Massachusetts Probate Information

Massachusetts probate turns on two questions the family should answer before opening a court file: which of the state's five paths fits, and whether the estate crosses the Massachusetts estate-tax threshold. The path depends on the size and makeup of the estate. Voluntary administration under MGL c. 190B, § 3-1201 is available only when the probate estate is personal property of $25,000 or less plus one motor vehicle and holds no real estate, so confirming whether there is real property, and how it is titled, often decides the whole approach. Property held jointly with right of survivorship, payable-on-death and transfer-on-death accounts, life insurance and retirement accounts with named beneficiaries, and trust property all pass outside probate.

The tax question is the Massachusetts distinctive. For deaths on or after January 1, 2023, a Massachusetts estate tax return (Form M-706) is required when the gross estate plus adjusted taxable gifts exceeds $2,000,000, and the return is due nine months after death. Because the estate-tax lien attaches automatically to Massachusetts real estate at death, families who plan to sell or refinance a home need to plan for the lien release early. Before filing anything, identify every asset and debt and confirm how each asset is titled and valued. Sunset's asset-discovery work, searching more than 2,300 financial institutions, exists for this step.

Massachusetts probate runs through one statewide court: the Probate and Family Court Department of the Trial Court. There is no separate surrogate, no register of wills as a court, and no probate division of a general-jurisdiction court. The department is organized into 14 divisions, one for each county, and each division hears probate of estates alongside divorce, custody, and other family matters. Probate is one docket within the division. This knowledge base has a separate page for each of the 14 counties, because the courthouse locations, sessions, hours, and Registry contacts differ from county to county even though the statewide law and fee schedule do not.

The filing office in each division is the Registry of Probate, the counter where petitions are filed and records are kept, run by an elected Register of Probate. Uncontested informal probate and informal appointment are administrative proceedings decided by a MUPC Magistrate with no hearing; the Magistrate may act as early as 7 days after death. Formal probate, supervised administration, and any contested matter go before a judge of the division. Venue for the first informal or formal proceeding is the county where the decedent was domiciled at death, or, for a decedent not domiciled in Massachusetts, any county where the decedent's property was located at death (MGL c. 190B, § 3-201). A proceeding may be transferred to another county for cause or convenience (MGL c. 190B, § 1-303).

Massachusetts estate tax. Massachusetts imposes its own estate tax. For deaths on or after January 1, 2023, Form M-706 is required when the gross estate plus adjusted taxable gifts exceeds $2,000,000, and estates receive a credit of up to $99,600 that eliminates the tax on the first $2 million, so tax applies only to value above that amount. The change was enacted by Chapter 50 of the Acts of 2023, and a simplified computation took effect for deaths on or after August 1, 2025, with transitional rules for deaths between January 1, 2023 and July 31, 2025. The return is due nine months after death. Source: the Massachusetts Estate Tax Guide on mass.gov, verified July 2026.

Estate tax lien on real estate. A Massachusetts estate tax lien arises automatically on a decedent's real property at death (MGL c. 65C, § 14). To convey or refinance the real estate, the estate obtains a Certificate Releasing Massachusetts Estate Tax Lien, which the Department of Revenue issues from the information on Form M-706 once the tax due is paid, or on an earlier Application for a Certificate Releasing the lien (Form M-4422) when a sale closes before the return is filed. The certificate is recorded at the Registry of Deeds, a separate county office from the Registry of Probate.

The 3-year ultimate time limit. No informal or formal probate or appointment proceeding may be commenced more than 3 years after the decedent's death (MGL c. 190B, § 3-108), with narrow exceptions. After 3 years, the only route is late and limited formal probate, and no personal representative with full powers can be appointed. This makes prompt filing more important in Massachusetts than in states that measure deadlines only from the notice to creditors.

Creditor claims and MassHealth. A creditor's action against the estate must be commenced within 1 year of the date of death (MGL c. 190B, § 3-803), and within that year the creditor must serve the personal representative, obtain accepted service, or file a notice of claim with the Register of Probate. This 1-year, date-of-death rule is a Massachusetts distinctive. MassHealth estate recovery is not bound by the 1-year limit and has up to 3 years.

Elective share. A surviving spouse may file a writing in the Registry of Probate waiving the will and taking a statutory share instead (MGL c. 191, § 15). If the decedent left issue, the spouse takes one third of the personal and one third of the real property, subject to a cap structure above that amount. Dower and curtesy were effectively abolished by the 2012 MUPC enactment; the elective share governs.

Terminology. The estate representative is the personal representative (the MUPC term since March 31, 2012). The court is the Probate and Family Court, the filing office is the Registry of Probate, and the elected officer is the Register of Probate. Uncontested informal probate is decided by a MUPC Magistrate; formal and contested matters go before a judge. Authority is proven by Letters of Authority, a certified copy issued by the Registry.

No inheritance tax, and the federal exemption. Massachusetts has no inheritance tax, so no Massachusetts tax is based on a beneficiary's relationship to the decedent. The separate federal estate tax applies only above the federal exemption, which is $15 million per individual for deaths in 2026 under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (signed July 4, 2025, and indexed annually).

A Massachusetts attorney is advisable when the matter is contested or requires formal probate before a judge, when the will is missing or defective, when the estate exceeds $2,000,000 and a Form M-706 estate-tax return is required, when real estate must be sold and the will lacks a power of sale so a license to sell (MGL c. 202) is needed, when a proceeding is opened more than 3 years after death and only late and limited formal probate remains, or when the estate is insolvent. For voluntary administration and ordinary uncontested informal probate, many Massachusetts families complete the process without an attorney. Sunset can connect families to a vetted Massachusetts probate attorney when the situation requires counsel.

Find the accounts and assets. During estate settlement, Sunset searches more than 2,300 financial institutions and Massachusetts public records to surface bank and credit-union accounts, retirement plans, brokerage holdings, life insurance, Massachusetts real estate, vehicles, business interests, and unclaimed property, and flags how each asset is titled so the family can tell what passes outside probate and whether the estate crosses the $2,000,000 estate-tax threshold.

Generate the probate packet. Sunset assembles the statewide MPC packet for the path that fits, whether a voluntary administration statement on MPC 170 or an informal or formal petition on MPC 150 or MPC 160, with the surviving-spouse-and-heirs and devisees forms, ready to file with the Registry of Probate at the counter or through eFileMA.

Find a local probate attorney. When estate settlement calls for counsel, such as formal probate, an estate over the $2,000,000 estate-tax threshold, or a real-estate sale that needs a license to sell, Sunset connects families to a vetted Massachusetts probate attorney serving the relevant county.

Sunset is free for families. Revenue comes from bank partners that pay Sunset while estate funds sit in an FDIC-insured estate account ($3M coverage).