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 192 of the General Laws is hereby amended by striking out section 9, as appearing in the 1990 Official Edition, and inserting in place thereof the following section:-

Section 9. Any person interested in a will which has been proved and allowed in any other of the United States or in a foreign country according to the laws of such state or country, or in a will which, by the laws of the state or country in which it was made, is valid without probate, may produce to the probate and family court in any county where there is any property, real or personal, on which such will may operate, a copy of such will and the probate thereof, duly authenticated, or if such will is valid without probate as aforesaid, a copy of the will or of the official record thereof duly authenticated by the proper official having custody of such will or record in such state or country together with an affidavit, in each case, by the petitioner or other person having knowledge of the facts, stating the names and residences of the known heirs and the next of kin of the testator living at his death and their relationship to the testator. The court shall thereupon assign a time and place for hearing and cause notice thereof to be given to all persons interested by publication at such times and in such newspapers as the court orders, said publication to be thirty days at least before the time assigned for hearing.

SECTION 2. Chapter 202 of the General Laws is hereby amended by striking out section 38, as so appearing, and inserting in place thereof the following section:-

Section 38. After the entry of a decree authorizing or licensing an executor, administrator, guardian, conservator or trustee to sell real estate at a public or private sale, provided: (a) the notice of the petition for license to sell real estate and of the time and place appointed for hearing, the same shall have been given by publication at such times and in such newspapers as the court orders, and (b) there shall have been no appearance entered against such sale prior to the entry of the decree or where such appearance shall have been entered and withdrawn prior to the entry of the decree, notwithstanding the fact that an appeal may have been taken prior to the expiration of the period allowed for an appeal therefrom, it shall be conclusively presumed that the amount of the advantageous offer stated in said petition for license to sell real estate is the highest possible price obtainable for the real estate described in such petition and that the executor, administrator, guardian, conservator, or trustee has fully satisfied his fiduciary duty to obtain the highest possible price for such real estate.