an applicant’s resource limit.

Exempt personal property related to the use or maintenance of a motor vehicle which is exempt for one of the following reasons:

• Used more than 50% of the time for income-producing purposes such as, but not limited to a taxi, truck, or fishing boat.
• Annually producing income consistent with its fair market value, even if used only on a seasonal basis.

These exemptions continue to apply when the vehicle is not in use due to temporary unemployment (such as when a taxi driver is ill and cannot work, or when a fishing boat is frozen-in and cannot be used). 

Refer to  Determine Value of Motor Vehicles. 

Exempt property which includes:

• Work-related equipment, tools, machinery or inventory.
• Business property that is separate and identifiable (such as a checking account), unless that property is commingled or no longer separately identifiable.
• Property exempt for self-employed farming continues to be exempt for up to one year after that self-employment ceases.

Exempt even if the property is only used seasonally.

Refer to Income-Producing Property. 

Exempt if the property is not available to child.

Refer to Uniform Gift to Minors (Availability and Inaccessibility) and UNIFORM GIFT TO MINORS (Verifications). 

Do not exempt WIA earnings received for on-the-job training, unless the trainee is:

• Age 18 or younger, and
• Under parental control.

Exempt all other WIA income.

Exempt funds (such as checking or savings accounts) whether maintained exclusively for business purposes or commingled with nonexempt properties if the funds are:

• Derived from prorated self-employment income, or
• Necessary to produce self-employment income.

Exempt only for the period of time over which self-employment income is prorated.

Exempt funds prorated as student income. (When commingled in an account with nonexempt funds, these properties remain exempt only for the period of time over which they were prorated as income.)

Exempt if issued under:

• Title IV of the Higher Education Act (Including Title IV Work Study).
• The Bureau of Indian Affairs Student Assistance Programs.
• Title XIII, Indian Higher Education Programs, Tribal Development Student Assistance Revolving Loan Program (Tribal Development Student Assistance Act).
• Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Education Act Amendments of 1990 (P.L. 101-392) and earmarked by the lender for, used for, or intended to be used for educational expenses (per the Standard Student Budget) at a:
• High school
• High school equivalency program
• Vocational school
• Post-secondary school (college).

Refer to WORKFORCE INVESTMENT ACT (WIA) FUNDS. 

Exempt payments made under the Agent Orange Settlement Fund or any other fund established to settle claims under the Agent Orange Compensation Act of 1989. (PL 101-201, PL 101-239)

DO NOT exempt VA benefits for Agent Orange-caused disabilities.

Exempt only those payments from the following sources. (The exemption applies only to the individual who incurs the costs of child care, and does not apply to the child care provider.)

• At Risk Block Grants
• Child Care and Development Block Grant

Exempt:

• Federal major disaster and emergency assistance issued under the Disaster Relief Act of 1974, and
• Comparable assistance provided due to a disaster by states, local governments, and disaster assistance organizations. (PL 100-707)

Exempt any government payment designated to restore a home damaged in a disaster, if the AU may be penalized if these funds are not used for this purpose.

This includes, but is not limited to payments from:

• Department of Housing and Urban Development through the individual and family grant program
• Disaster loans
• Small Business Administration grants.

Exempt land that:

• Is held jointly with the tribe, and
• Can only be sold with the approval of the Department of Interior’s Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Exempt funds paid under the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 to persons interned during World War II.

Exempt payments received as restitution made to U.S. citizens and permanent resident aliens of Japanese ancestry, and payment received as restitution made to Aleuts as a result of being relocated by the U.S. government during World War II. (PL 100-383)

Exempt payments from these programs, except earnings of an emancipated minor or an AU member who is over 18:

• Serve America
• American Conservation and Youth Corps
• Higher Education Program
• Service-Learning Program
• Americorps
• National Civilian Community Corps
• Summer for Safety Program
• School-to-Work Opportunities Program.

Exempt funds distributed per capita or held in trust for any Native American Tribe under Public Law (PL) 92-254 or PL 94-540.

Exempt funds of Native American Tribes, from PL 93-134, PL 97-458, and PL 98-64, including interest earned from, investment income derived from and initial purchases made with such funds when the funds have been:

• Distributed by the Secretary of the Interior on a per capita basis, or
• Held in trust by the Secretary of the Interior, or
• Individually owned trusts or restricted lands.

Exempt distributions to a household, individual Native or descendent of a Native when received from a Native Corporation established pursuant to the ANCSA under PL 100-241. Exempt distributions include:

• Cash, including cash dividends on stock received from a Native Corporation, to the extent it does not exceed $2,250 total per person per annum,
• Stock,
• A partnership interest,
• Land or interest in land, and
• Interest in a settlement trust.

Exempt only those payments issued under the following programs:

• Title I of the Domestic Volunteer Services Act, only if the individual was already receiving CalWORKs when they joined the volunteer program. Include payments from:
  • VISTA
  • University Year for Action
  • Urban Crime Prevention Program.
• Title II of the Domestic Volunteers Act, including:
  • RSVP
  • Foster Grandparents
  • Senior Companion Program.
• SCSEP under Title V of the Older Americans Act, including:
  • Green Thumb
  • National Council on Aging
  • National Council of Senior Citizens
  • AARP
  • U.S. Forest Service
  • National Association for Spanish-Speaking Elderly
  • National Urban League National Council on Black Aging.