CHAPTER 14
An Act to amend and reenact § 37-125.5, as amended, of the Code of Vir-
ginia, relating to contracts by the Department of Mental Hygiene
and Hospitals for the care of patients. H
[H 41]

Approved September 19, 1956
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That § 37-125.5, as amended, of the Code of Virginia be amended.and
reenacted as follows:

§ 37-125.5. The Department may contract with any patient’s parent,
guardian, trustee, committee, or the person legally liable for his support
and maintenance, and in arriving at the amount to be paid, the Department
shall have due regard for the financial condition and estate of the patient
or inmate, his present and future needs and the present and future needs of
his lawful dependents, and, whenever deemed necessary to protect him, or
his dependents, may agree to accept a monthly sum for his maintenance less
than the sum of * sixty-five dollars per month, or the actual per capita cost
of his maintenance. All contracts made by and between the Department
and any person under legal disabilities or any person acting in a fiduciary
capacity for any such patient providing for the payment of the expenses
of such patient in any such institution, shall be subject to the approval of
any court of record having jurisdiction over the incompetent’s estate or
for the county or city of which he is a legal resident, or from which he was
legally committed.

2. An emergency exists and this act is in force from its passage.