Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Massachusetts

There's no hard-and-fast time limit. Generally, the assets should not be distributed until one year after death, because creditors have up to one year to file claims against the estate for the decedent's debts. Now, if you're talking about an executor who has sat on the assets for three or four years without a good reason (like an ongoing lawsuit or a complex estate whose assets cannot be easily disposed of), then there may be a problem.

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