Chap. 473.—An ACT to amend and reenact Sections 10 and 20, as amended, of
Chapter 379 of the Acts of Assembly of 1938, approved March 31, 1938,
known as the Virginia Public Welfare and Assistance Act of 1938, relating to
the eligibility of aged persons for assistance, and the recovery from estates of
deceased persons of amounts paid for assistance. {H 429]

Approved April 2, 1948

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia :

1. That sections ten and twenty, as amended, of chapter three
hundred seventy-nine of the Acts of Assembly of nineteen hundred
thirty-eight, approved March thirty-one, nineteen hundred thirty-eight,
known as the Virginia Public Welfare and Assistance Act of nineteen
hundred thirty-eight, be amended and reenacted as follows:

Section 10. Eligibility for assistance—An aged person shall be
eligible for assistance if he

(a) Has attained the age of sixty-five years;

(b) Has resided in this State for at least five years within the
nine years immediately preceding the date of application for such assist-
ance, and continuously for one year immediately preceding such applica-
tion, provided however, that this residence requirement may be waived
either in part or entirely with respect to persons coming from such states
as will enter into reciprocal agreements pursuant to chapter one hundred
fourteen, Acts of General Assembly of nineteen hundred forty ;

(c) Is needy and is in need of public assistance, provided that
property owned and occupied by an applicant as his residence shall not
disqualify such person for assistance.

(d) Is not an inmate of or being maintained by any county,
municipal, State, or national institution at the time of receiving such
assistance; such an inmate may however make application for old
age assistance, but such assistance, if granted, shall not begin until after
he ceases to be such inmate; provided that in the event the Federal
Social Security Act or other appropriate federal statutes are so amended
as to permit funds appropriated by Congress to be used for assistance
to aged persons who are inmates of public institutions, then being an
inmate of any such institution shall not disqualify any such person for
assistance ;

(e) Has not made an assignment or transfer of property so as to
render himself eligible for old age assistance under this act at any time
within five years immediately prior to the filing of the application for such
assistance.

Section 20. Recovery from estate of recipient—On the death of
any recipient of assistance, the total amount paid as such assistance
under this act shall be allowed as a claim against the estate of such recip-
ient, prior to all other claims except prior liens and except funeral ex-
penses not in excess of one hundred dollars, and except hospital bills,
doctors’ bills and medical expenses not in excess of one hundred and
fifty dollars.

The local board may require the superintendent of public welfare
to execute and acknowledge, as deeds are required to be acknowledged,
a notice of such claim showing the total amount paid as such assistance,
which notice may be filed within one year after the death of the deceased
recipient, with the clerk of the court authorized to record deeds in the
county or city where the real estate of such recipient subject to such
claim is situated, and when so filed the clerk shall record it in the current
deed book and index it in the names both of the local board and the
deceased recipient. No fees shall be charged or collected by the clerk
for filing, recording or indexing any such notice. After the expiration
of the period of one year, such notice, when filed, recorded and indexed
as aforesaid, shall have, as to purchasers, the same effect as though a
creditors’ suit had been instituted and a memorandum of lis pendens duly
filed and recorded.

No such claim shall be enforced agaist any real estate of the estate
of the recipient, however, while such real estate is occupied by the sur-
viving spouse of the recipient so long as such spouse remains unmarried,
or is occupied by any dependent child or children of the recipient.