Federal Legislation imposes a lifetime limit of 60 months on the receipt of federally-funded Cash Assistance for an adult or a minor parent (who is the head of household). Children are exempt from the Federal Time Limit. For each household member for whom the federal time limit applies, the system determines whether or not they have reached their limit. If a household member has reached the limit and no exemption or extension applies then their entire assistance unit is ineligible for Cash Assistance. The system determines whether or not the month being paid for a specific household member for Cash Assistance is counted towards the time limit.
If a household member has a valid exemption, they may receive Cash Assistance during this period and the months of assistance received is not counted towards the Federal Time Limit. If a household member has a valid extension then the household member may receive Cash Assistance and exceed the 60 month limit for the period of time the extension applies for.