Massachusetts General Laws ch. 190B sec. 2-109 – Advancements
Section 2–109. [Advancements.]
Terms Used In Massachusetts General Laws ch. 190B sec. 2-109
- Decedent: A deceased person.
- Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
- Intestate: Dying without leaving a will.
- Lineal descendant: Direct descendant of the same ancestors.
- Probate: Proving a will
(a) If an individual dies intestate as to all or a portion of the estate, property the decedent gave during the decedent’s lifetime to an individual who, at the decedent’s death, is an heir is treated as an advancement against the heir’s intestate share only if (i) the decedent declared in a contemporaneous writing or the heir acknowledged in writing that the gift is an advancement or (ii) the decedent’s contemporaneous writing or the heir’s written acknowledgment otherwise indicates that the gift is to be taken into account in computing the division and distribution of the decedent’s intestate estate.
(b) If the value of an advancement is expressed in the conveyance, in the contemporaneous writing, or in the acknowledgment, such value shall be adopted in the division and distribution of the intestate estate; otherwise it shall be determined according to the value when the property was given.
(c) Property which is advanced by an intestate shall be considered as part of the intestate’s estate in the division and distribution of such estate, and shall be taken by the heir who received the advance toward the heir’s share of the intestate estate; but the heir shall not be required to restore any part thereof, although it exceeds the intestate share. A surviving spouse shall be entitled only to a share in the residue after deducting the value of the advancement.
(d) If a child or other lineal descendant of the intestate who has received an advancement dies before the intestate, leaving descendants who receive a share of the intestate’s estate, the advancement shall be considered as part of the intestate’s estate in the division and distribution of such estate, and the value thereof shall be taken in equal shares by the representatives of the person who received the advancement toward their share of the intestate estate, as if the advancement had been made directly to them.
(e) The probate court in which the estate of a decedent is settled may hear and determine all questions of advancements arising relative to such estate.