Rearrange Pages In Legal Massachusetts Probate Forms For Free

The following assets are exempt from probate in Massachusetts: Property jointly owned with right of survivorship. Property held in tenancy by the entirety. Accounts with transfer-on-death (TOD) or payable-on-death (POD) designations. Small estates (under $20,000) Certain life insurance policies. Certain retirement accounts.

You can get done with informal probate in a few months, while formal probate can take up to a year or more. The informal probate process is also cheaper than formal probate because there is no need to hire an attorney to represent you.

A revocable living trust can be used to avoid probate. A trust holds legal title to property for the benefit of another person (?beneficiary?). The person who creates the trust (?the grantor?) chooses a manager (sometimes themselves), known as the trustee, to manage the assets in order to protect them.

In Massachusetts, if the total assets of the deceased are less than $25,000 and there is no real estate owned by the deceased, then a faster form of probate, called simplified probate, can be requested.

Typically, you have to probate the decedent's estate if you need to: Find out if the decedent's will is valid. Change the title (ownership) of real estate or personal property, such as bank accounts, stocks, or bonds, that is only in the decedent's name without any right of survivorship. Pay the decedent's creditors.

The decedent must have left an estate that consists entirely of personal property valued at $25,000 or less (excluding the value of a car). 30 days or more have passed since the decedent's death. The petitioner must be an interested person, but doesn't need to be a resident of Massachusetts.