If not less than 30 days after the death of a Maine resident entitled at the time of the resident’s death to a monthly benefit or benefits under Title II of the Social Security Act, all or part of the amount of such benefit or benefits not in excess of $1,000 is paid by the United States to the surviving spouse, one or more of the decedent‘s children or descendants of the deceased children, the decedent’s father or mother or the decedent’s brother or sister, preference being given in the order named if more than one request for payment has been made by or for such individuals, upon an affidavit made and filed with the federal Department of Health and Human Services by the surviving spouse or other relative by whom or on whose behalf request for payment is made; and if the affidavit shows the date of death of the decedent, the relationship of the affiant to the decedent, that no personal representative for the decedent has been appointed and qualified and that, to the affiant’s knowledge, there exists at the time of filing of the affidavit no relative of a closer degree of kindred to the decedent than the affiant, then such payment pursuant to the affidavit is deemed to be a payment to the legal representative of the decedent and, regardless of the truth or falsity of the statements made in the affidavit, constitutes a full discharge and release of the United States from any further claim for such payment to the same extent as if such payment had been made to the personal representative of the decedent’s estate. [PL 2017, c. 402, Pt. A, §2 (NEW); PL 2019, c. 417, Pt. B, §14 (AFF).]