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PG&E Settlements
Payments received from PG&E’s settlements may or may not be included as income or property depending on the terms of the settlement. These payments may be in the form of an insurance payment, a settlement payment, or payments dispersed through a Fire Victims Trust that was established to assure the claims of individual wildfire victims. The terms of the settlement must be discussed with the applicant/recipient to determine whether or not the payment is countable.
Payments or funds intended to be used for replacement of lost, damaged, or stolen excluded resources,
These payments or funds are exempt as property for a nine-month initial period plus any applicable extension periods.
For example, if the applicant/recipient has good cause when circumstances beyond their control prevents the repair or replacement of the exempt property, the initial nine-month period can be extended for up to an additional nine-months, for a total of eighteen-months, only if the applicant/recipient intends to use the funds for the designated purpose.
Settlement Payments in Multiple Disbursements
Each payment must have its own initial nine-month exemption period that will begin from the month of receipt.
Payments or Funds Received for Non-exempt Property Damage
Payments are considered property in the month of receipt
Lump Sum Income or Property
Lump sum payments, such as payments for pain and suffering, or for basic needs, are considered income in the month received, and, if not spent down before the end of the following month, the payment would be countable property in that following month.
Reported Non-exempt PG&E Settlement Payments
When an applicant/recipient reports the receipt of a nonexempt payment, the EW must take the following actions with the applicant/recipient:
- Ask them what they plan to do with the payment,
- Advise them that their case may be terminated for excess property at the end of the following month,
- Explain options for them to maintain eligibility by spending down, transferring or taking actions to make the payment unavailable,
- Inform them that they need to provide receipts or other verifications such as bank and credit card statements to establish what they did with the payment (payment of any legal debt is considered a transfer for adequate consideration), and
- Inform them that if the spend-down or allocation sufficiently reduces the household's non-exempt property below the property limit before the end of that following month, then the Medi-Cal benefits will be rescinded and that there will be no break in coverage.
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