When one spouse goes into a skilled nursing facility and applies for Medi-Cal, the spouse who stays home is not expected to end up destitute. As of January 1, 2026, the at-home spouse has a community spouse resource allowance of $157,920, and the applicant spouse has a separate limit of $130,000.
The house and one vehicle stay exempt on top of that.
Two limits, not one pot
This is the part that relieves people most, so I will put it plainly. The rules do not require the healthy spouse to spend everything before the sick spouse gets coverage. There are two numbers.
| Who | Resource figure as of January 1, 2026 |
|---|---|
| Spouse in the facility (applicant) | $130,000 |
| Spouse at home (community spouse resource allowance) | $157,920 |
| Primary residence | Exempt |
| One vehicle | Exempt |
The house you still live in
The at-home spouse does not have to sell the house. It is exempt for eligibility, and estate recovery does not apply where there is a surviving spouse. The fear that a wife will be put out of her home to pay for her husband's nursing care is the single most common thing I have to talk people down from.
Income is a separate track
Assets and income are different systems and people mash them together. The resource allowance figures above are about what you own. What comes in monthly, Social Security, a pension, an annuity payment, runs through a different set of rules, including provisions meant to keep the at-home spouse from being left below a minimum monthly income.
Bring the Social Security award letters and any pension statements to the meeting. Income cases turn on those documents more than on anything else.
“A woman in her eighties sat in my office and asked whether she should divorce her husband of fifty-one years to protect the house. Somebody at the facility had suggested it. She did not need to, and I want that idea to die. But I understood entirely why she was asking, and I never treat that question as foolish.”
Delia Vasquez-HartWhose name is on what
California is a community property state, and married couples here rarely have clean lines between his and hers. For Medi-Cal purposes, how accounts are titled matters, and there are lawful steps involving how spouses hold property that can improve a couple's position. This is the area where advice pays for itself, and also the area where do-it-yourself moves cause the most damage.
Do not start retitling accounts based on a forum post. Do gather a list of every account with the exact name on it, including the ones that have been dormant since the nineties.
Questions we get asked
Do I have to spend down to $2,000 before my husband qualifies?
No. That figure has not been current in California for years and does not apply to you. Your resource allowance as the at-home spouse is $157,920, in addition to the exempt house and vehicle.
Will they take the house after he dies?
Estate recovery does not apply where there is a surviving spouse. Longer term, whether the house is exposed after both spouses are gone depends on whether it passes through probate, which is a solvable problem.
Should we get divorced to protect my assets?
Almost never, and I have never advised it as a Medi-Cal strategy. The two-limit structure exists precisely so you do not have to.
What if most of our savings is in my name only?
Titling matters and community property law complicates it. Bring the account statements with the exact registrations and we will map it out in the first meeting.
Pull together the deed, every account statement, the Social Security letters, and any pension paperwork, then book the free 45-minute consultation. If getting to Beverly Hills is hard right now, we do these by video.