N.J. Stat. § 44:1-30.2

Every county welfare board, operating under chapter one of Title 44 of the Revised Statutes, shall require, as a condition to the admission of any person to the county welfare-house, that all or any part of the property, either real or personal, of such person, either presently owned or which may subsequently be acquired, be pledged to said county welfare board as a guaranty for the reimbursement of the cost of the care and maintenance of such person at the county welfare-house, and the total amount of the cost thereof shall become a lien upon any lands owned or to be owned by such person, which lien shall have priority over all unrecorded encumbrances. The county welfare board shall take from each applicant a properly acknowledged agreement to reimburse for all benefits furnished, and pursuant to such agreement said applicant shall assign to the welfare board, as collateral security for such benefits, all or any part of his real and personal property and insurance when the terms of the policy so permit, as the board shall specify. The agreement to reimburse shall contain a release of dower or curtesy, as the case may be, of the spouse of the person so benefited, and such release shall be as valid and effectual as if the spouse had joined the applicant in a conveyance of the property to a third person; the maintenance and support furnished shall be good and valuable consideration therefor. L.1940, c. 119, p. 263, s. 2.