How to Avoid Probate in Massachusetts

In Massachusetts, an asset skips probate when title or a beneficiary form decides who receives it. That covers property held jointly with a right of survivorship, a married couple's home held as tenants by the entirety, payable-on-death bank accounts, transfer-on-death registration on securities, beneficiary forms on retirement plans and life insurance, and property retitled into a funded revocable trust. One tool other states advertise does not exist here.

Massachusetts has no transfer-on-death deed for real estate. Any page, form site, or product that offers you one is describing a different state's law. Read the rest of this guide as a planning map, not as legal advice, and check anything that touches your own house or your own family with a licensed Massachusetts attorney.

This guide pairs with the Massachusetts probate guide for what the court process looks like when an asset does have to go through it, and with Massachusetts intestate succession for who inherits when no plan is in place.

Massachusetts Has No Transfer-On-Death Deed

Start here, because getting it wrong costs a family a filing.

Article 6 of the Massachusetts Uniform Probate Code, M.G.L. c. 190B, is short. It holds section 6-101 and then sections 6-301 through 6-311. Everything in between, sections 6-201 to 6-206, 6-211 to 6-216, and 6-221 to 6-227, prints one word on the legislature's own site: Reserved. No section of that article creates a deed that passes real estate at death.

What Article 6 does contain is a securities rule. Section 6-301 defines a security by reference to the state securities act and folds in a security account, meaning a broker's account, cash balances in it, and the earnings on the holdings. Land is nowhere in that definition. So the transfer-on-death machinery in Massachusetts moves stocks, bonds, and brokerage accounts, and it stops there.

Some competitor pages also advertise a Massachusetts enhanced life estate deed, sometimes called a Lady Bird deed, which is a Florida and Michigan device. No Massachusetts statute creates one under that name. Treat the claim as unproven and ask a Massachusetts real estate attorney before you record anything based on it.

Joint Ownership And Tenancy By The Entirety

Survivorship is the oldest way to keep a Massachusetts house out of court, and it is not automatic. M.G.L. c. 184 § 7 says a conveyance or devise of land to two or more people creates an estate in common and not in joint tenancy, unless the instrument says the grantees take jointly, as joint tenants, in joint tenancy, or to them and the survivor of them, or unless a joint tenancy manifestly appears from the tenor of the instrument. A devise to a person and that person's spouse vests a tenancy by the entirety only if the instrument expressly says so. The section opens with its own carve-out for a mortgage, or a devise or conveyance in trust.

Read that as a homework assignment. Pull the recorded deed and read the words on it. A tenancy in common share carries no survivorship, and that share goes through the estate no matter what anyone assumed.

Married couples get an extra layer. M.G.L. c. 209 § 1 gives both spouses equal rights to the rents, income, control, management, and possession of property held as tenants by the entirety, and it shields the debtor spouse's interest from seizure by that spouse's creditor for as long as the property is the non-debtor spouse's principal residence. Debts for necessaries furnished to either spouse or to a family member sit outside that shield.

Survivorship is cheap, and it has a real cost. Adding a co-owner during your life hands that person present rights in the property and exposes it to their creditors and their divorce. Use it deliberately, not as a blanket fix.

Payable-On-Death Accounts And Beneficiary Forms

Section 6-101 is the workhorse of Massachusetts probate avoidance, and almost nobody quotes it. It says a provision for a nonprobate transfer on death in an insurance policy, contract of employment, bond, certificated or uncertificated security, account, agreement, custodial agreement, deposit agreement, compensation plan, pension plan, individual retirement plan, employee benefit plan, trust, conveyance, deed of gift, or any other written instrument effective as a contract, gift, conveyance, or trust is nontestamentary. The statutory list is longer than the examples quoted here, taking in a mortgage promissory note and a marital property agreement among the written instruments it reaches.

Translated: a payable-on-death line on a deposit agreement, a beneficiary form on an IRA or a 401(k), and a named beneficiary on a life insurance policy all move money by contract. They land outside the will, and the will does not override them.

One Massachusetts wrinkle deserves attention. Because sections 6-201 to 6-227 are reserved, this state never enacted the uniform act's multiple-person account rules that other states use to sort out joint and payable-on-death bank accounts. The bank's signature card and deposit agreement carry the weight here. Ask your bank to show you the beneficiary designation in writing, keep a copy, and review every form after a marriage, a divorce, a birth, or a death. Name a backup beneficiary wherever the form allows one, because an account whose only named beneficiary died first can fall back into the estate.

Section 6-101 closes with a limit worth remembering: it does not cut off the rights of creditors under other laws of the commonwealth.

Transfer-On-Death Registration For Securities

Brokerage and investment holdings get their own set of rules at sections 6-301 to 6-311, and they are more precise than most summaries admit.

• Who may use it. Section 6-302 allows beneficiary-form registration only where the registration shows sole ownership by one individual, or multiple ownership by two or more with rights of survivorship rather than as tenants in common. Multiple owners hold as joint tenants with survivorship or as tenants by the entireties.
• It changes nothing while you live. Section 6-306 says the designation has no effect on ownership until the owner's death, and the sole owner or all surviving owners may cancel or change it at any time without the beneficiary's consent.
• What happens at death. Section 6-307 passes ownership to the beneficiaries who survive all owners. If no beneficiary survives and no anti-lapse statute applies, the security belongs to the estate. That is the argument for naming a contingent beneficiary today.
• It is a contract, not a will. Section 6-309 makes the transfer effective by reason of the registration contract and not testamentary.
• Creditors can still reach it. Section 6-311 provides that where other estate assets fall short, the transfer is not effective against the estate to the extent needed to pay claims and the statutory allowances owed to a surviving spouse and children. The person who took the account must then account to the personal representative, and that proceeding has to start within one year after the death. Section 6-311(b) gates that proceeding: it may not be commenced unless a claim has been presented under § 3-804, or the personal representative has received a written demand for a statutory allowance.

Ask your brokerage for its transfer-on-death or beneficiary registration form, and confirm in writing that the registration went through.

Revocable Living Trusts

With no transfer-on-death deed available, the revocable trust is the Massachusetts answer for a house that should pass without a court file. The Massachusetts Uniform Trust Code sits at chapter 203E, and section 602(a) says that unless the terms of a trust expressly provide that it is irrevocable, the settlor may revoke or amend it. You stay in control, and a successor trustee steps in when you die or lose capacity.

Funding is where these plans fail. A trust keeps out of probate only the property you actually retitle into it. The deed to the house has to be signed and recorded, and the accounts have to be moved. An unfunded trust is an expensive folder. Work through the Massachusetts revocable living trust guide to see how a house gets deeded in and what a successor trustee inherits.

Be clear-eyed about what a trust does not do. Section 505 says that during the settlor's lifetime the property of a revocable trust is subject to claims of the settlor's creditors, and that after the settlor's death that property answers for the settlor's creditors, funeral and disposal expenses, and statutory allowances to a surviving spouse and children to the extent the probate estate cannot cover them. A trust changes where property is administered. It does not erase debts.

Massachusetts practitioners also use two other real-property arrangements: the nominee trust, a local drafting convention where a trustee holds record title while the beneficiaries sit on a schedule that never gets recorded, and the life estate deed, where the owner keeps a life interest and a named remainder holder takes at death. Both shift control of the property, both carry consequences for later sales and for MassHealth planning, and neither is a fill-in-the-blank form. Have a Massachusetts attorney draft either one.

Voluntary Administration For The Smallest Estates

Massachusetts still keeps a court-lite path for a modest estate. M.G.L. c. 190B § 3-1201, titled "Collection of personal property by affidavit," lets an interested person file a sworn statement and act as a voluntary personal representative when four things are true:

1. The decedent was domiciled in the commonwealth.
2. The estate consists entirely of personal property, and the total may include a motor vehicle the decedent owned plus other personal property not exceeding $25,000 in value.
3. At least 30 days have passed since the death.
4. No petition for appointment of a personal representative has been filed with the court in the county where the decedent lived.

The statement goes in on the court's form with the original will if there is one, a death certificate, and the fee set under chapter 262. The Probate and Family Court fee schedule puts a Voluntary Administration Statement at $100 plus a $15 surcharge, so $115 statewide. Section 3-1201 also requires the voluntary personal representative to certify on the statement that copies of the statement and the death certificate went to the division of medical assistance by certified mail. Skip that certification and the filing gets rejected.

Two limits matter. This path reaches no real estate at all, so a house in the estate takes it off the table. And the $25,000 figure is written into the statute with no annual adjustment attached, which is the opposite of the year-of-death banding states like Maine use. The Massachusetts small estate affidavit page covers the form, the MassHealth certification, and what a bank will accept.

Avoiding Probate Does Not Avoid The Massachusetts Estate Tax

Massachusetts is one of the minority of states with its own estate tax, and non-probate property still counts.

M.G.L. c. 65C § 2A(g) says estates of people dying on or after January 1, 2023 owe no tax under subsections (a) and (b) if the value of the federal taxable estate is not more than $2,000,000. Above that line the tax is computed on the whole Massachusetts taxable estate under subsection (a), using the federal state-death-tax credit table as it stood on December 31, 2000, and then subsection (f) allows a credit against that tax capped at $99,600. So this is not a clean exemption that taxes only the excess, which is the single most common error on competitor pages. Subsections (a) and (b) were also amended effective August 1, 2025, so a death after that date follows the newer text.

The measure is the federal estate figure, and it sweeps in the survivorship house, the payable-on-death account, the transfer-on-death brokerage account, and the funded revocable trust. Probate avoidance and estate-tax planning are separate projects. Run the numbers in the Massachusetts estate tax guide before you assume a plan that skips court also skips the tax.

There is a second trap for anyone selling an inherited house. M.G.L. c. 65C § 14 makes the tax a lien for ten years from the date of death on the Massachusetts gross estate unless it is paid in full sooner. For deaths on or after January 1, 1997, an executor's affidavit signed under the pains and penalties of perjury and recorded in the right registry of deeds, stating that the gross estate does not require a federal estate tax filing, releases the gross estate from that lien. The commissioner can also issue a release or partial discharge. A buyer's attorney will look for one of those at closing even when no tax is owed, so gather the paperwork before you list. The lien does not cover everything: the part of the gross estate used to pay charges against the estate and expenses of administration, as allowed by the probate court, is divested of it.

MassHealth Recovery Reaches The Probate Estate

Massachusetts defines the target of estate recovery narrowly. Under M.G.L. c. 118E § 31, "estate" means all real and personal property and other assets includable in the decedent's probate estate under the General Laws, and section 31 sets the age and care conditions plus the protections for a surviving spouse and certain children.

Section 31 also authorizes recovery during a member's lifetime when property carrying a MassHealth lien or encumbrance under section 34 is sold, bounded to assistance correctly provided on or after April 1, 1995 but not after July 31, 2024, and it says that lien is not valid against a good-faith purchaser until it is recorded in the registry of deeds where the property lies. So the picture is more layered than "put the house in a trust and it disappears." Massachusetts transfer rules, lookback periods, and lien practice sit outside this page. Ask a Massachusetts elder law attorney before you move a home for this reason.

Documents That Protect You While You Are Alive

Keeping assets out of probate settles what happens after a death. Two documents cover the years before it. A durable Massachusetts power of attorney lets an agent handle your money and property if you cannot, which heads off a court-appointed conservatorship. A Massachusetts health care proxy names the person who makes medical decisions once a doctor finds you lack capacity. Neither one avoids probate, and both keep a court out of your lifetime affairs.

Putting It Together

A workable Massachusetts checklist is short and mostly free:

1. Pull the recorded deed and read the survivorship wording against chapter 184 section 7.
2. Confirm or add payable-on-death beneficiaries at the bank, and get the designation in writing.
3. Register brokerage accounts in beneficiary form, and name a contingent beneficiary.
4. Review the beneficiary form on every retirement account and insurance policy after any family change.
5. Ask whether the house belongs in a funded revocable trust, since this state offers no transfer-on-death deed.
6. Keep the $25,000 voluntary administration path in mind for whatever personal property is left over.
7. Run the Massachusetts estate tax question on its own, using the federal taxable estate figure.

No arrangement removes every court step for every family, and none of this replaces advice about your own facts. Where a house, a blended family, a larger estate, MassHealth, or a likely dispute is in the picture, sit down with a licensed Massachusetts attorney before you sign or record anything. The Massachusetts will requirements guide covers the document that still directs whatever no beneficiary form reaches, and the Massachusetts executor duties guide covers the job waiting for whoever handles the rest.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Massachusetts have a transfer on death deed?

No. Article 6 of chapter 190B contains section 6-101 and sections 6-301 to 6-311, and the sections in between are marked Reserved. The transfer-on-death registration rules reach securities and security accounts, not land. A Massachusetts owner keeps a house out of probate through survivorship title or a funded revocable trust instead.

What is the fastest way to avoid probate in Massachusetts?

Beneficiary forms. A payable-on-death line on a bank account, a transfer-on-death registration at a brokerage, and named beneficiaries on retirement plans and life insurance each move the asset by contract under M.G.L. c. 190B § 6-101. They cost nothing and take one visit or one online form.

Does avoiding probate also avoid the Massachusetts estate tax?

No. Under M.G.L. c. 65C § 2A(g), an estate of someone dying on or after January 1, 2023 owes no Massachusetts estate tax only if the federal taxable estate is not more than $2,000,000. That measure counts the survivorship house, the payable-on-death account, and the funded revocable trust.

Can a small Massachusetts estate skip probate on its own?

Yes, within tight limits. Voluntary administration under M.G.L. c. 190B § 3-1201 works when the estate is entirely personal property, the total may include one motor vehicle the decedent owned plus other personal property of no more than $25,000, and 30 days have passed since the death. It reaches no real estate.

Does a revocable living trust protect the house from creditors?

No. Under M.G.L. c. 203E § 505, a revocable trust's property is subject to the settlor's creditors during life, and after death it answers for the settlor's debts, funeral expenses, and statutory allowances when the probate estate falls short. A trust changes where the property is administered, not whether debts get paid.

This page is general information about Massachusetts estates. Verify anything that affects your own situation with the Register of Probate for your county, the Probate and Family Court, or a licensed Massachusetts attorney.

Sources:

• Title: M.G.L. c. 190B § 6-101, Nonprobate transfers on death. Publisher: Massachusetts General Court. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartII/TitleII/Chapter190B/Section6-101
• 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. 190B § 6-302, Registration in beneficiary form; sole or joint tenancy ownership. Publisher: Massachusetts General Court. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartII/TitleII/Chapter190B/Section6-302
• Title: M.G.L. c. 190B § 6-306, Effect of registration in beneficiary form. Publisher: Massachusetts General Court. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartII/TitleII/Chapter190B/Section6-306
• Title: M.G.L. c. 190B § 6-307, Ownership on death of owner. Publisher: Massachusetts General Court. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartII/TitleII/Chapter190B/Section6-307
• Title: M.G.L. c. 190B § 6-309, Nontestamentary transfer on death. Publisher: Massachusetts General Court. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartII/TitleII/Chapter190B/Section6-309
• Title: M.G.L. c. 190B § 6-311, Rights of creditors and others. Publisher: Massachusetts General Court. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartII/TitleII/Chapter190B/Section6-311
• 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. 184 § 7, Creation of estate in common, joint tenancy or tenancy by the entirety. Publisher: Massachusetts General Court. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartII/TitleI/Chapter184/Section7
• Title: M.G.L. c. 209 § 1, Married persons; separate property and property held as tenants by entirety; liability for debts. Publisher: Massachusetts General Court. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartII/TitleIII/Chapter209/Section1
• Title: M.G.L. c. 203E § 602, Revocation or amendment of revocable trust. Publisher: Massachusetts General Court. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartII/TitleII/Chapter203E/Section602
• Title: M.G.L. c. 203E § 505, Creditor's claim against settlor. Publisher: Massachusetts General Court. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartII/TitleII/Chapter203E/Section505
• 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 § 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: M.G.L. c. 118E § 31, Adjustment or recovery of payments. Publisher: Massachusetts General Court. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleXVII/Chapter118E/Section31
• Title: Probate and Family Court filing fees. Publisher: Massachusetts Trial Court. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://www.mass.gov/info-details/probate-and-family-court-filing-fees

It is not legal advice.