Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Massachusetts

Re: estates

There are no "three options" in this situation.

The answer depends on the value of the estate at the time of death, what assets are subject to probate (not all are), what state the person lived in at the time of their death, and what property they owned and in what states.

Then one must examine the family tree of the individual (spouse? children? other relatives?)

A Probate Court will then determine how the assets are to be divided, and appoint someone to oversee the division according to the Court's order. That person has some discretion in deciding what specifically goes where, but no discretion in terms of how the value should be divided.