A. 
The municipality may recover the full amount of assistance granted to a person from either the recipient or from any person liable for the recipient, or his or her executors or administrators in a civil action. However, prior to recovering assistance granted, the municipality shall offset the value of any workfare performed by a GA recipient against the repayment obligation, at a rate not less than minimum wage.
B. 
Before filing a court action to seek repayment of GA benefits previously provided to a recipient, the municipality will seek voluntary repayment after written notice and discussion with the recipient. However, the municipality will not attempt to recover such amounts if, as a result of the repayment, the recipient would again become eligible for GA (22 M.R.S.A. § 4318).
A. 
The municipality shall claim a lien on any lump sum payment under the Workers' Compensation Act[1] or similar law of any other state, which lien shall equal the value of all GA payments made to a recipient of any such lump sum payment (22 M.R.S.A. § 4318; 39-A M.R.S.A. § 106). After issuing any GA on behalf of a recipient who has applied for or is receiving workers' compensation, the municipality shall file a notice of the municipal lien with the GA recipient and the Maine Office of Secretary of State, Uniform Commercial Code Division.
[1]
Editor's Note: See 39-A M.R.S.A. § 101 et seq.
B. 
The notice of lien shall be filed on a UCC-1 form which must be signed by the GA recipient who has applied for or is receiving workers' compensation. Any GA applicant who has applied for or who is receiving workers' compensation benefits and who refuses to sign a properly prepared UCC-1 form will be found ineligible to receive GA until he or she provides the required signature. The municipality shall also send a photocopy of that filing to the recipient's worker's compensation attorney, if known, the applicant's employer or the employer's insurance company, and, at the Administrator's discretion, to the Workers' Compensation Board. The lien shall be enforced at the time any lump sum workers' compensation benefit is issued.
All applicants who receive GA while receipt of their supplemental security income (SSI) assistance is pending or suspended (and which, therefore, may be retroactively issued to the applicant at a later date), will be required to sign a statement on an interim assistance agreement form distributed by the DHHS that authorizes the Social Security Administration to direct a portion of any retroactive SSI payment to the municipality and/or the state in repayment for the GA granted. Any GA applicant who has applied for or who may be applying for SSI, or who may be required to apply for SSI pursuant to 22 M.R.S.A. § 4317, and who refuses to sign the interim agreement SSI authorization form will be found ineligible to receive GA until he or she provides the required signature (22 M.R.S.A. § 4318).
The spouse of an applicant and the parents of any applicant under the age of 25 are liable for the support of the applicant (22 M.R.S.A. § 4319). In addition, the grandchildren, children, parents, grandparents, the spouse and a registered domestic partner are liable for the burial costs of each other. The municipality considers these relatives to be available resources and liable for the support of their relatives in proportion to their respective ability. The municipality may complain to any court of competent jurisdiction to recover any expenses made on behalf of a recipient if the relatives fail to fulfill their responsibility (22 M.R.S.A. § 4319).