Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 79.djvu/809

 79 STAT. ]

PUBLIC LAW 89-183-SEPT. 14, 1965

the patient, the court shall order the admission of the person as a private patient. If the bond and advance payment are not given, the court shall order the admission of the person as a public patient. The bond and advance payment, together with the order of admission and bond, shall be transmitted by the clerk of the court to the Superintendent of the District Training School. Until the bond and advance payment are delivered to the Superintendent, he shall admit the person to the institution only as a public patient. (b) A t the request of the Superintendent of the District Training School, the court shall require the sureties on the bond provided by subsection (a) of this section to justify their responsibility anew or order that a new bond be given in place of the original. The justification or new bond shall be transmitted to the superintendent. Unless it is delivered to the Superintendent within 30 days, the patient shall from the time of the request be regarded as a public patient. §21-1110. Liability of estate of public patient for maintenance When the court orders the admission of a person to the District Training School as a public patient, and it appears then or thereafter that the patient has an estate out of which the Government may be reimbursed for his maintenance, in whole or in part, the court shall order the payment out of the estate of the whole or such part of the cost of maintenance of the patient at the institution as it deems just, regard being had for the needs of those having a legal right to support out of the estate. The order shall remain in full force and effect unless modified by the court. Upon the death of the feeble-minded person while an inmate at the institution, or within five years after his discharge therefrom, his estate is liable to the District of Columbia for the cost of his maintenance at the institution, and the claim of the District of Columbia is a preferred claim. § 21-1111. Proceedings to charge relatives legally responsible for maintenance of public patient; collection of maintenance payments; enforcement of order; liability of decedent's estate (a) When a court orders the admission of a person to the District Training School as a public patient and finds at any time that the patient does not have an estate out of which the District of Columbia may be fully reimbursed for his maintenance, a parent, spouse, and adult children of the feeble-minded person, if or sufficient financial ability, shall pay the cost to the District of Columbia of his maintenance at the institution. The Commissioners of the District of Columbia may petition the court, during the commitment of the feebleminded person to the institution, to direct any of those relatives to pay the District of Columbia, in whole or in part, for his maintenance at the institution. They may not be required to pay more than the actual cost to the District of Columbia of his maintenance. (b) When the court finds that a relative specified by subsection (a) of this section is able to pay for the maintenance of the feeble-minded person, in whole or in part, it may make an order requiring payment by him or all the relatives of such sums as it finds that he or they are reasonably able to pay and as may be necessary to provide for his maintenance. The order shall require the payment of the sums to the Finance Office of the Department of General Administration, or its successor, or its authorized representative or agency, of the District of Columbia, annually, semiannually, quarterly, or monthly, as the court directs. The Finance Office, or its successor, or its authorized representative or agency, as the case may be, shall collect the sums due under this section and section 21-1110, and turn them into the Treasury of the United States to the credit of the District of Columbia.

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