Legal Question in Family Law in Massachusetts

It is possible. It all depends on how title was held. If they held the property as joint tenants or tenants by the entirety, the property passed entirely to the last of them to die. So, if the mother died first, the house belonged solely to the father, and vice-versa. Now, if the parents were married to each other or were both unmarried and only had children with each other, then the house would pass to their children, after the settlement of the debts and expenses, including but not limited to final expenses, medicare/medicaid/tax claims, and any other debts the last-to-die had.

It gets a lot more complicated if either parent had children that were not with the other. Or if one parent were married to someone else. Or if the parents did not own the property as joint tenants or tenants by the entirety.

The other issues is: who is probating their estate? The estate definitely needs to be probated if there is property that is not automatically passing to a joint tenant.

Feel free to give me a call or email about these issues (or any others). I would be happy to help. You can reach me at 617-859-8966 or by email at [email protected]. You can even come by, if you wish. I'm right around the corner from Back Bay station.

Attorney Hemingway's analysis is correct. However, assuming the parents were married and only had children together their assets pass to their children. If a child pre-deceased them and had children (grandchildren) then the grandchildren would take as well.

If you would like further assistance please feel free to contact me at 617.406.4647.