Massachusetts timeline
The simplified route starts 30 days after death.
That clock is one condition among several, and it is not the whole estate timeline. The deadlines that carry the most risk are creditor deadlines, and in Massachusetts they are set out below against the event each one runs from.
Sources reviewed August 9, 2026. Latest primary-source re-fetch September 15, 2026.
The voluntary administration / collection of personal property by affidavit route requires 30 days to elapse from the date of death. This is a precondition: the affidavit or petition cannot be presented before it runs, regardless of how straightforward the estate is.
If a person domiciled in the commonwealth dies leaving an estate consisting entirely of personal property the total value of which may include a motor vehicle of which the decedent was the owner, and other personal property not exceeding $25,000 in value, any interested personG.L. c. 190B, § 3-1201 — Massachusetts Legislature; verified September 15, 2026.
Massachusetts does not run one creditor clock. Separate periods start from separate events, and the date that actually bars a claim is the one the applicable period produces. They are listed here against the event that starts each, because a period attached to the wrong starting event is how a deadline gets missed by weeks.
How these combine. Section 3-803 states a general one-year-from-death action limit but also contains exceptions and equitable relief; § 3-801 is reserved. It cannot honestly be collapsed into publication, actual-notice, appointment, and outer-limit deadlines as one number.
a personal representative shall not be held to answer to an action by a creditor of the deceased unless such action is commenced within 1 year after the date of death of the deceasedG.L. c. 190B, § 3-803 — Massachusetts Legislature; verified September 15, 2026.
Publishing notice starts a period after which most claims are barred. Missing a required notice can extend the estate’s exposure and, in some circumstances, the personal exposure of the person administering it. Confirm the dates that apply to this estate with the Probate and Family Court before relying on them, because a specific case can carry deadlines these general provisions do not reach.
Massachusetts did not adopt the publish-then-count structure used by the other uniform-code states on this site. Under G.L. c. 190B, § 3-803(a), a personal representative "shall not be held to answer to an action by a creditor of the deceased unless such action is commenced within 1 year after the date of death of the deceased" — and unless, before that year runs out, the process has been served in hand on the representative, or service accepted, or a notice filed with the register stating the name of the estate, the name and address of the creditor, the amount of the claim and the court in which the action was brought.
Two things follow. The deadline requires a commenced action, not a presented claim: a letter to the representative does not stop the clock. And the year runs from death, so nothing the estate does or fails to publish moves it.
Subsection (b) closes the obvious escape route. A trustee of a trust whose assets are, as a matter of substantive law, reachable by the decedent’s creditors is protected on the same terms and within the same year, and has immunity from personal liability in the same manner as a personal representative under § 3-807. Funding a revocable trust does not create a separate, longer exposure.
Subsection (d) preserves two categories outside the bar. Proceedings to enforce a mortgage, pledge or other lien on estate property are unaffected. So is an action for personal injury or death brought against the personal representative more than a year after the death — provided it is commenced no later than three years after the cause of action accrues, and provided any judgment "shall only be satisfied from the proceeds of a policy of liability bond or liability insurance, if any, and not from the general assets of the estate." Subsection (c) adds that a claim already barred by the statute of the decedent’s domicile is barred in the Commonwealth as well.
Source: G.L. c. 190B, § 3-803, read from the enacting state’s own published code on 2026-09-17. Quoted wording is the statute’s; the surrounding explanation is this site’s reading of it and is not legal advice.
Massachusetts timeline decision map
The Massachusetts waiting period is only one condition. Use this map to separate the route clock from creditor deadlines, asset scope, court costs, and the documents needed to move from screening to filing.
| Question | Recorded Massachusetts answer | Carry into the case |
|---|---|---|
| What route is being screened? | Voluntary administration / collection of personal property by affidavit | Confirm that the will, prior appointment, family facts, and asset titles fit this route. |
| What property and basis count? | personal probate property only; gross value for this route. | Keep real property, liens, beneficiary transfers, and survivorship transfers classified separately. |
| What is the amount screen? | $25,000 | Use the counted property, not a bank-balance shortcut. |
| What is the time or deadline record? | 30 days after death; Section 3-803 states a general one-year-from-death action limit but also contains exceptions and equitable relief; § 3-801 is reserved. It cannot honestly be collapsed into publication, actual-notice, appointment, and outer-limit deadlines as one number. | Keep the event that starts each clock with the date; do not combine separate periods into one number. |
| What does the cost record establish? | 2 published schedules; the proceeding and value basis control the total. | Ask the Probate and Family Court about local surcharges, copies, publication, bond, and later filings. |
| What does compensation use? | A personal representative is entitled to reasonable compensation. A will provision may be renounced before qualifying when no compensation contract exists; the statute states no percentage base or extraordinary-services schedule. The relevant base is the estate accounting. | Keep the will, task log, receipts, and accounting base together; extraordinary work is separate. |
Clock ledger
The Massachusetts record names separate triggers. The description beside each trigger is the source-bound statement to carry into the estate calendar; the interaction rule explains which period controls when more than one applies.
| Clock starts with | Recorded period | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Outer limit from death | General civil action must commence within 1 year after death, subject to statutory exceptions and equitable relief. | G.L. c. 190B, § 3-803 |
How the periods combine: Section 3-803 states a general one-year-from-death action limit but also contains exceptions and equitable relief; § 3-801 is reserved. It cannot honestly be collapsed into publication, actual-notice, appointment, and outer-limit deadlines as one number.
Case-file context
A route answer is easier to use when the facts that can change it stay in the same record. These are the reviewed Massachusetts descriptions adjacent to this page\'s main question; they are not a substitute for the source quotations or the receiving court\'s instructions.
Massachusetts calls the small personal-property route voluntary administration and files it in the Probate and Family Court.
After 30 days, an interested person may file a voluntary-administration statement when the Massachusetts domiciliary left only personal property and the non-motor-vehicle personal property does not exceed $25,000. A prior petition for appointment disqualifies the route; one motor vehicle may be included outside that $25,000 wording.
The statutory filing fee is $100 for a statement of voluntary administration and $375 for formal or informal probate/appointment.
2 published schedules; the proceeding and value basis control the total.
A personal representative is entitled to reasonable compensation. A will provision may be renounced before qualifying when no compensation contract exists; the statute states no percentage base or extraordinary-services schedule.
A personal representative is entitled to reasonable compensation. A will provision may be renounced before qualifying when no compensation contract exists; the statute states no percentage base or extraordinary-services schedule. The relevant base is the estate accounting.
Court-material note: Massachusetts publishes statewide probate forms, a court fee page, and a statewide court-location directory.
Arithmetic illustration
The recorded Massachusetts ceiling is $25,000, and it is tested against personal probate property only, on a basis this site records as gross value for this route. Counted that way, $18,800 sits below the Massachusetts figure and $31,300 sits above it. Both are comparisons to a published number rather than legal outcomes: two estates holding the same total can land on opposite sides of this line, because what Massachusetts counts and how it values it are decided before the comparison is made.
| Illustrative counted amount | Comparison to the Massachusetts ceiling | What it does not decide |
|---|---|---|
| $18,800 | Below $25,000 | Title, liens, waiting period, appointment, or creditor duties |
| $31,300 | Above $25,000 | Whether another statutory route or court process applies |
Next evidence to collect
Official material
Massachusetts publishes statewide probate forms, a court fee page, and a statewide court-location directory.
Source trail
The order in which an estate is actually worked — secure property, confirm title and beneficiary designations, identify the court route, notify and account, then close — is the same everywhere and carries no citation, so it is set out once rather than repeated on each state’s page. Read it inthe executor’s first week, and seehow long probate takes for how the phases stretch in practice.
What is jurisdiction-specific is above: the Massachusetts periods, the event each one runs from, and the source each was read in.
This is general information, not legal, tax, or financial advice, and it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Probate law varies by state and county and changes over time. Verify the current rule with the court or a licensed attorney in the relevant state.