1.    On the death of any recipient of medical assistance who was a resident of a nursing facility, intermediate care facility for individuals with intellectual disabilities, or other medical institution and with respect to whom the department determined that resident reasonably was not expected to be discharged from the medical institution and to return home, or who was fifty-five years of age or older when the recipient received the assistance, and on the death of the spouse of the deceased recipient, the total amount of medical assistance paid on behalf of the recipient following the institutionalization of the recipient who cannot reasonably be expected to be discharged from the medical     institution, or following the recipient’s fifty-fifth birthday, as the case may be, must be allowed as a preferred claim against the decedent‘s estate after payment, in the following order, of:

a.    Recipient liability expense applicable to the month of death for nursing home or basic care services; b.    Funeral expenses not in excess of three thousand dollars; c.    Expenses of the last illness, other than those incurred by medical assistance; d.    Expenses of administering the estate, including attorney’s fees approved by the court; e.    Claims made under chapter 50-01; f.    Claims made under chapter 50-24.5; g.    Claims made under chapter 50-06.3 and on behalf of the state hospital; and h.    Claims made under subsection 4.

2.     a.    A claim may not be required to be paid nor may interest begin to accrue during the lifetime of the decedent’s surviving spouse, if any, nor while there is a surviving child who is under the age of twenty-one years or is blind or permanently and totally disabled, but no timely filed claim may be disallowed because of the provisions of this section.

b.    The department may not file a claim against an estate to recover payments made on behalf of a recipient who was eligible for Medicaid under section 50-24.1-37 and who received coverage through a private carrier.

3. Every personal representative, upon the granting of letters of administration or testamentary shall forward to the department a copy of the petition or application commencing probate, heirship proceedings, or joint tenancy tax clearance proceedings in the respective district court, together with a list of the names of the legatees, devisees, surviving joint tenants, and heirs at law of the estate. Unless a properly filed claim of the department is paid in full, the personal representative shall provide to the department a statement of assets and disbursements in the estate.

4.    A claim of the department made against the decedent’s estate of a recipient of medical assistance who was a full-benefit dual-eligible recipient, or against the decedent’s estate of the spouse of a deceased recipient of medical assistance who was a full-benefit dual-eligible recipient, must include a claim for an amount equal to the amount required to be paid each month under 42 U.S.C. §§ 1396u-5(c)(1)(A), or a substantially similar federal law, which reasonably may be attributable to benefits paid on behalf of the deceased recipient in a month during which the deceased recipient received medical assistance under this chapter and was eligible for Medicare.

5.    All assets in the decedent’s estate of the spouse of a deceased medical assistance recipient are presumed to be assets in which that recipient had an interest at the time of the recipient’s death.

6.    To the extent a claim for repayment of medical assistance arises for services provided in months during which the department has in effect an approved state plan amendment that provides for the disregard of assets in an amount equal to the insurance benefit payments that are made to or on behalf of an individual who is a beneficiary of an insurance policy under a qualified state long-term care insurance partnership, the department’s claim need not be paid out of assets of the decedent’s estate of a recipient of medical assistance, or assets of the decedent’s estate of the spouse of such a recipient, of a value equal to an amount the estate demonstrates was paid for long-term care provided to the recipient of medical assistance during those months by that insurance policy.

7.    For purposes of this section:

a.    “Full-benefit dual-eligible” has the meaning provided in 42 U.S.C. §§ 1396u-5; and

b.    “Qualified state long-term care insurance partnership” has the meaning provided in 42 U.S.C. § 1396p(b).

8.    In any probate proceedings in which the department has filed a claim under this section, no additional evidence of foundation may be required for the admission of the department’s payment record supporting the department’s claim if the payment record    is certified as a true copy and bears the signature of a representative of the department. There is a rebuttable presumption that the amount of medical assistance on the claim was incurred and paid on behalf of the recipient of medical assistance and is an allowable claim.