In determining eligibility for Community Care Services Eligibility (CCSE) services or programs, HHSC does not consider the following to be resources and are considered to be excluded for eligibility purposes. Any item not listed as an exclusion is considered a resource.

1. (1) Homestead is any structure used by the person as a home, including other buildings and all contiguous land. Mobile homes, houseboats, and motor homes are considered structures. Vacant property is not a homestead. Contiguous land means all land adjacent to the home, including any land separated only by roads, rivers, and streams. Land is contiguous as long as it is not separated by property owned by another person. The homestead is excluded as a resource regardless of its location, even if the person no longer lives there, unless the person has purchased another residence. If the person owns two houses, the person's homestead is the property the person uses as a home. Only one homestead may be excluded for each person or couple.
2. (2) Personal property includes household goods and personal effects.
3. (3) Property essential to employment includes tools and equipment required for employment or self-employment.
4. (4) Prepaid burials include burial arrangements, burial insurance, and burial plots.
5. (5) Life insurance is the cash surrender value of all life insurance.

6. (6) Vehicles include:

   1. (A) one passenger car or other vehicle, such as a van or truck, used for transportation, or one unlicensed vehicle;

   2. (B) a second vehicle may be excluded if it is:

      1. (i) specially equipped to enable a person with a disability to drive; or
      2. (ii) essential to the employment or self-employment of the family; and
   3. (C) any additional vehicles, licensed or unlicensed, are considered resources.
7. (7) Income-producing property that annually produces net income equal to or greater than 6% of the property's equity value. The equity value is the current market value of the property less any recorded encumbrances.
8. (8) Installment contracts from mortgages, notes, or loans are the value of installment contracts for the sale of land, other property, or repayment of loans, if the contract or agreement is producing income according to the fair market value at the time of the agreement. An installment is a mortgage or similar contract in which the buyer promises to pay a fixed amount over a period of time until the principal of the note is paid. Even though the seller retains legal title, the property is not considered a countable resource as long as the buyer is fulfilling the contractual obligation. The payment is considered income.
9. (9) Disaster assistance includes government payments granted for the rebuilding of homes destroyed or damaged in a disaster.
10. (10) Energy assistance includes payments or allowances for energy assistance made under any federal, state, or local law.
11. (11) Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits are the value of SNAP benefits and USDA-donated foods.
12. (12) Inaccessible resources are the cash value of resources inaccessible to the person, including irrevocable trust funds, property in probate, and pension funds. Real property that the person or family is making a good faith effort to sell is exempt. The person or family must ask a fair price for the property, according to its current market value. Property is also exempt if it is jointly owned and the other co-owners refuse to sell.
13. (13) Mineral rights are the value of mineral rights.
14. (14) A life estate is the right a person has to property during a person's lifetime. A remainder interest is the right of ownership to the property when the life estate holder dies.
15. (15) Replacement value of excluded resources if lost, damaged, or stolen is the cash received from an insurance company for replacing the resource and is not considered for three months if it is real property. Any cash not spent within the specified time period is considered a resource.
16. (16) Monthly gross income is all income received monthly and is counted as income in the month received and excluded as a resource in that month.
17. (17) Sale of a homestead are proceeds from the sale of a homestead up to six months after the proceeds become available to the seller. The six months gives the person time to acquire another homestead. If the person does so, any balance from the original sale must be considered as an available resource. If, before the end of the six-month period, the person declares the person has no intention of acquiring another homestead, the proceeds from the sale must be counted as an available resource.
18. (18) Agent Orange settlement payments received from the Agent Orange settlement fund or any other fund established in settlement of the Agent Orange product liability litigation.
19. (19) Radiation exposure compensation payments received under the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (Public Law 101-246).
20. (20) livestock are not counted as a resource;
21. (21) earned income tax credit (EITC) refunds from the Internal Revenue Service are not counted as a resource.

Source Note:The provisions of this §271.93 adopted to be effective February 1, 1989, 13 TexReg 5751; amended to be effective December 1, 1990, 15 TexReg 6198; amended to be effective December 1, 1991, 16 TexReg 5406; amended to be effective January 1, 1992, 16 TexReg 6860; amended to be effective September 1, 1993, 18 TexReg 4645; amended to be effective July 1, 1994, 19 TexReg 4200; amended to be effective August 1, 1994, 19 TexReg 5105; transferred effective September 15, 2023, as published in the August 18, 2023, issue of the Texas Register, 48 TexReg 4523; amended to be effective September 10, 2025, 50 TexReg 5936.