(a) The department and each community center has a lien to secure reimbursement for the cost of providing support, maintenance, and treatment to a patient with mental illness in an amount equal to the amount of reimbursement sought.
(b) The amount of the reimbursement sought may not exceed:
(1) the amount the department is authorized to charge under § 552.017 if the patient received the services in a department facility; or
(2) the amount the community center is authorized to charge under § 534.017 if the patient received the services in a community center.

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Terms Used In Texas Health and Safety Code 533.004

  • Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
  • Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
  • Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
  • Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
  • Person: includes corporation, organization, government or governmental subdivision or agency, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, association, and any other legal entity. See Texas Government Code 311.005
  • Personal property: All property that is not real property.
  • Property: means real and personal property. See Texas Government Code 311.005
  • Rule: includes regulation. See Texas Government Code 311.005
  • Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
  • Swear: includes affirm. See Texas Government Code 311.005
  • Written: includes any representation of words, letters, symbols, or figures. See Texas Government Code 311.005

(c) The lien attaches to:
(1) all nonexempt real and personal property owned or later acquired by the patient or by a person legally responsible for the patient’s support;
(2) a judgment of a court in this state or a decision of a public agency in a proceeding brought by or on behalf of the patient to recover damages for an injury for which the patient was admitted to a department facility or community center; and
(3) the proceeds of a settlement of a cause of action or a claim by the patient for an injury for which the patient was admitted to a department facility or community center.
(d) To secure the lien, the department or community center must file written notice of the lien with the county clerk of the county in which:
(1) the patient, or the person legally responsible for the patient’s support, owns property; or
(2) the patient received or is receiving services.
(e) The notice must contain:
(1) the name and address of the patient;
(2) the name and address of the person legally responsible for the patient’s support, if applicable;
(3) the period during which the department facility or community center provided services or a statement that services are currently being provided; and
(4) the name and location of the department facility or community center.
(f) Not later than the 31st day before the date on which the department files the notice of the lien with the county clerk, the department shall notify by certified mail the patient and the person legally responsible for the patient’s support. The notice must contain a copy of the charges, the statutory procedures relating to filing a lien, and the procedures to contest the charges. The executive commissioner by rule shall prescribe the procedures to contest the charges.
(g) The county clerk shall record on the written notice the name of the patient, the name and address of the department facility or community center, and, if requested by the person filing the lien, the name of the person legally responsible for the patient’s support. The clerk shall index the notice record in the name of the patient and, if requested by the person filing the lien, in the name of the person legally responsible for the patient’s support.
(h) The notice record must include an attachment that contains an account of the charges made by the department facility or community center and the amount due to the facility or center. The superintendent or director of the facility or center must swear to the validity of the account. The account is presumed to be correct, and in a suit to cancel the debt and discharge the lien or to foreclose on the lien, the account is sufficient evidence to authorize a court to render a judgment for the facility or center.
(i) To discharge the lien, the superintendent or director of the department facility or community center or a claims representative of the facility or center must execute and file with the county clerk of the county in which the lien notice is filed a certificate stating that the debt covered by the lien has been paid, settled, or released and authorizing the clerk to discharge the lien. The county clerk shall record a memorandum of the certificate and the date on which it is filed. The filing of the certificate and recording of the memorandum discharge the lien.