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 188 of the General Laws is hereby amended by striking out section 1A, as amended by section 2 of chapter 475 of the acts of 1989, and inserting in place thereof the following section:-

Section 1A. The real property or mobile home of persons sixty-two years of age or older, regardless of marital status, or of a disabled person or persons, as herein defined, shall be protected against attachment, seizure or execution of judgment to the extent of two hundred thousand dollars; provided, however, that such person has filed an elderly or disabled person's declaration of homestead protection as provided in section two; and provided, further, that such person occupies or intends to occupy such real property or mobile home as his principal residence. A disabled person's declaration of homestead protection shall be accompanied by either of the documents referred to in the second paragraph of this section.

For the purposes of this section, a disabled person is defined as an individual who has any medically determinable permanent physical or mental impairment which would meet the disability requirements for supplemental security income under the provisions of 42 USC 1382c(a)(3)(A) and (C), which are in effect at the time of filing. An original or certified copy of a disability award letter issued to the person by the United States Social Security Administration; or a letter signed by a licensed physician registered with the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine certifying that the person meets the disability requirements stated in 42 USC 1382c(a)(3)(A) and (C), which are in effect at the time of filing, shall be recorded or filed, whichever is appropriate, with a disabled person's declaration of homestead protection.

Each individual having an ownership interest in the real property or mobile home which serves as that individual's principal residence and who qualifies under the provisions of this section shall, upon filing of an elderly or disabled person's declaration of homestead protection, be eligible for protection of such ownership interest up to a maximum amount of two hundred thousand dollars per individual, regardless of whether such declaration is filed individually or jointly with another.

The following shall be exempt from the provisions of this section: federal, state and local taxes, assessments, claims and liens; first and second mortgages held by financial institutions or others; any and all debts, encumbrances or contracts existing prior to the filing of the declaration; an execution issued from the probate court to enforce its judgment that a spouse pay a certain amount weekly or otherwise for the support of a spouse or minor children; where buildings on land not owned by the owner of a homestead estate are attached, levied upon or sold for the ground rent of the lot whereon they stand.

The elderly or disabled person's estate or claim of homestead shall be terminated upon the sale or transfer of the real property or mobile home during the declarant's lifetime or upon the sale or transfer of the declarant's interest in the real property or mobile home during the declarant's lifetime or upon the death of the surviving declarant. An elderly or disabled person's estate of homestead created by this section shall be terminated during the lifetime of the declarant by deed conveying the property in which such an estate of homestead exists signed by the declarant; or by a release of the elderly or disabled person's estate of homestead, duly signed, sealed and acknowledged by the declarant, and recorded in the registry of deeds for the county or district in which such real estate is located; or by a release of the elderly or disabled person's claim of homestead, duly signed, sealed and acknowledged by the declarant, and filed in the city or town clerk's office in the city or town in which the mobile home is located; or pursuant to section two.

SECTION 2. Said chapter 188 is hereby further amended by striking out section 2, as appearing in the 1988 Official Edition, and inserting in place thereof the following section:-

Section 2. To acquire an estate of homestead in real property, the fact that it is designed to be held as such shall be set forth in the deed of conveyance by which the property is acquired; or, after the title has been acquired, such design may be declared by a writing duly signed, sealed and acknowledged and recorded in the registry of deeds for the county or district in which the property is situated. To acquire a claim of homestead in a mobile home, the fact that it is designed to be held as such shall be set forth in a writing duly signed, sealed and acknowledged and filed at the city or town clerk's office in the city or town in which the mobile home is located. The acquisition of a new estate or claim of homestead shall defeat and discharge any such previous estate.