20 C.F.R. § 416.1201 : Employees' Benefits — SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION — SUPPLEMENTAL SECURITY INCOME FOR THE AGED, BLIND, AND DISABLED — RESOURCES AND EXCLUSIONS — Resources; general

(a) Resources; defined. For purposes of this subpart L, resources means cash or other liquid assets or any real or personal property that an individual (or spouse, if any) owns and could convert to cash to be used for his or her support and maintenance.
(1) If the individual has the right, authority or power to liquidate the property or his or her share of the property, it is considered a resource. If a property right cannot be liquidated, the property will not be considered a resource of the individual (or spouse).
(2) Support and maintenance assistance not counted as income under §416.1157(c) will not be considered a resource.
(3) Except for cash reimbursement of medical or social services expenses already paid for by the individual, cash received for medical or social services that is not income under §416.1103(a) or (b), or a retroactive cash payment which is income that is excluded from deeming under §416.1161(a)(16), is not a resource for the calendar month following the month of its receipt. However, cash retained until the first moment of the second calendar month following its receipt is a resource at that time.
(i) For purposes of this provision, a retroactive cash payment is one that is paid after the month in which it was due.
(ii) This provision applies only to the unspent portion of those cash payments identified in this paragraph (a)(3). Once the cash from such payments is spent, this provision does not apply to items purchased with the money, even if the period described above has not expired.
(iii) Unspent money from those cash payments identified in this paragraph (a)(3) must be identifiable from other resources for this provision to apply. The money may be commingled with other funds, but if this is done in such a fashion that an amount from such payments can no longer be separately identified, that amount will count toward the resource limit described in §416.1205.
(4) Death benefits, including gifts and inheritances, received by an individual, to the extent that they are not income in accordance with paragraphs (e) and (g) of §416.1121 because they are to be spent on costs resulting from the last illness and burial of the deceased, are not resources for the calendar month following the month of receipt. However, such death benefits retained until the first moment of the second calendar month following their receipt are resources at that time.
(b) Liquid resources. Liquid resources are cash or other property which can be converted to cash within 20 days, excluding certain nonwork days as explained in §416.120(d). Examples of resources that are ordinarily liquid are stocks, bonds, mutual fund shares, promissory notes, mortgages, life insurance policies, financial institution accounts (including savings, checking, and time deposits, also known as certificates of deposit) and similar items. Liquid resources, other than cash, are evaluated according to the individual's equity in the resources. (See §416.1208 for the treatment of funds held in individual and joint financial institution accounts.)
(c) Nonliquid resources.
(1) Nonliquid resources are property which is not cash and which cannot be converted to cash within 20 days excluding certain nonwork days as explained in §416.120(d). Examples of resources that are ordinarily nonliquid are loan agreements, household goods, automobiles, trucks, tractors, boats, machinery, livestock, buildings and land. Nonliquid resources are evaluated according to their equity value except as otherwise provided. (See §416.1218 for treatment of automobiles.)
(2) For purposes of this subpart L, the equity value of an item is defined as:
(i) The price that item can reasonably be expected to sell for on the open market in the particular geographic area involved; minus
(ii) Any encumbrances.

20 C.F.R. §416.1201

40 FR 48915, 10/20/1975, as amended at 44 FR 43266, 7/24/1979; 48 FR 33259, 7/21/1983; 52 FR 4283, 2/11/1987; 52 FR 16845, 5/6/1987; 53 FR 23231, 6/21/1988; 56 FR 36001, 7/30/1991; 57 FR 35461, 8/10/1992; 57 FR 55089, 11/24/1992; 59 FR 27988, 5/31/1994