Massachusetts Probate Timeline

Most Massachusetts estates take 8 to 14 months to settle. The floor is statutory: a personal representative cannot file a closing statement until 6 months after appointment, and creditors keep the right to sue for 1 year after the date of death. Massachusetts runs no published creditor claim window at all.

This guide maps the Massachusetts probate timeline phase by phase, gives each deadline with its section number, and shows what pushes an estate past a year. Massachusetts estates run under the Massachusetts Uniform Probate Code, M.G.L. c. 190B, in force since March 31, 2012, which replaced executor and administrator with personal representative. For the whole process from first filing to final receipt, start with the Massachusetts probate guide.

How Long Massachusetts Probate Takes: 9 to 14 Months

A straightforward informal estate closes 8 to 14 months after the death. Three numbers explain the range:

• About 8 months is the hard floor. Under M.G.L. c. 190B, § 3-1003(a), a verified closing statement cannot be filed earlier than 6 months after the date of original appointment of a general personal representative. Appointment normally lands 3 to 8 weeks after death, so month eight is the earliest realistic close.
• 8 to 14 months covers the ordinary case with a valid will, cooperative heirs, no estate tax return, and no real estate sale. Many personal representatives hold the estate open past month twelve on purpose so the 1-year creditor bar in § 3-803 has run before they distribute.
• 12 to 24 months fits formal or supervised administration, a will contest, a Massachusetts estate tax filing, MassHealth estate recovery, or a house that has to sell.

Massachusetts probate is heard by the Probate and Family Court Department of the Trial Court, one division per county, with 14 counties served by 19 courthouses. An elected Register of Probate runs the filing office, and the court or a magistrate issues informal probate. Find your division and its address on the Massachusetts probate courts page. Massachusetts never uses the terms Surrogate's Court, Register of Wills, Orphans' Court, or Chancery Court.

Massachusetts Probate Deadlines at a Glance

These clocks start on different dates. Will delivery, the creditor bar, the estate tax returns, and the 3-year outer limit run from the date of death. The inventory, the publication, and the closing statement run from appointment. The spousal waiver runs from the allowance of the will. Track each start date on its own line.

Massachusetts Has No Creditor Notice Period

This is the single most misreported fact about Massachusetts probate. Firm pages routinely borrow a "four-month claim window" or a "one year from first publication" rule from another state. Neither exists here.

M.G.L. c. 190B, § 3-801, the uniform act's notice-to-creditors section, carries no Massachusetts text. The page reads "Reserved." What governs instead is § 3-803(a): a personal representative cannot be held to answer to a creditor's action unless that action is commenced within 1 year after the date of death and, before the year expires, the process is served in hand on the personal representative, service is accepted, or a notice naming the estate, the creditor, the amount, and the court is filed with the register.

Two practical points follow. A creditor who sues on day 360 but never serves the personal representative or files the register notice inside the year is out. And a personal representative cannot buy an early distribution date by publishing something. The publication required by § 3-306(b) is notice of the informal proceeding, not notice to creditors, and it starts no clock.

Section 3-803 keeps a short list of carve-outs: enforcing a mortgage, pledge, or other lien on estate property; a personal injury or wrongful death action brought within 3 years of accrual and payable only out of liability insurance or a bond; and collection of compensation by the personal representative or the estate's attorney or accountant. A creditor who missed the year without culpable neglect can ask the Supreme Judicial Court for relief by complaint in equity under § 3-803(e). MassHealth claims run on their own track under c. 118E, §§ 31 and 32. The Massachusetts creditor claims guide works through each of these.

Phase 1: Opening the Estate (Weeks 1 to 5)

Week 1: Gather the Documents

• Order certified death certificates from the city or town clerk where the death occurred or where the decedent lived. Ask for 10 or more, since every bank, insurer, and registry wants an original.
• Find the original will. A person holding the will must deliver it within 30 days after notice of the death to someone able to secure its probate, and if no such person is known, to an appropriate court (c. 190B, § 2-516). Willful failure exposes that person to damages, and willful refusal after a court order compelling delivery is punishable as contempt.
• Work through the first steps after a death in Massachusetts while the paperwork arrives.

Week 2: The Two Seven-Day Notices

Massachusetts front-loads notice, and both notices have to go out before the petition, not with it.

• Heirs and devisees. Give written notice 7 days before petitioning for informal probate or appointment, by delivery or ordinary 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 terminated (§ 3-306(a)). File a certificate listing names and addresses.
• MassHealth. Send a copy of the petition and the death certificate by certified mail to the division of medical assistance, also 7 days before petitioning (§ 3-306(g)). Skipping this mailing is a common reason a Massachusetts filing comes back.

Weeks 2 to 5: Filing, Appointment, and Publication

• A magistrate can issue informal probate or appoint a personal representative once at least 7 days have elapsed since the death (§§ 3-302 and 3-307(a)). If the decedent lived outside Massachusetts, the appointment order waits until 30 days have passed, unless the petitioner is the personal representative appointed at the decedent's domicile or the will directs Massachusetts law.
• Filing fees are set statewide, not per county. Informal or formal probate of a will and appointment of a personal representative each cost $375 plus a $15 surcharge, so $390 either way. Because the two paths cost the same, the choice between them is procedural rather than a saving.
• Sureties are required on the bond unless the will waives them, all heirs or devisees file a written waiver, the personal representative is a qualified bank or trust company, or the court finds sureties are not in the estate's best interest (§ 3-603(a)). That is the reverse of the "no bond unless someone demands one" framing you will read on out-of-state pages.
• Publish notice once in a newspaper designated by the register, no more than 30 days after the informal probate or appointment (§ 3-306(b)). Again, this tells interested parties the estate is being administered without court supervision. It is not a creditor notice.

Phase 2: The Three-Month Inventory (Months 1 to 3)

Within 3 months after appointment, the personal representative prepares an inventory of the property the decedent owned at death, in reasonable detail, showing each item's fair market value as of the date of death and the type and amount of any encumbrance (§ 3-706(a)). A successor personal representative values the property as of the successor's own appointment date instead. The inventory is then filed with the court or mailed to all interested persons whose addresses are reasonably available (§ 3-706(c)).

Keep the 3 months on schedule with a short routine:

• Ask every bank, brokerage, and insurer for date-of-death balances in writing.
• Order appraisals early for real estate, closely held business interests, and collectibles.
• Separate probate property from property that passes outside probate, such as survivorship accounts, tenancy by the entirety real estate, and beneficiary designations.
• Save the backup. The same values feed the estate tax return and the final account. The Massachusetts executor duties guide covers the recordkeeping the job needs.

Phase 3: Taxes and the Nine-Month Marks (Months 3 to 9)

The Massachusetts Estate Tax

Massachusetts is one of the few states with its own estate tax, and it is easy to get wrong. Form M-706 is due within 9 months after the date of death when the estate owes any tax under c. 65C (c. 62C, § 17(a)). For a death on or after January 1, 2023, no tax is due if the value of the federal taxable estate is not more than $2,000,000 (c. 65C, § 2A(g)).

Read that threshold carefully. It is not an exemption that shelters the first $2,000,000 of a larger estate. The tax is computed on the whole Massachusetts taxable estate using the federal state-death-tax credit table as it stood on December 31, 2000, and then reduced by a credit capped at $99,600 under § 2A(f). An estate a little above the line owes more than the "only the excess is taxed" version you will find on competitor pages. Massachusetts charges no inheritance tax.

Selling estate real estate raises a second tax question. Under c. 65C, § 14, the Massachusetts estate tax is a lien on the Massachusetts gross estate for 10 years from the date of death unless the tax is paid sooner, whether or not any tax turns out to be owed. For deaths on or after January 1, 1997, a recorded executor's affidavit stating that the gross estate does not require a federal estate tax filing releases that lien, and closing attorneys ask for it by name.

The Federal Return and the Final Income Tax Returns

• Federal Form 706 is due 9 months after death, and only when the gross estate exceeds the federal exemption ($15,000,000 for 2026 deaths) or the estate elects portability for a surviving spouse. Form 4768 buys a 6-month extension.
• The decedent's final Form 1040 and Massachusetts Form 1 are due April 15 of the year after death, with the usual automatic extension. Income the estate earns during administration goes on federal Form 1041 and Massachusetts Form 2.

The Surviving Spouse Deadline

Massachusetts did not adopt the uniform elective share. A surviving spouse who wants the statutory share files a signed writing in the registry of probate within 6 months after the probate of the will (c. 191, § 15). If proceedings questioning the will's validity or effect are pending, the court can extend the deadline to 6 months after those proceedings end. The share itself is one third of the personal and one third of the real property when the decedent left issue. Anything above $25,000 comes as a life interest rather than outright. The Massachusetts surviving spouse rights guide walks through the waiver, exempt property, and the family allowance.

Phase 4: Closing the Estate (Month 6 at the Earliest)

An informally administered estate closes by verified statement, and § 3-1003(a) sets the earliest filing date at 6 months after the original appointment of a general personal representative. The statement swears to three things: that the time limited for presentation of creditors' claims has expired, that the estate is fully administered with claims, administration expenses, and death taxes paid or otherwise disposed of, and that a copy went to every distributee and to every known creditor whose claim is neither paid nor barred, together with a full written account of the administration.

One year after that statement is filed, if no proceedings involving the personal representative are pending, the closing statement can no longer be challenged except for fraud or manifest error (§ 3-1003(b)). Many families treat that date as the true end of the estate.

A Massachusetts personal representative is entitled to reasonable compensation for services, and § 3-719 sets no percentage schedule, so the fee tracks the work the estate actually required. The Massachusetts probate accounting guide covers the final account and the closing statement line by line.

Voluntary Administration: The Short Path

Not every Massachusetts estate needs a personal representative. When the estate consists entirely of personal property, and that property is one motor vehicle the decedent owned plus other personal property not exceeding $25,000, an interested person can file a voluntary administration statement 30 days after the death, so long as no petition for appointment has been filed in the decedent's county (§ 3-1201). The original will is filed with the statement, and the voluntary personal representative must certify that copies of the statement and death certificate went to the division of medical assistance by certified mail.

Three things to check before you count on this path. The $25,000 ceiling is fixed and never indexes for inflation, unlike the year-of-death bands other states use. The filing costs $100 plus the $15 surcharge, so $115. And it moves personal property only, so a house or a deeded interest in land still needs full probate. A voluntary administration usually finishes 1 to 2 months after the 30-day wait, and it also covers debts in the § 3-805 priority order before anything reaches the heirs.

What Stretches a Massachusetts Estate Past a Year

• Real estate. Listing, marketing, and closing a sale takes months, and the buyer's attorney will want the c. 65C, § 14 lien released before funding.
• A Massachusetts estate tax return. M-706 keeps the estate open until the Department of Revenue processes the return and issues a release.
• A will contest. A challenge to an informally probated will can be commenced within the later of 12 months from the informal probate or 3 years from the death (§ 3-108(3)), which alone can hold an estate open past year one.
• MassHealth estate recovery. A recovery claim under c. 118E, § 31 sits sixth in the § 3-805 payment order and has to be resolved before distribution.
• Missing or uncooperative heirs. Every unlocated devisee adds a notice cycle, and sometimes a formal proceeding.
• Out-of-state property. Land in another state needs ancillary probate there, on that state's schedule.
• An insolvent estate. When debts outrun assets, the personal representative has to work the statutory priority order and is safer doing it under court supervision.

How to Keep a Massachusetts Estate on Schedule

You cannot shorten the 6-month closing floor or the 1-year creditor bar. You can avoid the delays inside your control:

1. Send both 7-day notices the same week. The heirs-and-devisees notice and the MassHealth certified mailing gate the petition, and neither takes long once you have the addresses.
2. File early. The 3-year outer limit in § 3-108 is generous, but the closing clock does not start until appointment, so every idle month is added to the end.
3. Calendar the publication. The § 3-306(b) notice is due within 30 days after appointment, and missing it invites a formal proceeding you did not want.
4. Build the inventory while you wait. Nothing stops you from gathering statements and appraisals during the appointment weeks, and the 3-month clock is tighter than it sounds.
5. Decide about the estate tax by month four. If the federal taxable estate is anywhere near $2,000,000, get a valuation opinion early rather than at month eight.
6. Keep distributees informed in writing. Regular updates cut down on the objections that turn an informal estate into a supervised one.
7. Bring in a licensed Massachusetts attorney for the hard parts. A contest, an insolvent estate, a MassHealth claim, or a taxable estate is worth professional help.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long does probate take in Massachusetts?

Most Massachusetts estates settle in 8 to 14 months through informal probate. The statutory floor is about 8 months, because a personal representative cannot file a closing statement until 6 months after the original appointment (M.G.L. c. 190B, § 3-1003). Contested and taxable estates often run 12 to 24 months.

Does Massachusetts have a creditor claim period?

No. Massachusetts left the uniform notice-to-creditors section, M.G.L. c. 190B, § 3-801, Reserved. The only bar is § 3-803(a): a creditor must sue within 1 year after the date of death and, before that year runs out, serve process in hand on the personal representative or file a notice of the action with the register. Publishing a notice does not shorten it.

What is the earliest a Massachusetts estate can close?

Six months after the date of original appointment of a general personal representative. M.G.L. c. 190B, § 3-1003(a) bars a verified closing statement before that date. Because appointment usually lands 3 to 8 weeks after death, the practical floor is roughly 8 months from the date of death.

When is the inventory due in a Massachusetts estate?

Within 3 months after appointment. The personal representative lists the decedent's property in reasonable detail with date-of-death fair market values and any encumbrances, then files it with the court or mails a copy to interested persons whose addresses are reasonably available (M.G.L. c. 190B, § 3-706).

Is there a deadline to start probate in Massachusetts?

Yes. Informal probate or appointment and formal testacy or appointment proceedings generally cannot begin more than 3 years after the death (M.G.L. c. 190B, § 3-108). After 3 years only a late and limited appointment is available, and that personal representative cannot possess estate assets beyond what confirming title requires.

How fast is Massachusetts voluntary administration?

A voluntary administration statement can be filed 30 days after death when the estate is entirely personal property worth $25,000 or less plus one motor vehicle (M.G.L. c. 190B, § 3-1201). Collection usually wraps up in 1 to 2 months. It costs $115 and it cannot transfer real estate.

Related Guides

• Massachusetts Probate Guide: the whole process, informal through supervised.
• Massachusetts Creditor Claims: the one-year bar and how long creditors have in Massachusetts.
• Massachusetts Executor Duties: the personal representative's job from appointment to receipt.
• Massachusetts Probate Accounting: the final account and the closing statement.
• Massachusetts Surviving Spouse Rights: the c. 191 § 15 waiver, exempt property, and the family allowance.
• Massachusetts Probate Courts: all 14 counties and 19 courthouses, with addresses and phone numbers.

Every estate carries its own facts, and each Probate and Family Court division has its own scheduling rhythm. Confirm the dates that matter to your family with your Register of Probate or a licensed Massachusetts attorney, and return to the Massachusetts probate hub for the rest of the series.

Sources:

• Title: M.G.L. c. 190B, § 3-803 (Limitations on presentation of claims). Publisher: Massachusetts General Court. Publication Date: Current statute, accessed 2026-07-29. URL: https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartII/TitleII/Chapter190B/Section3-803
• Title: M.G.L. c. 190B, § 3-801 (Reserved). Publisher: Massachusetts General Court. Publication Date: Current statute, accessed 2026-07-29. URL: https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartII/TitleII/Chapter190B/Section3-801
• Title: M.G.L. c. 190B, § 3-1003 (Closing estates; by sworn statement of personal representative). Publisher: Massachusetts General Court. Publication Date: Current statute, accessed 2026-07-29. URL: https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartII/TitleII/Chapter190B/Section3-1003
• Title: M.G.L. c. 190B, § 3-706 (Duty of personal representative; inventory and appraisement). Publisher: Massachusetts General Court. Publication Date: Current statute, accessed 2026-07-29. URL: https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartII/TitleII/Chapter190B/Section3-706
• Title: M.G.L. c. 190B, § 3-306 (Informal probate; notice requirements). Publisher: Massachusetts General Court. Publication Date: Current statute, accessed 2026-07-29. URL: https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartII/TitleII/Chapter190B/Section3-306
• Title: M.G.L. c. 190B, § 3-108 (Probate, testacy and appointment proceedings; ultimate time limit). Publisher: Massachusetts General Court. Publication Date: Current statute, accessed 2026-07-29. URL: https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartII/TitleII/Chapter190B/Section3-108
• Title: M.G.L. c. 190B, § 3-1201 (Collection of personal property by affidavit). Publisher: Massachusetts General Court. Publication Date: Current statute, accessed 2026-07-29. URL: https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartII/TitleII/Chapter190B/Section3-1201
• Title: M.G.L. c. 190B, § 2-516 (Duty of custodian of will; liability). Publisher: Massachusetts General Court. Publication Date: Current statute, accessed 2026-07-29. URL: https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartII/TitleII/Chapter190B/Section2-516
• Title: M.G.L. c. 190B, § 3-603 (Bond without sureties). Publisher: Massachusetts General Court. Publication Date: Current statute, accessed 2026-07-29. URL: https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartII/TitleII/Chapter190B/Section3-603
• Title: M.G.L. c. 191, § 15 (Filing of waiver; rights upon waiver). Publisher: Massachusetts General Court. Publication Date: Current statute, accessed 2026-07-29. URL: https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartII/TitleII/Chapter191/Section15
• Title: M.G.L. c. 65C, § 2A (Transfer of estate and real property; tax). Publisher: Massachusetts General Court. Publication Date: Current statute, accessed 2026-07-29. 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: Current statute, accessed 2026-07-29. URL: https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleIX/Chapter65C/Section14
• Title: M.G.L. c. 62C, § 17 (Return by executor). Publisher: Massachusetts General Court. Publication Date: Current statute, accessed 2026-07-29. URL: https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleIX/Chapter62C/Section17
• Title: Probate and Family Court Filing Fees. Publisher: Massachusetts Trial Court. Publication Date: Accessed 2026-07-28. URL: https://www.mass.gov/info-details/probate-and-family-court-filing-fees

It is not legal advice.