- Married with no children
-
- If there are no surviving children but a parent of the decedent survives the decedent, the spouse will receive the first $200,000 plus three quarters of any balance of the intestate estate.
- If all of the decedent’s surviving descendants are also descendants of the surviving spouse and the surviving spouse has one or more surviving descendants who are not descendants of the decedent, the surviving spouse will inherit the first $100,000 plus one half of any balance of the intestate estate.
- If one or more of the decedent’s surviving descendants are not descendants of the surviving spouse, the surviving spouse will receive the first $100,000 plus one half of any balance.
- Married with child or children
- If all of the children are from the marriage between the decedent and the surviving spouse, the surviving spouse receives 100% of the estate.
- Order of estate distribution if spouse survives
- 1) spouse2) children and the descendants of those children3) parents
4) siblings and their descendants
5) next of kin (If there are two or more collateral kin in equal degree claiming through different ancestors, those claiming through the nearest ancestor will be preferred.)
- No spouse survives (or the deceased was single) but there are other relatives
- See numbers 2 through 5 above.
- No surviving relatives
- If there are no surviving relatives, the estate will go to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts unless the deceased is a veteran who died while a member of the Soldiers’ Home in Massachusetts or the Soldiers’ Home in Holyoke; in that case, the estate will go to the benefit of the legacy fund or legacy account of the soldiers’ home of which he was a member.
- State link
- https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartII/TitleII
Title II Chapter 190, Descent and Distribution of Real and Personal Property
- Special notes
- Relatives of half blood inherit the same share they would inherit if they were of the whole blood.