Massachusetts Ancillary Probate

Massachusetts ancillary probate is the second estate case a family opens here when someone who lived in another state died owning Massachusetts property. The home state court settles the main estate. A division of the Massachusetts Probate and Family Court clears the Massachusetts assets under Article 4 of the Massachusetts Uniform Probate Code, M.G.L. c. 190B.

Massachusetts writes that article more narrowly than most states do. Filing your out-of-state appointment papers here buys authority over personal property and nothing else. The house needs a separate move. One clause in M.G.L. c. 190B, § 4-205 decides most of what follows, so read it before you promise a buyer a closing date.

This page sits under the Massachusetts probate process, which covers an estate opened for a Massachusetts resident. If you want to keep a future estate out of two courts, read how to avoid probate in Massachusetts.

What Ancillary Probate Means in Massachusetts

A court reaches only the property inside its own state. The court where the decedent lived can transfer that state's assets and can wind up the whole estate on paper, but it cannot order a Barnstable County deed to change hands. So one death produces two cases.

Title does move on its own. Under M.G.L. c. 190B, § 3-101, a decedent's real and personal property devolves at death to the devisees named in the will or to the heirs, subject to allowances, exempt property, creditor rights and administration. The family owns the cottage the moment the owner dies. What they do not own is a marketable record, and no buyer, lender or title examiner treats the parcel as clean until a Massachusetts court file backs it up.

What Massachusetts Property Starts a Case

Start with two questions: what did the person own here, and how was it titled?

Property that usually needs a Massachusetts step

• A house, condo, cottage or triple-decker held in the decedent's name alone
• A vacation home held with someone else as tenants in common
• Vacant land, a woodlot or farm acreage
• A rental or commercial building
• Tangible property physically kept here, such as a boat, a car or equipment

Property that skips it

• Real estate already titled in a revocable living trust or a Massachusetts nominee trust
• Real estate owned in joint tenancy with right of survivorship, or by spouses as tenants by the entirety
• Payable-on-death accounts and other beneficiary designations
• Securities and security accounts registered in beneficiary form under M.G.L. c. 190B, §§ 6-301 to 6-311, which cover securities and never real estate

Money at a Massachusetts bank, brokerage holdings and life insurance are intangible property. The home state estate handles them even when the branch sits on Boylston Street.

The Foreign Representative Route, and Its Massachusetts Limit

M.G.L. c. 190B, § 4-101 defines a domiciliary foreign personal representative as the person appointed under the law of the state where the decedent lived. Article 4 gives that person two ways to act here without a full Massachusetts appointment. Here is how each one works.

Collecting personal property with no court filing

Sixty days after death, § 4-201 lets any Massachusetts person who owes the decedent money, or who holds the decedent's personal property, pay or deliver it straight to the domiciliary foreign personal representative. The holder needs proof of appointment plus an affidavit stating the date of death, that no local administration or petition for one is pending here, and that the representative is entitled to payment. Section 4-202 then releases that holder as fully as if payment had gone to a Massachusetts personal representative.

Two brakes sit on this route. Section 4-203 stops the payment when a Massachusetts creditor has told the holder not to pay. And § 4-201(c) adds a condition other states do not carry: if the decedent owned tangible personal property here, or kept a permanent or temporary home here at any point in the twelve months before death, the foreign representative cannot accept payment until one month after filing proof of authority under § 4-204, with a copy to the Commissioner of Revenue.

Filing authenticated copies

When no local administration or petition is pending, § 4-204 lets the domiciliary foreign personal representative file authenticated copies of the domiciliary appointment and of any official bond with a court in a Massachusetts county where the decedent's property is located. The Probate and Family Court fee schedule prices that filing as a Foreign Personal Representative Sworn Statement at $75 plus a $15 surcharge.

Section 4-205 then grants that person, "as to personal property in the commonwealth", all the powers of a Massachusetts personal representative acting in a similar capacity, plus the ability to bring and defend actions here. Read that clause again. Selling the house is not on the list.

Two more Article 4 rules matter. Section 4-206 lets a foreign representative use the § 4-201 and § 4-205 powers only while no Massachusetts administration, and no application for one, is pending. An application or petition for local administration ends the § 4-205 power, though the court may allow limited powers to preserve the estate. Anyone who changed position in reliance on those powers before receiving actual notice of the local case keeps the benefit of it, and the local personal representative takes on the duties that accrued and may be substituted into a pending Massachusetts action.

Section 4-301 attaches a personal cost to using Article 4. Filing under § 4-204, or receiving money or personal property under § 4-201, submits the foreign representative personally to the jurisdiction of Massachusetts courts, with the § 4-201 exposure limited to the money or value collected. Section 4-303 then governs how a party serves that representative. Weigh that before you collect a single account.

Two Ways to Move Massachusetts Real Estate

Because § 4-205 stops at personal property, a Massachusetts parcel takes one of these paths.

Open a local administration

If the family opens a Massachusetts case, § 4-207 hands it to Article 3, the same set of rules a resident estate follows: probate of the will, appointment, supervision, removal and discharge of the local personal representative, and the rights of claimants, purchasers and distributees.

The out-of-state family keeps control. Under § 3-203(g), a personal representative appointed by the court of the decedent's domicile has priority over all other applicants, unless the will names different people to serve in Massachusetts and in the domicile state, and that domiciliary representative may nominate someone else who inherits the same priority. Whoever gets appointed then carries the full job described in Massachusetts executor duties.

Article 3 also brings a notice step that is easy to miss from out of state. Section 3-306(a) makes the petitioner give written notice 7 days before petitioning for informal probate or appointment, by delivery or mail, to all heirs and devisees, to anyone with a prior or equal right to appointment who has not waived it in writing, and to any personal representative whose appointment has not ended. Section 3-306(g) requires a second 7 day notice on the same clock: a copy of the petition and the death certificate, sent to the division of medical assistance by certified mail. Send the MassHealth copy before you file, not after.

Ask for a license to sell under chapter 202

Massachusetts keeps a second track for a foreign fiduciary who only needs to sell. M.G.L. c. 202, § 32 lets an executor or administrator appointed in another state or country, on the estate of a person who was not a Massachusetts resident and whose estate has no Massachusetts administration, file an authenticated copy of the appointment record and of the bond in the probate court for any county holding real estate of the deceased, and ask to be licensed to sell it.

The court withholds that license until it finds all of the following:

• Six months have expired since the death
• The foreign fiduciary gave a sufficient bond and will be liable to account for the sale proceeds in the state or country of appointment
• No creditor or other interested person will be prejudiced by the sale

Notice goes to the Commissioner of Revenue, to creditors and to other interested persons as the court orders. Section 32 also called for a Commissioner of Revenue certificate showing that the chapter 65C tax was paid, secured or not due, and the closing sentence of the section removes that requirement for dates of death on or after January 1, 1997. Section 35 then tells the licensed foreign fiduciary to give notice of the sale and proceed the way a Massachusetts-appointed fiduciary would. Net proceeds, after sale expenses and after Massachusetts claims are paid, may leave the commonwealth to be accounted for in the appointing court.

Which Massachusetts County You File In

Venue follows the property. M.G.L. c. 190B, § 3-201(a)(2) places venue for a decedent who was not domiciled here in any county where property of the decedent was located at death. Massachusetts runs one Probate and Family Court Department with a division in each of the 14 counties, and several divisions sit in more than one courthouse, so 19 courthouses serve the state. File where the real estate sits, and use the Massachusetts probate court directory to find the division and its Register of Probate.

The Massachusetts Estate Tax Reaches a Nonresident

M.G.L. c. 65C, § 2A(b) imposes the Massachusetts estate tax on the transfer of real property situated here and tangible personal property with an actual situs here, owned by a person who was not a resident at death. Only the Massachusetts share gets taxed. Section 4(b) states that arithmetic as a ratio: the tax that would be due had the decedent been a resident, times the share the Massachusetts real and tangible property, less any mortgage or lien, bears to the Massachusetts gross estate figured as though the person had lived here. Read § 4 as historical rather than operative: c. 65C, § 2(c) applies that part of the chapter to decedents dying on or before December 31, 1996, so for a current death the proportion runs off § 2A(b).

Check the date of death before you copy a formula off another site. The legislature rewrote § 2A(a) and (b) effective August 1, 2025, and for a death on or after that date the nonresident charge is computed on a Massachusetts figure that adds back certain marital-deduction property the decedent held a lifetime income interest in. Earlier deaths use the older proportional text printed alongside it.

Two figures decide whether anyone writes a check. Section 2A(g) frees estates of decedents dying on or after January 1, 2023 from the tax under subsections (a) and (b) when the federal taxable estate is not more than $2,000,000, and § 2A(f) allows a credit against that tax of up to $99,600.

The filing test catches families off guard. The Department of Revenue applies the same threshold to a nonresident as to a resident, measured on the total worldwide estate plus adjusted taxable gifts. A New Jersey estate worth $3,000,000 that happens to include a $350,000 Wellfleet cottage files in Massachusetts, even though the Massachusetts slice is small. The personal representative files Form M-706 together with a Massachusetts Nonresident Decedent Affidavit, Form M-NRA. The return and payment are due nine months after the date of death, and every filer gets an automatic six-month extension of time to file after paying at least 80 percent of the tax by the original due date. The Department of Revenue can hold the personal representative personally liable for tax shown on the return that goes unpaid, so do not distribute the sale proceeds and hope.

The Lien That Stops the Closing

M.G.L. c. 65C, § 14(a) places a lien on the Massachusetts gross estate for ten years from the date of death unless the tax is paid in full sooner. The Department of Revenue says the same thing in plainer words: at the time of death a lien arises by operation of law on all real estate the decedent owned, alone or jointly. A buyer's title examiner will find it.

Section 14(e) then adds a step aimed straight at a nonresident's sale. A license or decree authorizing the sale of a nonresident decedent's property subject to that lien has to state affirmatively that the Commissioner released or discharged the lien, and the probate court record must already show the release before the license issues. So the tax clearance and the chapter 202 license are one problem, not two.

Clearing the lien depends on the size of the estate.

• No Massachusetts filing required. For deaths on or after January 1, 1997, § 14(a) releases the gross estate on an affidavit of the executor, sworn under the pains and penalties of perjury and recorded in the appropriate registry of deeds. Watch the wording here, because the two official sources do not match. The statute describes an affidavit stating that the gross estate does not necessitate a federal estate tax filing. The Department of Revenue instead instructs filers that the affidavit must accurately state that the gross estate does not necessitate a Massachusetts estate tax filing, and it publishes no blank form for it. Ask the closing attorney which text the registry of deeds and the title insurer will accept.
• Filing required. The Commissioner releases the lien by issuing a Certificate Releasing Massachusetts Estate Lien, once known as Form M-792.
• Closing before the return is due. File an Application for Certificate Releasing Massachusetts Estate Tax Lien, Form M-4422, with an attested copy of the deed, the purchase and sale agreement or mortgage commitment, the letters of authority or trust document, a copy of the death certificate and payment of the estimated tax. Form M-706 still has to follow within nine months of death or during an approved extension.

Clear the tax before the money moves. Under § 14(b), when the tax goes unpaid at its due date, a transferee, trustee, surviving tenant or beneficiary who received Massachusetts estate property becomes personally liable for it, up to the date-of-death value of what they received.

Once title clears, the sale is the same job a resident estate faces. Read selling inherited property in Massachusetts before you sign a listing agreement.

Clocks That Bind a Massachusetts Ancillary Matter

Massachusetts publishes no creditor claim window at all. Section 3-801 of the Massachusetts code, the notice-to-creditors section in every other Uniform Probate Code state, reads "Reserved" here. Nothing a personal representative publishes starts a four-month clock. The publication § 3-306(b) does require, once in a newspaper the register of probate designates, no more than 30 days after the informal probate or appointment, is notice of the proceeding rather than notice to creditors. The bar in § 3-803(a) runs from the date of death instead, which is why a Massachusetts parcel can look risky to a buyer for a full year. Massachusetts creditor claims walks through that rule.

What Ancillary Probate Costs

Massachusetts sets probate filing fees statewide, so the county never changes the price. These figures come from the Probate and Family Court fee schedule.

Budget past the court window too: publication costs, authenticated and exemplified copies from the home state court, recording fees at the registry of deeds, and a Massachusetts attorney for the filing your home state lawyer cannot make. Attested copy charges are set administratively by the Trial Court under M.G.L. c. 262, Section 4B rather than as a dollar figure in the statute, so the schedule publishes no per-page rate. Confirm that charge and the current amounts with the Register of Probate before you mail a check.

The Small Estate Shortcut Does Not Apply

Families reach for the cheap route first, and in Massachusetts it closes on the first line. M.G.L. c. 190B, § 3-1201 opens voluntary administration only where "a person domiciled in the commonwealth" dies leaving an estate consisting entirely of personal property, which may include one motor vehicle plus other personal property not exceeding $25,000 in value, and only after 30 days have passed with no petition for appointment on file. A nonresident's estate fails the first condition no matter how modest the Massachusetts holding is, and the section never reaches real estate even for a resident.

How to Keep Massachusetts Out of It

Massachusetts never adopted a real property transfer on death deed, so the fix that one recorded form solves elsewhere takes a different tool here. Anyone who lives in another state and owns Massachusetts property can plan around a future ancillary case.

• Retitle the property into a revocable living trust, or into a Massachusetts nominee trust, during life. The trust passes it, and no state where you own land needs a court file.
• Hold it in joint tenancy with right of survivorship, or, for a married couple, as tenants by the entirety. The survivor takes it by operation of law.
• Ask a Massachusetts attorney about a life estate deed, which reserves lifetime use and sends the remainder to the next owner at death. Weigh it against the tax and Medicaid tradeoffs before recording anything.
• Sell the Massachusetts property during life. Once it is cash, the proceeds are intangible property the home state estate settles.

Each of these costs far less than a second court file, a second lawyer and a stalled closing.

Frequently Asked Questions

When do I need ancillary probate in Massachusetts?

You need a Massachusetts step whenever someone who lived in another state died owning Massachusetts real estate, or tangible property kept here, in their name alone. The home state court cannot pass title to Massachusetts land, so a Probate and Family Court division in the county where the property sits has to act.

Can the out-of-state executor sell the Massachusetts house?

Not on the strength of the home state appointment alone. M.G.L. c. 190B, § 4-205 gives a domiciliary foreign personal representative who files under § 4-204 the powers of a local personal representative as to personal property in the commonwealth. Real estate takes a Massachusetts appointment under § 4-207, and often a license as well rather than instead. Under § 3-715(23 1/2) an appointed personal representative selling Massachusetts real estate needs a license under M.G.L. c. 202 if the decedent died intestate, and if there was a will, either a power of sale in that will or the same license. An intestate nonresident's Massachusetts parcel needs both.

Do Massachusetts bank accounts need a Massachusetts case?

Usually not. Bank balances, brokerage holdings and life insurance are intangible property the home state estate administers. M.G.L. c. 190B, § 4-201 lets a Massachusetts debtor or holder pay the domiciliary foreign personal representative directly, starting 60 days after death, on proof of appointment plus an affidavit.

Does the Massachusetts small estate affidavit help a nonresident?

No. Voluntary administration under M.G.L. c. 190B, § 3-1201 opens only where a person domiciled in the commonwealth dies leaving an estate consisting entirely of personal property, with other personal property not exceeding $25,000 plus one motor vehicle. A nonresident's estate does not qualify, and the section never reaches real estate.

Does Massachusetts tax a nonresident's property here?

It can. M.G.L. c. 65C, § 2A(b) taxes the transfer of Massachusetts real property and tangible personal property owned by a nonresident at death. Estates of people dying on or after January 1, 2023 owe nothing when the federal taxable estate is $2,000,000 or less, but the Department of Revenue applies the filing threshold to the whole worldwide estate plus adjusted taxable gifts.

How long does a Massachusetts ancillary matter take?

Plan on more than six months. A license to sell under M.G.L. c. 202, § 32 cannot issue until six months have passed since the death, and M.G.L. c. 190B, § 3-803(a) leaves a creditor one year from the date of death to sue the personal representative, which is why buyers and title examiners ask questions inside that first year.

Where This Fits in Your Plan

An ancillary matter is the Massachusetts chapter of an estate that lives somewhere else. Keep the two files talking: let the home state lawyer lead the main estate, add a Massachusetts attorney for the local filing, gather the estate tax clearance early because the license depends on it, and record the finished deed at the registry of deeds in the county where the land sits. Multi-state estates turn on facts unique to each family, so verify your plan with the Register of Probate or a licensed Massachusetts attorney before you file or sign anything.

This guide is general information about Massachusetts ancillary probate. It is not legal advice. Confirm your situation with the Register of Probate in the county where the property sits, or with a licensed Massachusetts attorney.

Sources:

• Title: M.G.L. c. 190B, § 4-101, Definitions. Publisher: Massachusetts General Court. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartII/TitleII/Chapter190B/Section4-101
• Title: M.G.L. c. 190B, § 4-201, Payment of debt and delivery of property to domiciliary foreign personal representative without local administration. Publisher: Massachusetts General Court. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartII/TitleII/Chapter190B/Section4-201
• Title: M.G.L. c. 190B, § 4-202, Payment or delivery discharges. Publisher: Massachusetts General Court. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartII/TitleII/Chapter190B/Section4-202
• Title: M.G.L. c. 190B, § 4-203, Resident creditor notice. Publisher: Massachusetts General Court. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartII/TitleII/Chapter190B/Section4-203
• Title: M.G.L. c. 190B, § 4-204, Proof of authority-bond. Publisher: Massachusetts General Court. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartII/TitleII/Chapter190B/Section4-204
• Title: M.G.L. c. 190B, § 4-205, Powers. Publisher: Massachusetts General Court. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartII/TitleII/Chapter190B/Section4-205
• Title: M.G.L. c. 190B, § 4-206, Power of representatives in transition. Publisher: Massachusetts General Court. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartII/TitleII/Chapter190B/Section4-206
• Title: M.G.L. c. 190B, § 4-207, Ancillary and other local administrations; provisions governing. Publisher: Massachusetts General Court. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartII/TitleII/Chapter190B/Section4-207
• Title: M.G.L. c. 190B, § 4-301, Jurisdiction by act of foreign personal representative. Publisher: Massachusetts General Court. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartII/TitleII/Chapter190B/Section4-301
• Title: M.G.L. c. 190B, § 4-303, Service on foreign personal representative. Publisher: Massachusetts General Court. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartII/TitleII/Chapter190B/Section4-303
• Title: M.G.L. c. 190B, § 3-101, Devolution of estate at death; restrictions. Publisher: Massachusetts General Court. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartII/TitleII/Chapter190B/Section3-101
• Title: M.G.L. c. 190B, § 3-108, Probate, testacy and appointment proceedings; ultimate time limit. Publisher: Massachusetts General Court. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartII/TitleII/Chapter190B/Section3-108
• Title: M.G.L. c. 190B, § 3-201, Venue for first and subsequent estate proceedings; location of property. Publisher: Massachusetts General Court. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartII/TitleII/Chapter190B/Section3-201
• Title: M.G.L. c. 190B, § 3-203, Priority among persons seeking appointment as personal representative. Publisher: Massachusetts General Court. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartII/TitleII/Chapter190B/Section3-203
• Title: M.G.L. c. 190B, § 3-306, Informal probate; notice requirements. Publisher: Massachusetts General Court. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartII/TitleII/Chapter190B/Section3-306
• Title: M.G.L. c. 190B, § 3-801, Reserved. Publisher: Massachusetts General Court. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartII/TitleII/Chapter190B/Section3-801
• Title: M.G.L. c. 190B, § 3-803, Limitations on presentation of claims. Publisher: Massachusetts General Court. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartII/TitleII/Chapter190B/Section3-803
• Title: M.G.L. c. 190B, § 3-1201, Collection of personal property by affidavit. Publisher: Massachusetts General Court. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartII/TitleII/Chapter190B/Section3-1201
• Title: M.G.L. c. 190B, § 6-301, Definitions. Publisher: Massachusetts General Court. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartII/TitleII/Chapter190B/Section6-301
• Title: M.G.L. c. 202, § 32, Foreign executor; license to sell realty. Publisher: Massachusetts General Court. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartII/TitleII/Chapter202/Section32
• Title: M.G.L. c. 202, § 35, Foreign fiduciary; proceedings; notice. Publisher: Massachusetts General Court. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartII/TitleII/Chapter202/Section35
• Title: M.G.L. c. 65C, § 2A, Transfer of estate and real property; tax. Publisher: Massachusetts General Court. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleIX/Chapter65C/Section2A
• Title: M.G.L. c. 65C, § 4, Nonresident decedents; tax on certain property located in commonwealth. Publisher: Massachusetts General Court. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleIX/Chapter65C/Section4
• Title: M.G.L. c. 65C, § 14, Lien for unpaid tax; liability for delinquent tax; release or discharge of lien. Publisher: Massachusetts General Court. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleIX/Chapter65C/Section14
• Title: Massachusetts Estate Tax Guide. Publisher: Massachusetts Department of Revenue. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://www.mass.gov/info-details/massachusetts-estate-tax-guide
• Title: Probate and Family Court filing fees. Publisher: Massachusetts Probate and Family Court. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://www.mass.gov/info-details/probate-and-family-court-filing-fees
• Title: Probate and Family Court locations. Publisher: Massachusetts Probate and Family Court. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://www.mass.gov/orgs/probate-and-family-court/locations

It is not legal advice.