Colorado § 27-92-103 - Extent of liability.

§ 27-92-103. Extent of liability.

(1) The department of human services shall assess against the patient, spouse, or parents made liable by section 27-92-101, or any of them, all or such part of the cost as they are respectively able to pay, but the department of human services shall not assess against the liable persons in the aggregate more than the whole of such cost.

(2) The liability of each parent shall cease when such parent has completed the payments as assessed in this article or upon the patient's eighteenth birthday, whichever event first occurs.

Source: L. 2010: Entire article added with relocations, (SB 10-175), ch. 188, p. 771, § 2, effective April 29. L. 2011: (2) amended, (HB 11-1303), ch. 264, p. 1172, § 83, effective August 10.

Editor's note: This section is similar to former § 27-12-103 as it existed prior to 2010.

ANNOTATION

Law reviews. For article, "Protecting the Mentally Incompetent Child's Trust Interest from State Reimbursement Claims", see 58 Den. L.J. 557 (1981).

Annotator's note. Since § 27-92-103 is similar to § 27-12-103 as it existed prior to the 2010 amendments to this article, relevant cases construing that provision have been included in the annotations to this section.

Voluntary work not unconstitutional. A mental patient who voluntarily works in a state hospital and is not paid for such services is not unconstitutionally denied equal protection of the laws or subjected to slavery or involuntary servitude. In re Estate of Buzzelle v. Colo. State Hosp., 176 Colo. 554, 491 P.2d 1369 (1971).

Determination and assessment conditions precedent to collection. Under this statutory scheme, the determination of ability to pay made pursuant to former § 27-12-104 and the assessment made thereon pursuant to this section are conditions precedent to collection. State v. Schleiger, 37 Colo. App. 195, 547 P.2d 1295 (1975), aff'd, 193 Colo. 531, 568 P.2d 441 (1977).

For the estate of the deceased to be liable for the care of her daughter, a claim would have to be one that could have been asserted against the deceased in her lifetime. In re Estate of Randall v. Colo. State Hosp., 166 Colo. 1, 441 P.2d 153 (1968).

This section contains no express language requiring compensation for occupational therapy, nor any language from which an inference necessarily should be drawn that the state should pay a patient for his voluntary services. In re Estate of Buzzelle v. Colo. State Hosp., 176 Colo. 554, 491 P.2d 1369 (1971).