Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Massachusetts

Techically, the Probate Court could award the real estate to Jane's Estate or Jane's creditors could seek to make a claim against Mary's estate on Jane's behalf. I am going to assume there was no Will.

If however, the Probate Court awarded the home directly to the 4 adult children and not Jane's estate, then there is no direct obligation to put money into Jane's Estate.

However, if Jane's creditors become aware, they could seek to get payment arguing the property would have passed to her directly.

On the other hand, the Adult Children could claim their mother never sought to take title to the property and as such declined her interest in her mother's estate by her actions.

If you do not have an attorney assisting you with this matter, I suggest you get one now.

If you could settle the mother's debt reasonably from the sale proceeds, it might be your best bet as potential litigation is expensive.

It is unclear what debt you are concerned about and wiithout knowing that it is difficult to give an intelligent response. If you are speaking of medicaid or MassHealth liens those are more critical or if you are speaking about credit cards, that is something else.