The following property shall be excluded for benefit calculation purposes:
- The total value of MOVABLES and household articles.
This covers FURNITURE, ACCESSORIES and ARTICLES normally found in an adult’s or family’s home.
- BOOKS, INSTRUMENTS and TOOLS needed for employment or for a trade or craft.
This covers hammers, saws, pliers and other items of this nature used both for employment and for self-employment. However, the trade, employment or craft must be the person's own trade, employment or craft or one in which he or she may reasonably engage in the future.
- The value of PENSION CREDITS that have accumulated in a retirement plan other than the Quebec Pension Plan or the Canada Pension Plan, as well as the amounts that have accrued with interest as a result of the recipient's participation in another RETIREMENT SAVINGS plan which, under the plan, the savings instrument or the Act, cannot be returned to the recipient before the age of retirement.
The amounts in question may have been deposited in a retirement plan before or during the time that the adult or family is receiving assistance under a last resort assistance program. They may also have been obtained in a DIVISION OF PROPERTY upon separation or a divorce or the dissolution of a civil union.
- Property OWNED by a DEPENDENT CHILD, where that property is administered by a tutor, an executor or a trustee, before an accounting must be rendered.
The child does not yet have the right to dispose of the property.
If the child is a minor, the Civil Code specifies that a TUTOR shall be appointed to protect the child's patrimony: the last resort assistance is then based on the existence of this tutorship to exempt the property. However, if the modest value of the property does not justify tutorship, the fact that the person who has parental authority treats the property in a manner that confirms the child's ownership and ensures its conservation may be considered to be EQUIVALENT to TUTORSHIP.
- Property acquired by a DEPENDENT CHILD through his or her OWN WORK.
This may be work that the child does during the summer, part-time or on weekends.
- EQUIPMENT ADAPTED to the needs of persons who have functional limitations, including a vehicle adapted for transportation and not used for commercial purposes.
The exclusion for an adapted vehicle does not prevent application of a partial exclusion for another vehicle, if the recipient DECLARES that the non-adapted vehicle is the family’s principal means of transportation.
It includes an adapted vehicle owned by a family-type resource (FOSTER FAMILY or FOSTER HOME) in whose care a child or a handicapped adult is placed under the Act respecting Health Services and Social Services.
- The value of a CONTRACT for the ADVANCE ARRANGEMENT of funeral services or for the advance purchase of a sepulchre, where those contracts are in force.
- Property acquired from the proceeds of indemnities or sums paid:
- The financial compensation granted by the federal government to PERSONS INFECTED BY THE AIDS (HIV) VIRUS following a blood transfusion;
- The financial compensation paid to recipients of the Multi-Provincial/Territorial Assistance Program (MPTAP) for persons infected by the AIDS virus following a blood transfusion or by using blood products;
- The financial compensation paid by the federal government to victims of THALIDOMIDE;
- The financial compensation paid by the Government of Quebec to persons infected by the hepatitis C virus following a blood transfusion or by the administration of blood products in Quebec;
- The financial compensation paid under the “1986-1990 Hepatitis C Settlement Agreement”, dated June 15, 1999 (settlement fund provided by the federal, provincial and territorial governments, except when payments are received in the form of a loss of income compensation or in the form of loss of support for the victim’s dependants at the time of his/her death.
- Financial compensation paid pursuant to the decision rendered by the Superior Court giving effect to the arrangement reached by the Canadian Red Cross Association in response to a class action commenced by persons who received an AIDS-infected blood transfusion and were infected with the AIDS virus prior to January 1, 1986 or between July 1, 1990 and September 28, 1998.
- Financial compensation paid under the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement reached between the federal government, the Assembly of First Nations (AFN), the legal representatives of former residential school students and of the various churches involved in the operation of residential schools.
The exclusion applies as of the date of the first payment of these indemnities up to the amount of the indemnity. This means that property acquired before that date must be included for benefit calculation purposes. Generally speaking, there is a presumption that the recipient acquired the property with the indemnity received.
There is NO TIME LIMIT on the application of this exclusion to property acquired by a single beneficiary or a member of a family up to the amount of the indemnity or compensation received.
This exclusion applies only to the BENEFICIARY; upon his death, the exclusion doesn’t apply to the heirs.
MOVABLES AND HOUSEHOLD ARTICLES
It is necessary to establish what is NORMAL USE, giving the family reasonable benefit of the doubt, while counting articles that represent an accumulation of "valuables" that are not related to domestic life. However, it is necessary to be very careful: a child's stamp collection, for example, may be of some value, but if it does not exceed what would be usual for a child to do at that age, it must not be counted. The concept of "domestic life" must be interpreted in the broad sense of the expression.
If valuable objects such as rare books, precious china, valuable jewellery, collector's items, expensive rugs, paintings, artwork, cameras, musical instruments and antiques are ACTUALLY USED by the adult or the family, they are not counted.
However, it must be ensured that ownership of the property is not a way to hide liquid assets, if the value of the property is particularly high: e.g. if the adult or family acquired the property personally rather than by inheriting it or receiving it as a gift.
It is also necessary to be careful in the case of family articles or articles which have great sentimental value, and consider the real value if they were sold, whether the property was a gift or a purchase, and how long the family has possessed it. An article that the family has possessed since long before the beginning of the assistance period should normally be excluded.
Clients eligible for the 66/72 benefit
Property owned by dependent children and the spouse are not considered in establishing the amount paid to a person eligible for the 66/72 benefit. In addition, the value of a principal residence or working farm is excluded in its entirety. Capital from the sale of a residence is also completely excluded for the purpose of calculating the amount paid to a person eligible for the 66/72 benefit.
The client is required to use this money for the purchase or construction of a new residence within six months of the sale.
Note: Capital from the sale of a residence is excluded both as a liquid asset and property during this period.
Conditions to qualify for the exclusion
To qualify for the exclusion, the amount must be promptly deposited in a separate account with a chartered bank or another financial institution such as a credit union or trust company authorized by law to receive deposits.
In addition, amounts accumulated in a registered disability savings plan (RDSP) or specified disability savings plan (SDSP) are totally excluded for the purpose of calculating the amount paid to the person eligible for the 66/72 benefit, including such amounts paid in the form of:
- Canada Disability Savings Bonds;
- Canada disability savings grant.
The capital held in an RDSP or SDSP is excluded, both as a liquid asset and property.