The City may recover the full amount of assistance granted to a person from either the recipient or from any person liable for the recipient, or his/her executors or administrators in a civil action. Prior to taking a recipient to court to recover the amount of assistance, the City will seek voluntary repayment from the recipient by notifying him/her in writing and discussing it with the recipient. The City shall not attempt to recover such costs if, as a result of the repayment, the person would again become eligible for general assistance (22 M.R.S.A. § 4318).
A. 
The City shall claim a lien for the value of all general assistance payments made to a recipient on any lump-sum payment made to that recipient under the Workers' Compensation Act or similar law of any other state (22 M.R.S.A. § 4318; 39 M.R.S.A. § 67[1]).
[1]
Editor's Note: 39 M.R.S.A. § 67 was repealed by L. 1991, C. 885, § A-7, effective 1-1-1993. See now 39-A M.R.S.A. § 106.
B. 
After issuing any general assistance on behalf of a recipient who has applied for or is receiving workers' compensation, the City shall file a notice of the municipal lien with the general assistance recipient and the Office of Secretary of State, Uniform Commercial Code Division. The notice of lien shall be filed on a UCC-1 form which must be signed by the recipient of general assistance who has applied for or is receiving workers' compensation. Any general assistance applicant who has applied for or who is receiving worker's compensation benefits and who refuses to sign a properly prepared UCC-1 form will be found ineligible to receive general assistance until he/she provides the required signature. The City shall also send a photocopy of that filing to the recipient's worker's compensation attorney, if known, the obligor (i.e., the applicable compensation insurance company), and the Workers' Compensation Commission. The lien shall be enforced at the time any lump-sum workers' compensation benefit is issued.
All applicants who receive general assistance while receipt of their supplemental security income (SSI) assistance is pending or suspended, and which therefore may be retroactively issued to the applicant at a later date, will be required to sign a statement on an interim assistance agreement form distributed by the Department of Health and Human Services which authorizes the Social Security Administration to direct a portion of any retroactive SSI payment to the City and/or the state in repayment for the general assistance granted. Any general assistance applicant who has applied for or who may be applying for SSI, or who may be required to apply for SSI pursuant to 22 M.R.S.A. § 4317, and who refuses to sign the interim agreement SSI authorization form, will be found ineligible to receive general assistance until he/she provides the required signature (22 M.R.S.A. § 4318).
The spouse of an applicant, or the parents of an applicant under the age of 25, are liable for the support of the applicant (22 M.R.S.A. § 4319). In addition, children and grandchildren, siblings, parents and grandparents are liable for the burial costs of each other. The City considers these relatives to be available resources and liable for the support of their relatives in proportion to their respective ability. The City may complain to any court of competent jurisdiction to recover any expenses made on the behalf of a recipient if the relatives fail to fulfill their responsibility (22 M.R.S.A. § 4319).