49-4-170. Grounds for appointing personal representative; petition by county or district director.

When any otherwise qualified applicant for or recipient of assistance under this chapter or payee, in the case of temporary assistance for needy families, is or shall become unable to manage the assistance payments or otherwise fails so to manage, to the extent that deprivation or hazard to himself or herself or others results, or when, in the case of temporary assistance for needy families, the payment is not being used for the benefit of the children or the pregnant woman, a petition may be filed by the county or district director of family and children services before the probate court of the county in which the applicant resides or the county in which the recipient receives his or her check, in the form of a verified written application for the appointment of a personal representative for the purpose of receiving and managing public assistance payments for any such recipient or payee, which application shall allege one or more of the above grounds for the legal appointment of such personal representative.