2496 ARTICLE 59

payment, in whole or in part, for the maintenance and support of such
person while an inmate of such institution. In making such investigation,
the County Commissioners and the Department of Welfare of Baltimore
City shall require reports of statements to be made to them by such rela-
tives or other persons upon such forms as may be prepared by the Board
of Mental Hygiene. If the County Commissioners or the Department of
Welfare of Baltimore City as the case may be, shall determine that such
person shall be required to pay for his or her maintenance and support
while in such institution, or that his or her relatives or other persons legally
chargeable with his or her maintenance and support shall be required to
pay for the same, then, before any such person shall be admitted into such
institution, they shall make and issue an order to that effect, and shall
specify therein the amount of such payments so to be made, and the times
when the same are to be made, and shall have the power to require the
relatives of any such person or others legally chargeable with his or her,
maintenance and support, to enter into appropriate and binding agreements
with respect to the making of such payments, and from time to time may
modify or change the terms thereof, as circumstances may justify.

All such payments shall be made to and collected by the County Trea-
surer or the Comptroller of the City of Baltimore, as the case may be, who
shall account for and pay over the same to the State Treasurer on or before
the first days of January, April, July and October in each and every year,
and at the same time they shall report to the State Treasurer the name of
each inmate on whose behalf such payments have been made, and the name
of the institution in which he or she is confined; and the amount of such
payments in excess of the sum of $125, provided by Section 49 of this
Article, shall be paid to the State Treasurer and nothing contained in
Sections 3, 4 and 5 shall be construed to affect in any way the obligation
imposed by said Section 49 of this Article.

It is the intent of Sections 3, 4 and 5 that a husband may be liable for
the support of a wife while an inmate of any such institution, a wife for a
husband, a father or mother, or both for a son or daughter, and a son or
daughter, or both, for a father or mother.

In case the property or estate of any person committed to any of the
said institutions as aforesaid is sufficient for his or her maintenance or
support, in whole or in part, while in such institution, then the County
Commissioners or the Department of Welfare of Baltimore City, as the
case may be, shall have power to institute and prosecute all proper pro-
ceedings, to subject the same thereto, and all payments made as a result of
such proceedings shall be accounted for and paid as hereinbefore provided.

Upon the death of any person committed to any of the said institutions
as aforesaid, the County Commissioners or the Department of Welfare of
Baltimore City, as the case may be, shall be entitled to make claim against
the estate of any such person for his or her maintenance and support while
in such institution, or for the balance due therefor if part has been paid.
Such claim shall constitute a preferred claim against the estate of any such
person, and all claims arising hereunder against the relatives and other
persons legally chargeable with the maintenance and support of such in-
mates, shall constitute preferred claims. All such claims may be waived
by the County Commissioners or Department of Welfare of Baltimore
City, as the case may be, in their discretion, if in their judgment the en-
forcement of the same will result in hardship to others, dependent upon