Opinion
September 22, 1943.
Appeal from Surrogate of St. Lawrence County.
Section 24-a of the Mental Hygiene Law provides for reimbursement to the State of costs of maintenance of inmates, and provides that the father, mother, husband, wife and children of a patient or inmate of a State institution, if of sufficient ability and if his estate is sufficient, shall be liable for the expense of maintenance of such patient or inmate and shall be required to pay or to contribute to the cost of such maintenance at rates to be fixed by the Commissioner. The statute also provides that the Commissioner, through the State legal department, may bring action against a person discovered to have property or against the estate of one who dies leaving real or personal property if such person or any one for whose support he was liable received care and treatment in an institution in the Department during the preceding six years, and shall be entitled to recover up to the value of such property the cost of such care and treatment. The liability of the father, mother, husband, wife and children of such patient or inmate is statutory, and the statute does not distinguish between the liability of a father or husband or any other relative named therein. The person or estate against whom the claim is made may not invoke the common-law liability of the husband or any one else as a defense. The estate of Morris Ruderman amounts to upwards of $30,000 and is amply sufficient to satisfy the costs of maintenance up to the time of decedent's death. While by common law a parent was not liable for the support and maintenance of an adult child whether such child was married or not, under the present statute no distinction is made between a minor and an adult, and the claim made under the statute must be determined upon the statute alone without any reference to common-law liability, and whereas under the common law the husband was primarily liable, there is no priority fixed by the statute on the husband's liability. Decree reversed, on the law and facts, without costs, and matter remitted to the Surrogate's Court, St. Lawrence County, to enter a decree awarding the amount claimed by the State, with interest from the date when the claim was filed, less the offsets arising from the money on deposit belonging to the incompetent and the net sum to which she is entitled from the land contract, which sum shall be turned over to the State of New York in part satisfaction of the claim. All concur.