Estate Settlement Cost
Menu

Massachusetts source record

Every source behind the Massachusetts guide

4 primary records, quoted verbatim and checked against 16 named presence or absence conditions that must pass against the live government text. Open the record, read the words the publishing body actually used, and confirm the current rule for yourself.

Last full re-fetch September 15, 2026

What each source establishes

The Massachusetts guide rests on the source-backed rules this site can verify for the state: which simplified procedure exists and what it limits, what the court charges, how the person administering the estate may be paid, and the statutory creditor-deadline clocks the official text states.Every published rule below is quoted in the publisher’s own words rather than summarised.

Simplified-procedure rule

G.L. c. 190B, § 3-1201

Massachusetts Legislature · Publisher states no currentness signal; manual session review required · Verified August 9, 2026

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 person

What was published from this source

  • MA G.L. c. 190B, § 3-1201

Conditions checked against the live text

Each condition below must be found in the page as the publisher currently serves it. If any one of them stops matching, the build fails and the figure is withheld rather than published from memory.

  • threshold and asset scope
  • waiting period
  • prior petition disqualifier
  • section identity
  • section identity

Response digest 122913f79e214c20… · HTTP 200

Court cost rule

G.L. c. 262, § 40

Massachusetts Legislature · Publisher states no currentness signal; manual session review required · Verified August 9, 2026

for the filing of a petition for public administration, for formal removal of personal representative, for statement of voluntary administration, $100;

What was published from this source

  • MA G.L. c. 262, § 40

Conditions checked against the live text

Each condition below must be found in the page as the publisher currently serves it. If any one of them stops matching, the build fails and the figure is withheld rather than published from memory.

  • voluntary administration fee
  • formal and informal probate fee
  • section identity
  • section identity

Response digest e33d35611d49cc2a… · HTTP 200

Executor compensation rule

G.L. c. 190B, § 3-719

Massachusetts Legislature · Publisher states no currentness signal; manual session review required · Verified August 9, 2026

A personal representative is entitled to reasonable compensation for services. If a will provides for compensation of the personal representative and there is no contract with the decedent regarding compensation, the personal representative may renounce the provision before qualifying and be entitled to reasonable compensation.

What was published from this source

  • MA G.L. c. 190B, § 3-719

Conditions checked against the live text

Each condition below must be found in the page as the publisher currently serves it. If any one of them stops matching, the build fails and the figure is withheld rather than published from memory.

  • reasonable compensation
  • will provision renunciation
  • section identity
  • section identity

Response digest 465537800000ffff… · HTTP 200

Creditor deadline rule

G.L. c. 190B, § 3-803

Massachusetts Legislature · Publisher states no currentness signal; manual session review required · Verified August 9, 2026

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

What was published from this source

  • MA G.L. c. 190B, § 3-803

Conditions checked against the live text

Each condition below must be found in the page as the publisher currently serves it. If any one of them stops matching, the build fails and the figure is withheld rather than published from memory.

  • general outer limit
  • section identity
  • section identity

Response digest 89562881fe2f5c63… · HTTP 200

Statutes read in full for Massachusetts

These are the Massachusetts provisions read end to end on the enacting state’s own site, rather than summarised from a secondary source. The middle column is what reading each one actually established for Massachusetts — not a restatement of the topic — and the last column records the date the wording was read, so a later amendment can be spotted by comparing dates.

CitationWhat reading it establishedRead on
G.L. c. 262, § 40Massachusetts charges the same $375 to open an estate, then prices the accounts by size and by year — court and filing cost note2026-09-17
G.L. c. 190B, § 3-803Massachusetts gives creditors a year, and measures it from the death itself — creditor deadline note2026-09-17
M.G.L. c. 190B, § 3-1201Massachusetts sets a low ceiling but does not count the car against it — small estate route note2026-09-17
M.G.L. c. 190B, §§ 3-719, 3-1201Massachusetts publishes no fee schedule, and its cheapest route has no fee at all — representative pay note2026-09-17

Massachusetts source decision map

How the Massachusetts records fit together

The source record is most useful when each citation has a job. This map links the Massachusetts procedure, cost, compensation, and deadline records to the decision each one can and cannot answer.

QuestionRecorded Massachusetts answerCarry into the case
What route is being screened?Voluntary administration / collection of personal property by affidavitConfirm 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?$25,000Use 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.

Decision boundary

What the Massachusetts source set does not silently decide

The Massachusetts records establish the rules listed above, but they do not turn a source citation into advice about title, family priority, tax filing, contested proceedings, or the exact clerk practice in every county. Those questions stay with the official court or a qualified adviser. The useful next step is to match the question to the citation rather than treating the longest quote as the answer to every estate problem.

Arithmetic illustration

See the Massachusetts amount screen without mistaking it for a result

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 amountComparison to the Massachusetts ceilingWhat it does not decide
$18,800Below $25,000Title, liens, waiting period, appointment, or creditor duties
$31,300Above $25,000Whether another statutory route or court process applies

Next evidence to collect

Open the quoted record for the row you rely on and check the publisher's current text before filing.

  1. Record the date of death, the county, and the exact proceeding or affidavit being considered.
  2. Classify each asset by title, beneficiary, trust, real-property status, and the value basis shown above.
  3. Open the official court material below and keep its form or schedule with the estate record.
  4. Do not distribute property until the route, creditor position, and required approvals are resolved.

Official material

Massachusetts publishes statewide probate forms, a court fee page, and a statewide court-location directory.

Source trail

Records used by this Massachusetts map

What Massachusetts courts publish

The statutes on this page state the rule. These are the documents the court itself publishes. Every link is probed before release, and any link that stops resolving fails the build rather than staying on the page.

Limits on court material

  • Massachusetts publishes statewide probate forms, a court fee page, and a statewide court-location directory.

Checking these Massachusetts records against the publishers

Every citation above links to the body that publishes it, and every quoted sentence is reproduced exactly, so a text search on the publisher’s own page should land on it. Where the publisher’s current wording differs from what is recorded here, the publisher governs and this page is wrong; naming the citation and the language you see maps the difference onto a specific condition rather than a general complaint. The full procedure, including how a source qualifies in the first place and what disqualifies one, is set out once on the methodology page instead of being restated on each of the254 state records.

These records cover the cost and route questions this site answers for Massachusetts. They do not cover intestate succession shares, spousal and family allowances, creditor priority, tax filing obligations, real-property transfer mechanics, or contested proceedings. Where an answer would require one of those, the site says so rather than estimating.

Return to the Massachusetts estate guide ·All 254 records ·Dataset overview and citation ·How sources are selected