Election process

Clients who have a partner who is not being assessed for residential care can choose the asset threshold used for their means assessment of assets. This decision is known as "election".

Clients in the above situation automatically have the lower "house and car exempt" asset threshold of $164,731 (as at 1 July 2026) applied to their means assessment of assets.

They can choose to have the higher "house and car not exempt" asset threshold of $300,811 (as at 1 July 2026) applied to their means assessment of assets instead.

If the lower "house and car exempt" asset threshold of $164,731 (as at 1 July 2026) is applied, the client's family home and/or one car (if they have one) are exempt from the means assessment of assets providing:

• the family home is the principal place of residence of the client's partner or dependent child
• the car is for the personal use of the client's partner

If the client chooses the higher "house and car not exempt" asset threshold of $300,811 (as at 1 July 2026), the current value of the family home and car must be included in the means assessment of assets.