Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Massachusetts

Re: death

By law all "next of kin" must be provided with the Petition for Probate, the Citation issued by the Court and the "Notice of Information and Rights." The next of kin should also receive copies of the will.

The executor is REQUIRED to provide the court with the names and addresses of the next of kin and sign an affidavit which states that they have been notified by certified mail, or as otherwise directed by the Citation. Failure to follow the rules will delay or deny admission of the will to probate and appointment of the executor.

Please feel free to contact me if I can be of assistance.

Re: death

Whoever files the petition for probate is required by the court to notify all heirs and all interested parties - that is, all heirs (children and, if any children are pre-deceased, their children) and all persons who are named in the will - that a petition has been filed.

Does the petitioner have your current address? If not, you should provide him/her with a proper address. You may request information from him/her or from the court if you believe something has been filed without notice to you. The petition would be filed in the probate court of the county in which the parent died.

Please let me know if I can assist you in thes matter.

Re: death

If there is a will offered for probate, all next of kin (which would be the children of the deceased if all children are living) and the surviving spouse are required to be notified in conjunction with the petition for probate and order of notice (if they have not assented to the Petition - which is a request that the court recognize the Will as the true Will of the decedent.) Likewise, if there is no will, but someone is seeking appointment to administer the assets of the decedent, all next of kin must be notified.

Of course, the petitioner must know where the next-of-kin reside in order to give notice, or make a responsible effort to locate them.

However, not all decedents leave probate estates. If all of the decedent's property was titled in a trust before the decedent passed away, it is conceivable that the decedent's will would not be offered for probate, but just filed with the probate court. There is no notice in such a situation, since the person filing is not claiming that the Will should be allowed as the true will of the decedent.

If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact my office.

Re: death

I agree with the other authors, adding a few additional items. You can always call the Surrogate in the County where the decedent resided at time of death, and get basic probate information, including contact information on the appointed representatives and the attorney handling the estate. Probate only covers individually-owned assets, not assets that have joint ownership, designated beneficiaries (like retirement plans and insurance policies, trust assets and the like). In all states, the representatives must also provide a full accounting to the heirs, although this is not always done through the Surrogate, and may be done informally.