Will

Kenneth Kizer, Director of the Department of Health Services (Director and Department, respectively), appeals from the trial court’s judgment ordering a peremptory writ of mandate. The dispute involves plaintiff Willard Will’s eligibility for Medi-Cal benefits. When he applied, Will and his wife owned a commercial building in downtown Marysville assessed at $154,792 and appraised at $197,500. Although the building produced no income and attempts to sell it for $180,000 were unsuccessful, the Department concluded that Will’s interest in the building made him ineligible for Medi-Cal. It determined that Will’s building was “available” to him as a resource since he had never listed it for sale at its assessed value. The trial court, however, concluded that Will’s good faith, but unsuccessful, effort to sell the property at its market value made the building “unavailable” as a resource.

We shall conclude that recent amendments to federal law governing Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits contain a “reasonable but unsuccessful sales effort” exclusion from an applicant’s “available” resources. Furthermore, drawing our guidance from federal law, we shall measure the sales…