Do I have to report an inheritance to CalWORKs? Worried about getting discontinued
Just found out my uncle passed away and I might be getting about $4000 from his will. I'm currently on CalWORKs with my 2 kids and I'm worried about how this will affect our benefits. Do I HAVE to report this? I know we need to report income changes but this is a one-time thing, not regular income. Will they count it all at once and cut off my benefits? The money would help with getting my car fixed which I need for work, but not if it means losing our cash aid for months. Has anyone dealt with inheritance while on CalWORKs? I'm afraid to ask my worker because I don't want to cause problems if I don't have to report it.
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KingKongZilla
YES you absolutely need to report it! It counts as income in the month you receive it. Any changes to your household income - even one-time payments - must be reported within 10 days if it puts you over your Income Reporting Threshold (IRT). If you don't report it and they find out later (which they often do through bank account records or other means), you could be charged with welfare fraud and have to pay back benefits with penalties.
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Bethany Groves
AuthorOh no... so will this just affect one month of benefits or will they cut me off completely?
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Rebecca Johnston
dont freak out, u will probly just get less cash for one month. my cousin got an insurance settlement last year for like $3000 and they just reduced her cash aid for that month then it went back to normal the next month. its not worth riskin fraud charges trust me!!
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Nathan Dell
This is mostly correct but with some important details: If the inheritance puts you over the income limit for the month, you'll get $0 in CalWORKs that month, but you'll still be in the program. The following month when your income is back to normal, your benefits should resume at their regular amount. This is different from resources (like savings), which have a $10,000 limit - as long as your total resources stay under that limit after the month you receive the inheritance, you should be fine.
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Maya Jackson
Listen, the SYSTEM is designed to keep you poor. They make these rules so complicated on purpose! They don't want you to have ANYTHING. I didn't report a $2500 insurance check last year and nothing happened, but that's just my experience. Do what you want but remember the county has access to bank records and they do random checks!!! The whole thing is a trap - if you don't report they can hit you with fraud, but if you DO report they cut your benefits when you actually need help!!!
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KingKongZilla
I understand your frustration with the system, but encouraging someone to commit fraud is really dangerous. The penalties can include being permanently disqualified from assistance, having to repay benefits with penalties, and even criminal charges in serious cases. It's ALWAYS better to report and deal with a temporary reduction than risk these consequences.
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Tristan Carpenter
Have you tried calling your county worker to ask about this? I was in a similar situation last year (got a $5k life insurance payment when my mom passed) and I could NOT get through on the phone for like a week. I kept getting transferred around and disconnected. So frustrating when you're trying to do the right thing!
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Amaya Watson
I had the same problem trying to reach someone about my SAR7 last month! I finally used this service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that got me through to a real person at the county office in like 20 minutes instead of waiting on hold forever. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/jzISHxCPLwE. Seriously saved me hours of frustration when I needed to talk to someone about my benefits.
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Grant Vikers
my brother got an inheritance while on calworks and didn't report it and they found out somehow and made him pay back like $1200 in benefits plus he got a 6 month penalty where he couldn't get benefits but his kids still could. not worth the stress honestly
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Nathan Dell
Here's what you need to know about inheritance and CalWORKs: 1. You must report it within 10 days of receiving it 2. It counts as income in the month you receive it 3. Any amount remaining after that month counts as a resource 4. The resource limit for CalWORKs is $10,000 (as of 2025) 5. If your total resources (savings, property, etc.) stay under $10,000 after the month you receive it, your eligibility continues Using the money for necessary expenses like car repairs is actually smart financial planning. Just make sure to keep receipts of how you spent the money in case you need to verify your resource level later.
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Bethany Groves
AuthorThank you so much for breaking this down! So basically I just need to be prepared to have reduced/no cash aid for the month I get the money, but as long as I'm careful about staying under the $10,000 resource limit, my benefits should continue normally after that. I'll definitely report it and keep all receipts for the car repairs.
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Rebecca Johnston
btw when u report it make sure u do it in writing not just over the phone. my friend had a problem where she reported something on the phone but the worker never documented it and she ended up with an overpaymnt. get proof that u reported it!
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Aisha Rahman
I went through something similar when my grandmother passed and left me about $3,500. I was terrified about losing benefits but here's what actually happened: I reported it right away to my caseworker, my CalWORKs payment was $0 for that one month because it put me over the income limit, but the next month everything went back to normal. The key is that inheritance counts as income for the month you receive it, but then any leftover amount just counts toward your resource limit ($10,000). I used most of the money for emergency expenses anyway (dental work and car registration), so it didn't really affect my ongoing eligibility. It's definitely scary but being honest upfront saved me from way worse problems down the road. You've got this!
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