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MASSACHUSETTS LEGAL INFORMATION
Last Will and Testament Statutes
Link to the Massachusetts Statutes online which contain the portion of the Probate Code dealing with last wills.
American Bar Association Guide to Wills and Estates
American Bar Association, Estate Planning
Selected Massachusetts Statutes
- Section 1. Persons making wills; capacity; execution. Every person eighteen years of age or older and of sound mind may by his last will in writing, signed by him or by a person in his presence and by his express direction, and attested and subscribed in his presence by two or more competent witnesses, dispose of his property, real and personal, except an estate tail, and except as is provided in this chapter and in chapters one hundred and eighty-eight and one hundred and eighty-nine and in section one of chapter two hundred and nine.
Massachusetts Code Chapter 191.
- Section 1A. Rules of construction. The following rules of construction shall apply to the provisions of a will:
1. The construction and legal effect of a disposition in a will shall be determined by the law of the commonwealth or by the local law of any foreign state or commonwealth selected by the testator in the will, unless the application of that law is contrary to the public policy of this commonwealth.
2. The intention of a testator as expressed in his will shall control the legal effect of his dispositions and the rules of construction expressed in the succeeding clauses three to five, inclusive, shall apply unless a contrary intention is indicated by the will.
3. In the case of bequeathed securities, the legatee shall be entitled only to (1) as much of the bequeathed securities as are a part of the estate at the time of the testator's death; (2) any additional or other securities of the same issuer owned by the testator or his estate by reason of action initiated by the issuer excluding any acquired by exercise of purchase options; and (3) securities of another issuer owned by the testator or his estate as a result of a merger, consolidation or reorganization or other similar action, received in exchange for the bequeathed securities.
4. No general residuary clause in a will and no will making general disposition of all of the testator's property shall exercise a power of appointment created by another instrument which does not specify a specific method of exercise unless reference is made to powers of appointment or there is some other indication of intention to exercise the power.
5. Where there is a residuary gift to two or more legatees or devisees and the share of one or more of them totally fails for any reason, such share or shares shall pass to the other residuary legatees or devisees proportionately.
6. A direction in a will or instrument of trust to pay taxes caused by, resulting from, or imposed by reason of the death of the testator or donor, as the case may be, out of the decedent's probate estate or trust estate or other property, shall not include, unless the will or instrument of trust or a provision of such tax laws specifically provides otherwise, taxes levied or assessed under the tax laws of the United States or of the commonwealth or of any foreign state or commonwealth (i) on generation-skipping transfers or (ii) on any qualified terminable interest property in which the decedent had a qualifying income interest for life.
Massachusetts Code Chapter 191.
- Section 2. Competency of witnesses; interest of witness. Any person of sufficient understanding shall be deemed to be a competent witness to a will, notwithstanding any common law disqualification for interest or otherwise; but a beneficial devise or legacy to a subscribing witness or to the husband or wife of such witness shall be void unless there are two other subscribing witnesses to the will who are not similarly benefited thereunder.
Massachusetts Code Chapter 191.
- Section 3. Subsequent incompetency of witnesses. Section 3. If a witness to a will is competent at the time of his attestation, his subsequent incompetency shall not prevent the probate and allowance of such will.
Massachusetts Code Chapter 191.
- Section 5. Foreign wills. A last will and testament executed in the mode prescribed by the law, either of the place where the will is executed or of the testator's domicile, shall be deemed to be legally executed, and shall be of the same force and effect as if executed in the mode prescribed by the laws of this commonwealth; provided, that such last will and testament is in writing and subscribed by the testator.
Massachusetts Code Chapter 191.
- Section 8. Means of revocation. No will shall be revoked except by burning, tearing, cancelling or obliterating it with the intention of revoking it, by the testator himself or by a person in his presence and by his direction; or by some other writing signed, attested and subscribed in the same manner as a will; or by subsequent changes in the condition or circumstances of the testator from which a revocation is implied by law.
Massachusetts Code Chapter 191.
- Section 9. Effect of marriage, divorce or annulment. The marriage of a person shall act as a revocation of a will made by him previous to such marriage, unless it appears from the will that it was made in contemplation thereof. If the will is made in the exercise of a power of appointment and the real and personal property subject to the appointment would not, without the appointment, pass to the persons who would have been entitled to it if it had been the estate and property of the testator making the appointment and he had died intestate, so much of the will as makes the appointment shall not be revoked by the marriage. If, after executing a will, the testator shall be divorced or his marriage shall be annulled, the divorce or annulment shall revoke any disposition or appointment of property made by the will to the former spouse, any provision conferring a general or special power of appointment on the former spouse, and any nomination of the former spouse, as executor, trustee, conservator or guardian, unless the will shall expressly provide otherwise. Property prevented from passing to a former spouse because of revocation by divorce shall pass as if a former spouse had failed to survive the decedent, and other provisions conferring a power or office on the former spouse shall be interpreted as if the spouse had failed to survive the decedent. If provisions shall be revoked solely by this section, they shall be revived by the testator's remarriage to the former spouse. A decree of separation which does not terminate the status of husband and wife is not a divorce for the purpose of this section. This section shall not apply to a will made under the provisions of chapter one hundred and ninety-one B unless the will otherwise provides.
Massachusetts Code Chapter 191.
Library of Informational Legal Articles
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