Massachusetts Estate Planning: Wills, Trusts, and Probate

This reference explains how the main estate-planning tools work under Massachusetts law: wills, intestate succession, trusts, powers of attorney, health care proxies, the state estate tax, and probate. It covers the rules that apply statewide and points to where the details for each specific procedure live. Massachusetts adopted the Uniform Probate Code in 2012, so much of the vocabulary here matches other UPC states, with important local differences in the estate tax and homestead protection.

What estate planning covers in Massachusetts

Estate planning addresses two separate questions: what happens to a person’s property when they die, and who acts for them if they cannot act for themselves. Massachusetts law supplies default answers to both, and the planning documents exist to replace those defaults with the person’s own choices.

At death, property owned in the decedent’s name alone passes either under a valid will or, if there is no will, under a fixed statutory formula called intestate succession. Property held in other forms, jointly owned accounts, life insurance with a named beneficiary, assets in a trust, passes under its own rules and is generally untouched by the will. A complete plan accounts for both categories, because a will controls only what is left to pass through probate.

For incapacity, two documents do most of the work: a durable power of attorney, which names someone to handle finances, and a health care proxy, which names someone to make medical decisions. Without them, a family that needs authority over an incapacitated person’s affairs typically has to ask the Probate and Family Court to appoint a guardian or conservator, a slower and more public process.

Key documents and terms

A few terms recur throughout Massachusetts estate law, and the spokes in this section assume them.

• Will. The document that names beneficiaries and, usually, a personal representative. A will controls only probate property.
• Testator. The person who makes the will.
• Personal representative. The person who administers the estate. For appointments after March 31, 2012, this single term replaced the older words “executor” and “administrator.”
• Probate. The court-supervised process of proving a will, appointing a personal representative, paying debts, and distributing what remains.
• Intestate. Dying without a valid will. The estate then passes under MGL c. 190B.
• Trust. An arrangement in which a trustee holds property for beneficiaries under terms set by the person who creates it (the grantor or settlor).
• Health care proxy. A document naming an agent to make medical decisions when a physician determines the person lacks capacity.
• Homestead. A recorded or automatic protection that shields equity in a principal residence from many creditors.

Making a valid will in Massachusetts

Massachusetts sets three basic requirements for a valid will. First, the person making it must be at least 18 years old and of sound mind under MGL c. 190B, § 2-501. Second, the will must be in writing and signed by the testator, or signed in the testator’s name by someone else at the testator’s direction and in the testator’s conscious presence. Third, it must be signed by at least two witnesses, each of whom watched either the signing of the will or the testator’s acknowledgment of that signature, under MGL c. 190B, § 2-502.

Massachusetts does not recognize a handwritten will that lacks two witnesses (a holographic will), except one that was valid where and when it was made in another jurisdiction. Online will services can produce a valid Massachusetts will, but only if the finished document is printed and signed with two witnesses in the manner the statute requires; the state’s electronic-will rules do not extend to ordinary at-home signings.

A will can be changed by a later signed document (a codicil for a small change, or a new will that revokes the old one) and revoked outright. Under MGL c. 190B, § 2-507, a will is revoked either by a subsequent will that revokes it or by a physical act such as burning, tearing, or destroying it with the intent to revoke.

Dying without a will: intestate succession

When a Massachusetts resident dies without a valid will, MGL c. 190B, § 2-102 decides how the estate passes to the surviving spouse, and the sections that follow distribute anything the spouse does not take to descendants and other relatives.

The surviving spouse’s share depends on who else survives:

• If the decedent leaves no descendants and no parents, or if all of the decedent’s descendants are also descendants of the surviving spouse and the spouse has no other descendants, the spouse takes the entire estate under MGL c. 190B, § 2-102.
• If the decedent leaves no descendants but a parent survives, the spouse takes the first $200,000 plus three-quarters of the balance under MGL c. 190B, § 2-102.
• If all of the decedent’s descendants are shared with the surviving spouse but the spouse has other descendants of their own, or if the decedent has one or more descendants who are not the spouse’s, the spouse takes the first $100,000 plus one-half of the balance under MGL c. 190B, § 2-102.

Whatever the spouse does not take passes to the decedent’s descendants, or, if there are none, to parents and then to more distant relatives in the order the statute sets. A person who wants a distribution different from this formula, leaving property to a friend, a stepchild, or a charity, for example, needs a will or another arrangement, because intestacy follows bloodlines and marriage only.

Trusts, joint ownership, and avoiding probate

Not every asset passes through probate, and much of Massachusetts estate planning is about deciding what should. Assets with a named beneficiary or a survivorship feature pass directly to the recipient at death, outside the will and outside probate.

Common non-probate arrangements include joint tenancy with right of survivorship on real estate or bank accounts, payable-on-death and transfer-on-death designations, life insurance and retirement accounts with named beneficiaries, and property held in a revocable living trust. A revocable living trust holds title to assets during life and distributes them at death under its own terms, which keeps those assets out of the probate estate and off the public docket. A trust does not by itself reduce the Massachusetts estate tax, and a “pour-over” will is still used alongside a trust to catch any assets left outside it.

Avoiding probate is not the same as avoiding administration. Someone still has to value the assets, pay final debts and taxes, and transfer title. The trade-off is between the up-front cost of setting up trusts and beneficiary designations and the later cost and delay of a court-supervised probate.

Powers of attorney and health care proxies

Incapacity planning rests on two documents. A durable power of attorney authorizes a named agent to manage financial and legal matters, paying bills, managing accounts, dealing with real estate, and “durable” means the authority survives the principal’s later incapacity. Massachusetts recognizes durable powers of attorney under the Uniform Probate Code, MGL c. 190B.

A health care proxy is separate and covers medical decisions only. Under the Massachusetts Health Care Proxy Act, MGL c. 201D, a competent adult can name a health care agent who steps in when the attending physician determines the person lacks capacity to make their own medical decisions. Massachusetts does not have a “living will” statute that binds doctors; a health care proxy, sometimes paired with a written statement of wishes, is the operative document here.

The Massachusetts estate tax

Massachusetts is one of a minority of states with its own estate tax, and it reaches far more estates than the federal tax does. Under the Massachusetts Estate Tax Guide, an estate must file a Massachusetts estate tax return (Form M-706) if the gross estate plus adjusted taxable gifts exceeds $2,000,000 for a decedent dying on or after January 1, 2023. Estates below that threshold owe no Massachusetts estate tax and generally file nothing.

For estates above the threshold, the tax is computed by reference to the federal credit for state death taxes in effect on December 31, 2000, using a table set out in MGL c. 65C, § 3, and the calculation applies to the full taxable estate rather than only the amount over $2 million. For deaths on or after January 1, 2023, the computed tax is reduced by a credit of $99,600. The return and any payment are due nine months after the date of death, with an automatic six-month extension to file available for estates that have paid at least 80% of the tax by the original due date.

By contrast, the federal estate tax exemption is far higher, over $13 million per person as of 2026, so the federal estate tax reaches very few estates. A Massachusetts estate can therefore owe state estate tax while owing no federal estate tax at all.

Probate in the Probate and Family Court

Probate matters in Massachusetts are handled by the Probate and Family Court, which sits in 14 divisions across the state and has jurisdiction over wills, estates, trusts, guardianships, and conservatorships. The court appoints a personal representative, who then gathers assets, notifies creditors, pays valid debts and taxes, and distributes what remains.

Massachusetts offers several tracks depending on the estate. Voluntary administration is a simplified process for small estates with no real property and limited personal property. Informal probate is handled largely by a magistrate without a hearing when the paperwork is complete and uncontested. Formal probate goes before a judge and is used when there is a dispute, an unclear will, or a need for judicial findings.

Timing matters. Under MGL c. 190B, § 3-108, most probate proceedings to prove a will or appoint a personal representative must begin within three years of the date of death. Property protected by the Massachusetts homestead law is treated separately: under MGL c. 188, § 1, an automatic homestead shields up to $125,000 of equity in a principal residence and a recorded declaration protects up to $500,000, figures current as of 2026.

Specific procedures and topics