Skip to Content
The 193rd General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts

Section 14: Sale of timber standing on land used by other than owner of fee

Section 14. If the supreme judicial court or the probate court for the county where the land lies finds that wood or timber, standing on land the use and improvement of which belongs, for life or otherwise, to a person other than the owner of the fee therein, has ceased to improve by growth, or ought for any cause to be cut, it may appoint a trustee to sell and convey said wood or timber to be cut and carried away within a time to be limited in the order of sale, to hold and invest the proceeds thereof after paying therefrom the expenses of such sale, to pay over the income, above the taxes and other expenses of the trust, to the person entitled to such use and improvement while his right thereto continues, and thereafter to pay the principal of the fund to the owner of such land. If wood or timber has been cut as aforesaid, no more thereof shall be cut on such land by the person entitled to such use and improvement without permission from said court. Such sale, if authorized by a probate court, shall be made in the manner provided by law for the sale of real property by guardians; and if such sale is authorized by the supreme judicial court, the trustees shall give to such person as the court shall designate a bond, for the use and benefit of the persons interested in the proceeds of the sale, conditioned on the faithful discharge of the trust; and the court may remove the trustee, and appoint another in his stead.