If the Department of Health and Human Services has asserted an estate recovery claim against any decedent's estate pursuant to Title 22, section 14, subsection 2-I, such claim must be treated as if secured by any and all assets of the decedent's estate up to the value of the asserted claim and must be lower in priority only than those claims asserted by the federal Internal Revenue Service; the Department of Administrative and Financial Services, Bureau of Revenue Services; and other secured creditors whose security interests arose prior to the subject MaineCare recipient's first receipt of MaineCare benefits.__An estate recovery claim asserted under Title 22, section 14, subsection 2- I, is automatically perfected and attaches as of the date of the MaineCare recipient's death without taking further steps to meet the requirements of perfection in Title 11, Article 9-A, Part 3, subpart 2.

Sec. DDD-5. 18-A MRSA §5-408, sub-§(6) is enacted to read:

(6)__The court may not authorize any gifts or other transfers from the protected person's estate other than to the protected person's spouse unless the court finds:

(a)__That the estate of the protected person is sufficient for the protected person's care and maintenance for the present and the foreseeable future, including due provision for the protected person's established standard of living and for the support of any persons the protected person is legally obligated to support; and

(b)__That any purpose of the gift or other transfer is not to diminish the protected person's estate in order to qualify the protected person for federal or state aid or benefits.

The provisions of this subsection do not prevent the court from approving a transfer of assets to a trust established pursuant to 42 United States Code, Section 1396p(d)(4), as amended.

Sec. DDD-6. 18-A MRSA §5-409, sub-§(b), as enacted by PL 1979, c. 540, §1, is amended to read: