Session Laws

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

SECTION 1. Chapter 118E of the General Laws is hereby amended by inserting after section 16 the following section:-

Section 16A. (a) Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, a petition for admission to probate of a decedent's will or for administration of a decedent's estate shall include a statement or be accompanied by an affidavit indicating whether the deceased received medical assistance under this chapter when such deceased was sixty-five years of age or older. A petitioner who files for admission of a decedent's will or for administration of a decedent's estate shall, simultaneous with the filing, send a copy of said petition to the department by certified mail if the deceased received medical assistance under this chapter when such deceased was sixty-five years of age or older.

In the event a petitioner fails to send such notice to the department and the deceased received such medical assistance when sixty-five years of age or older, any person who received a distribution of assets from the decedent's estate shall be liable to the department to the extent of such distribution.

(b) The department may present claims against a decedent's estate as follows:

(1) The department may within four months after approval of the official bond of the executor or administrator or within four months of receipt of the petition described above, whichever is later, deliver or mail to the executor or administrator a written statement of the claim indicating the basis and the amount claimed, or within such time may file a written statement of the claim with the proper registry of probate and a copy thereof delivered or mailed to the executor or administrator. The claim shall be deemed presented on receipt of the written statement of claim by the personal representative or upon the filing of the claim in the registry of probate, whichever first occurs.

(2) The department may, within one year after the date of death of the deceased, commence an action under the provisions of section nine of chapter one hundred and ninety-seven.

As to claims presented by written statement within the four month time limit, provided in subparagraph (1), an executor or administrator may mail a notice to the department stating that a claim has been disallowed. Failure of the executor or administrator to mail notice to the department of a disallowance within sixty days after presentation of the claim shall have the effect of allowing the claim. If, after a decision disallowing a claim, the executor or administrator changes such decision he shall so notify the department of such change. In the event of a disallowance in whole or in part, the department may commence action against the executor or administrator in a court of competent jurisdiction within sixty days after receipt of said notice of disallowance.

A judgment in a proceeding in another court against an executor or administrator to enforce a claim against a decedent's estate shall be an allowance of the claim.

(c) Unless otherwise provided in any judgment entered against the executor or administrator, allowed claims shall bear interest at the legal rate for the period commencing four months plus sixty days after approval of the official bond of the executor or administrator.

By complaint filed in the probate court, the department, if its claim has been allowed as provided herein but not paid, may secure an order directing the executor or administrator to pay the claim to the extent that funds are available for payment.

SECTION 2. Chapter 193 of the General Laws is hereby amended by striking out section 15, as appearing in the 1986 Official Edition, and inserting in place thereof the following section:-

Section 15. A special administrator, temporary executor, or temporary administrator with will annexed shall be liable to an action by a creditor of the deceased brought within the period of limitation provided in section nine of chapter one hundred and ninety-seven; provided, however, that any such action shall be stayed by the court in which it is brought until such time as an executor or administrator of the estate of the deceased has been appointed and said executor or administrator has been substituted for said special administrator, temporary executor, or temporary administrator with will annexed as the party defendant.

SECTION 3. Chapter 197 of the General Laws is hereby amended by striking out sections 1 and 2, as so appearing, and inserting in place thereof the following two sections:-

Section 1. As used in this chapter, the words "executor or administrator" shall, where appropriate, be construed to include an administrator with will annexed, a special administrator, a temporary executor, a temporary administrator with will annexed, or an administrator de bonis non.

Section 2. If an executor or administrator shall not within six months after the date of death of the deceased have had notice of demands against the estate of the deceased sufficient to warrant him to represent such estate to be insolvent, he may, after the expiration of said six months, pay the debts due from the estate and shall not be personally liable to any creditor in consequence for such payments made before notice of such creditor's demand; and if such executor or administrator shall be in doubt as to the validity of any debt which, if valid, he would have a right to pay under this section, he may, with the approval of the probate court, after notice to all persons interested, pay such debt or so much thereof as the court may authorize.

SECTION 4. Section two A of said chapter one hundred and ninety-seven is hereby repealed.

SECTION 5. Said chapter 197 is hereby further amended by striking out section 9, as appearing in the 1986 Official Edition, and inserting in place thereof the following section:-

Section 9. (a) Except as provided in this chapter, an executor or administrator shall not be held to answer to an action by a creditor of the deceased unless such action is commenced within one year after the date of death of the deceased and unless, before the expiration of such period, the process in such action has been served by delivery in hand upon such executor or administrator or service thereof accepted by him or a notice stating the name of the estate, the name and address of the creditor, the amount of the claim and the court in which the action has been brought has been filed in the proper registry of probate.

(b) An executor or administrator shall not be held to answer to an action by a creditor of the deceased which is commenced within any other or additional period of limitation for bringing such action provided by or under this chapter unless before the expiration of such period the process in such action has been served by delivery in hand upon him or service thereof accepted by him or a notice as aforesaid has been filed in the proper registry of probate.

(c) A trustee of a trust, the assets of which are subject as a matter of substantive law to being reached by creditors of the deceased, shall not be held to answer to an action by a creditor of the deceased unless such action is commenced against such trustee or against the executor or administrator of the estate of the deceased within the time and in the manner provided in subsection (a). Such trustee shall have immunity from personal liability to a creditor of the deceased in the same manner as an executor or administrator has, pursuant to sections two, three, four, and five.

(d) If a deceased received medical assistance under chapter one hundred and eighteen E when such deceased was sixty-five years of age or older, section sixteen A of chapter one hundred and eighteen E shall govern the notice to be given to the department of public welfare and such department's claim for recovery under the provisions of section sixteen of chapter one hundred and eighteen E if the department so chooses.

SECTION 6. Section 9A of said chapter 197, as so appearing, is hereby amended by striking out, in lines 2 and 3, the words "nine months from the time of the giving of bond by an executor or administrator" and inserting in place thereof the words:- one year after the date of death of the deceased.

SECTION 7. Section 13 of said chapter 197, as so appearing, is hereby amended by striking out, in lines 2 to 5, inclusive, the words "the time fixed for presentation of claims, or within such further time as may be allowed by an extension granted under section nine, or in the case of an administrator de bonis non, within the period allowed by section seventeen" and inserting in place thereof the words:- within one year after the date of death of the deceased.

SECTION 8. Section seventeen of said chapter one hundred and ninety-seven is hereby repealed.

SECTION 9. Section eighteen of said chapter one hundred and ninety-seven is hereby repealed.

SECTION 10. Section 6B of chapter 229 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 1986 Official Edition, is hereby amended by striking out, in line 3, the words "from the time of his giving bond" and inserting in place thereof the words:- after the date of the death of the deceased.

SECTION 11. The provisions of this act shall apply to estates of decedents dying on or after January first, nineteen hundred and ninety.