7275-7294
WELFARE AND INSTITUTIONS CODE
SECTION 7275-7294
7275. The husband, wife, father, mother, or children of a patient in a state hospital for the mentally disordered, the estates of such persons, and the guardian or conservator and administrator of the estate of such patient shall cause him to be properly and suitably cared for and maintained, and shall pay the costs and charges of his transportation to a state institution. The husband, wife, father, mother, or children of a patient in a state hospital for the mentally disordered and the administrators of their estates, and the estate of such person shall be liable for his care, support, and maintenance in a state institution of which he is a patient. The liability of such persons and estates shall be a joint and several liability, and such liability shall exist whether the person has become a patient of a state institution pursuant to the provisions of this code or pursuant to the provisions of Sections 1026, 1368, 1369, 1370, and 1372 of the Penal Code. This section does not impose liability for the care of mentally retarded persons in state hospitals. 7275.1. (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Director of Mental Health may delegate to each county all or part of the responsibility for determining the ability to pay, as delineated in subdivisions (b) and (c) of Section 5710, for the cost of care provided to mentally disordered minor children in a state hospital, and all or part of the responsibility for collecting the charges. (b) If the director delegates responsibility pursuant to subdivision (a) and that responsibility is accepted by a county, the director shall establish and maintain the policies and procedures for making the determinations and collections. Each county to which responsibility is delegated pursuant to subdivision (a) shall comply with policies and procedures adopted pursuant to this subdivision. 7276. (a) The charge for the care and treatment of all mentally disordered persons and alcoholics at state hospitals for the mentally disordered for whom there is liability to pay therefor shall be determined pursuant to Section 4025. The Director of Mental Health may reduce, cancel or remit the amount to be paid by the estate or the relatives, as the case may be, liable for the care and treatment of any mentally disordered person or alcoholic who is a patient at a state hospital for the mentally disordered, on satisfactory proof that the estate or relatives, as the case may be, are unable to pay the cost of that care and treatment or that the amount is uncollectible. In any case where there has been a payment under this section, and the payment or any part thereof is refunded because of the death, leave of absence, or discharge of any patient of the hospital, that amount shall be paid by the hospital or the State Department of Mental Health to the person who made the payment upon demand, and in the statement to the Controller the amounts refunded shall be itemized and the aggregate deducted from the amount to be paid into the State Treasury, as provided by law. If any person dies at any time while his or her estate is liable for his or her care and treatment at a state hospital, the claim for the amount due may be presented to the executor or administrator of his or her estate, and paid as a preferred claim, with the same rank in order of preference, as claims for expenses of last illness. (b) If the Director of Mental Health delegates to the county the responsibility for determining the ability of a minor child and his or her parents to pay for state hospital services, the requirements of Sections 5710 and 7275.1 and the policies and procedures established and maintained by the director, including those relating to the collection and accounting of revenue, shall be followed by each county to which that responsibility is delegated. 7277. The State Department of Mental Health shall collect all the costs and charges mentioned in Section 7275, and shall determine, pursuant to Section 7275, and collect the charges for care and treatment rendered persons in any community mental hygiene clinics maintained by the department and may take such action as is necessary to effect their collection within or without the state. The Director of Mental Health may, however, at his discretion, refuse to accept payment of charges for the care and treatment in a state hospital of any mentally disordered person or inebriate who is eligible for deportation by the federal immigration authorities. 7277.1. In the case of liability for care arising under Section 7275 during the lifetime of a decedent, where the decedent, or his spouse, father, mother, or child, has been a patient in a state hospital preceding the date of decedent's death, a claim for costs and charges shall be mailed within four months after written request therefor, in the form required by the department, by the fiduciary of the estate or trust or by any other person liable for the claim or any portion thereof. 7278. The department shall, following the admission of a patient into a state hospital for the mentally disordered cause an investigation to be made to determine the moneys, property, or interest in property, if any, the patient has, and whether he has a duly appointed and acting guardian to protect his property and his property interests. The department shall also make an investigation to determine whether the patient has any relative or relatives responsible under the provisions of this code for the payment of the costs of transportation and maintenance, and shall ascertain the financial condition of such relative or relatives to determine whether in each case such relative or relatives are in fact financially able to pay such charges. All reports in connection with such investigation, together with the findings of the department, shall be records of the department, and may be inspected by interested relatives, their agents, or representatives at any time upon application. 7279. (a) If any person committed to a state mental hospital has sufficient estate for the purpose, the guardian or conservator of the person's estate shall pay for his or her care, support, maintenance, and necessary expenses at the mental hospital to the extent of the estate. The payment may be enforced by the order of the judge of the superior court where the guardianship or conservatorship proceedings are pending. On the filing of a petition therein by the department showing that the guardian or conservator has failed, refused, or neglected to pay for such care, support, maintenance, and expenses, the court, by order, shall direct the payment by the guardian or conservator. Such order may be enforced in the same manner as are other orders of the court. (b) If at any time there is not sufficient money on hand in the estate of a committed person to pay the claim of a state mental hospital for his or her care, support, maintenance, and expenses therein, the court may, on petition of the guardian or conservator of the estate, or if the guardian or conservator fails, refuses, or neglects to apply, on the petition of the department, make an order directing the guardian or conservator to sell so much of the other personal or real property or both, of the person as is necessary to pay for the care, support, maintenance, and expenses of the person at the mental hospital. From the proceeds of such sale, the guardian or conservator shall pay the amount due for the care, support, maintenance, and expenses at the mental hospital, and also such other charges as are allowed by law. (c) Payment for the care, support, maintenance, and expenses shall not be extracted, however, from a person who has no more than five hundred dollars ($500) of assets. 7280. The guardian or conservator of the estate of any person who is confined in a state mental hospital may, from time to time, pay to the state mental hospital moneys out of the estate to be used for the future personal needs of the mentally disordered person while in a state mental hospital and for burial expenses, such sums so paid to be credited to the patient's personal deposit account, subject to the provision relating to the deposit of funds in the patients' personal deposit fund. 7281. There is at each institution under the jurisdiction of the State Department of Mental Health and at each institution under the jurisdiction of the State Department of Developmental Services, a fund known as the patients' personal deposit fund. Any funds coming into the possession of the superintendent, belonging to any patient in that institution, shall be deposited in the name of that patient in the patients' personal deposit fund, except that if a guardian or conservator of the estate is appointed for the patient then he shall have the right to demand and receive such funds. Whenever the sum belonging to any one patient, deposited in the patients' personal deposit fund, exceeds the sum of five hundred dollars ($500), the excess may be applied to the payment of the care, support, maintenance and medical attention of the patient. After the death of the patient any sum remaining in his personal deposit account in excess of burial costs may be applied for payment of care, support, maintenance and medical attention. Any of the funds belonging to a patient deposited in the patients' personal deposit fund may be used for the purchase of personal incidentals for the patient or may be applied in an amount not exceeding five hundred dollars ($500) to the payment of his burial expenses. 7282. The State Department of Mental Health with respect to a state hospital under its jurisdiction, or the State Department of Developmental Services with respect to a state hospital under its jurisdiction, may in its own name bring an action to enforce payment for the cost and charges of transportation of a person to a state hospital against any person, guardian, conservator, or relative liable for such transportation. The department also may in its own name bring an action to recover for the use and benefit of any state hospital or for the state the amount due for the care, support, maintenance, and expenses of any patient therein, against any county, or officer thereof, or against any person, guardian, conservator, or relative, liable for such care, support, maintenance, or expenses. 7282.1. If a person who is or has been a recipient of services provided by the State Department of Developmental Services or the State Department of Mental Health in a state hospital, or the guardian, conservator, or personal representative of such person, brings an action or claim against a third party for an injury, disorder, or disability, which resulted in the need for care, maintenance, or treatment in a state hospital, the person or the guardian, conservator, or personal representative shall within 30 days of filing the action or claim give to the Director of Developmental Services, for hospitals under the jurisdiction of the State Department of Developmental Services, or the Director of Mental Health, for hospitals under the jurisdiction of the State Department of Mental Health, written notice of the action or claim and of the name of the court or agency in which the action or claim is to be brought. Proof of the notice shall be filed in the action or claim. For pending actions or claims filed prior to January 1, 1986, proof of the notice shall be filed by February 1, 1986. Any judgment, award, or settlement arising out of the action or claim shall be subject to a lien in favor of the Director of Developmental Services or the Director of Mental Health, for hospitals under the jurisdiction of that department, for the cost of state hospital care and treatment furnished with respect to the subject of the action or claim, however: (a) A lien shall not attach to that portion of a money judgment awarded for pain and suffering. (b) A lien shall not attach if over 180 days has elapsed between the time when notice was given to the department and the time when the department has filed its lien with the court or agency in which the action or claim has been brought. (c) A lien authorized by this section shall not be placed for services which have been paid through the state Medi-Cal program. (d) This section shall not apply to actions or claims in which a final judgment, award, or settlement has been entered into prior to January 1, 1986. 7283. All moneys collected by the State Department of Mental Health and the State Department of Developmental Services for the cost and charges of transportation of persons to state hospitals shall be remitted by the department to the State Treasury for credit to, and shall become a part of, the current appropriation from the General Fund of the state for the transportation of the mentally disordered, correctional school, or other state hospital patients and shall be available for expenditure for such purposes. In lieu of exact calculations of moneys collected for transportation charges the department may determine the amount of such collections by the use of such estimates or formula as may be approved by the Department of Finance. 7284. If any incompetent person, who has no guardian or conservator of the estate and who has been admitted or committed to the State Department of Mental Health for placement in any state hospital for the mentally disordered, is the owner of any property, the State Department of Mental Health, acting through its designated officer, may apply to the superior court of the proper county for its appointment as guardian or conservator of the estate of such incompetent person. For the purposes of this section, the State Department of Mental Health is hereby made a corporation and may act as executor, administrator, guardian or conservator of estates, assignee, receiver, depositary or trustee, under appointment of any court or by authority of any law of this state, and may transact business in such capacity in like manner as an individual, and for this purpose may sue and be sued in any of the courts of this state. If a person admitted or committed to the State Department of Mental Health dies, leaving any estate, and having no relatives at the time residing within this state, the State Department of Mental Health may apply for letters of administration of his or her estate, and, in the discretion of the court, letters of administration may be issued to the department. When the State Department of Mental Health is appointed as guardian, conservator, or administrator, the department shall be appointed as guardian or conservator or administrator without bond. The officer designated by the department shall be required to give a surety bond in such amount as may be deemed necessary from time to time by the director, but in no event shall the initial bond be less than ten thousand dollars ($10,000), which bond shall be for the joint benefit of the several estates and the State of California. The State Department of Mental Health shall receive such reasonable fees for its services as such guardian, conservator, or administrator as the court allows. The fees paid to the State Department of Mental Health for its services as guardian, conservator, or administrator of the various estates may be used as a trust account from which may be drawn expenses for filing fees, bond premiums, court costs, and other expenses required in the administration of the various estates. Whenever the balance remaining in such trust fund account shall exceed a sum deemed necessary by the department for the payment of such expenses, such excess shall be paid quarterly by the department into the State Treasury to the credit of the General Fund. 7285. The State Department of Mental Health may invest funds held as executor, administrator, guardian or conservator of estates, or trustee, in bonds or obligations issued or guaranteed by the United States or the State of California. Such investments may be made and such bonds or obligations may be sold or exchanged for similar bonds or obligations without notice or court authorization. 7286. The State Department of Mental Health may establish one or more common trusts for investment of funds held as executor, administrator, guardian or conservator of estates, or trustee and may designate from time to time the amount of participation of each estate in such trusts. The funds in such trusts may be invested only in bonds or obligations issued or guaranteed by the United States or the State of California. The income and profits of each trust shall be the property of the estates participating and shall be distributed, when received, in proportion to the amount of participation of each estate in such trust. The losses of each trust shall be the losses of the estates participating and shall be apportioned, as the same occur, upon the same basis as income and profits. 7287. Upon the death of an incompetent person over whom the State Department of Mental Health has obtained jurisdiction pursuant to Section 7284, the department may make proper disposition of the remains, and pay for the disposition of the remains together with any indebtedness existing at the time of the death of such person from the assets of the guardianship or conservatorship estate, and thereupon it shall file its final account with the court or otherwise close its administration of the estate of such person. 7288. Whenever it appears that a person who has been admitted to a state institution and remains under the jurisdiction of the State Department of Mental Health or the State Department of Developmental Services does not have a guardian or conservator of the estate and owns personal property which requires safekeeping for the benefit of the patient, the State Department of Mental Health or the State Department of Developmental Services may remove or cause to be removed such personal property from wherever located to a place of safekeeping. Whenever it appears that such patient does not own property of a value which would warrant guardianship or conservatorship proceedings, the expenses of such removal and safekeeping shall be paid from funds appropriated for the support of the institution in which the patient is receiving care and treatment; provided, however, that if the sum on deposit to the credit of such patient in the patients' personal deposit fund exceeds the sum of three hundred dollars ($300), the excess may be applied to the payment of such expenses of removal and safekeeping. When it is determined by the superintendent, at any time after the removal for safekeeping of such personal property, that the patient is incurable or is likely to remain in a state institution indefinitely, then any of those articles of personal property which cannot be used by the patient at the institution may be sold at public auction and the proceeds therefrom shall first be applied in reimbursement of the expenses so incurred, and the balance shall be deposited to the patient's credit in the patients' personal deposit fund. All moneys so received as reimbursement shall be deposited in the State Treasury in augmentation of the appropriation from which the expenses were paid. 7289. When a person who is a client of a state hospital or developmental center in the State Department of Mental Health or the State Department of Developmental Services has no guardian or conservator of the estate and has money due or owing to him or her, the executive director of the institution of which the person is a client may, during the client's residence at the institution, collect an amount not to exceed three thousand dollars ($3,000) of any money so due or owing upon furnishing to the person, representative, officer, body or corporation in possession of or owing any sums, an affidavit executed by the executive director or acting executive director. The affidavit shall contain the name of the institution of which the person is a client, and the statement that the total amount requested pursuant to the affidavit does not exceed the sum of three thousand dollars ($3,000). Payments from retirement systems and annuity plans which are due or owing to the clients may also be collected by the executive director of the institution of which the person is a client, upon the furnishing of an affidavit executed by the executive director or acting executive director, containing the name of the institution of which the person is a client and the statement that the person is entitled to receive the payments. These sums shall be delivered to the executive director and shall be deposited by him or her in the clients' personal deposit fund as provided in Section 7281. The receipt of the executive director shall constitute sufficient acquittance for any payment of money made pursuant to this section and shall fully discharge the person, representative, officer, body or corporation from any further liability with reference to the amount of money so paid. The executive director of each institution shall render reports and accounts annually or more often as may be required by the department having jurisdiction over the hospital or the Department of Finance of all moneys of clients deposited in the clients' personal deposit accounts of the institution. 7289.1. (a) The amount of three thousand dollars ($3,000) as set forth in Section 7289, shall be adjusted annually, on January 1 by the State Department of Developmental Services as it applies to state hospitals or developmental centers under its jurisdiction, and by the State Department of Mental Health as it applies to state hospitals under its jurisdiction, to reflect any increases or decreases in the cost of living occurring after December 31, 1967, so that the first adjustment becomes effective January 1, 1990. The indices of the California Consumer Price Index--All Urban as prepared by the Department of Industrial Relations, shall be used as the basis for determining the changes in the cost of living. (b) In implementing the cost-of-living provisions of this section, the State Department of Developmental Services and the State Department of Mental Health shall use the most recent December for computation of the percentage change in the cost of living after December 31, 1967. The amount of this adjustment shall be made by comparing the average index for the most recent December with the average index for December 1967. The product of any percentage increase or decrease in the average index and the amount set forth in Section 7289 shall be the adjusted amount subject to affidavit pursuant to the provisions of Section 7289. 7290. The State Department of Mental Health or the State Department of Developmental Services may enter into a special agreement, secured by a properly executed bond, with the relatives, guardian, conservator, or friend of any patient therein, for his care, support, maintenance, or other expenses at the institution. Such agreement and bond shall be to the people of the State of California and action to enforce the same may be brought thereon by the department. All charges due under the provisions of this section, including the monthly rate for the patient's care and treatment as established by or pursuant to law, shall be collected monthly. No patient, however, shall be permitted to occupy more than one room in any state institution. 7291. The county from which each person has been committed to an institution for defective or psychopathic delinquents shall pay the state the cost of the care of such person, for the time the person committed remains a patient of the institution, at the monthly rate therefor fixed as provided in Section 7292. 7292. The cost of such care shall be determined and fixed from time to time by the Director of Mental Health, but in no case shall it exceed the rate of forty dollars ($40) per month. 7293. The State Department of Mental Health shall present to the county, not more frequently than monthly, a claim for the amount due the state under Section 7291 which the county shall process and pay pursuant to the provisions of Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 29700) of Division 3 of Title 3 of the Government Code. 7294. Any person who has been committed as a defective or psychopathic delinquent may be paroled or granted a leave of absence by the medical superintendent of the institution wherein the person is confined whenever the medical superintendent is of the opinion that the person has improved to such an extent that he is no longer a menace to the health and safety of others or that the person will receive benefit from such parole or leave of absence, and after the medical superintendent and the Director of Mental Health have certified such opinion to the committing court. If within 30 days after the receipt of such certification the committing court orders the return of such person, the person shall be returned forthwith to await further action of the court. If within 30 days after the receipt of such certification the committing court does not order the return of the person to await the further action of the court, the medical superintendent may thereafter parole the person under such terms and conditions as may be specified by the superintendent. Any such paroled inmate may at any time during the parole period be recalled to the institution. The period of parole shall in no case be less than five years, and shall be on the same general rules and conditions as parole of the mentally disordered. When any person has been paroled for five consecutive years, if in the opinion of the medical superintendent and the Director of Mental Health the person is no longer a menace to the health, person, or property of himself or of any other person, the medical superintendent, subject to the approval of the Director of Mental Health, may discharge the person. The committing court shall be furnished with a certified copy of such discharge and shall thereupon make such disposition of the court case as it deems necessary and proper. When, in the opinion of the medical superintendent, a person heretofore committed as a defective or psychopathic delinquent will not benefit by further care and treatment under any facilities of the department and should be returned to the jurisdiction of the court, the superintendent of the institution and the Director of Mental Health shall certify such opinion to the committing court including therein a report, diagnosis and recommendation concerning the person' s future care, supervision or treatment. Upon receipt of such certification, the committing court shall forthwith order the return of the person to the court. The person shall be entitled to a court hearing and to present witnesses in his own behalf, to be represented by counsel and to cross-examine any witness who testifies against him. After considering all the evidence before it, the court may make such further order or commitment with reference to such person as may be authorized by law.