What to Do When a Loved One Dies in Massachusetts: Your First Steps Before Probate
- Jul 1
- 5 min read
If you're reading this in the middle of it, I'm not going to pretend a blog post can make this easier. It can't. But I can tell you what actually needs your attention this week, and what can wait until you've had a chance to breathe. That's really what I want to give you here: permission to slow down on the parts that don't need to happen today.People come to me expecting a mountain of paperwork due immediately. There isn't one. There's a short list for right now, and a longer list for later.
This week: the short list
Make sure any dependents or pets who relied on your loved one are cared for
Secure their home, car, and anything valuable, lock up, keep the heat on if it's winter, let a neighbor know if the house will sit empty
Let close family and, if relevant, an employer know
Request several certified copies of the death certificate from the funeral home or town clerk. You will need more of these than you'd guess, banks and insurance companies each want their own original
That's genuinely it for the first several days. Everything below can wait a week or two.
Find the will, if there is one
Once you've caught your breath, start looking for the original will, not a photocopy. The probate court wants the original document, so check a safe, a filing cabinet, or wherever your loved one kept important papers. If they worked with an attorney, that office may be holding the original or have a copy that tells you who to call.
Can't find one? Keep reading. Massachusetts still has a clear process for what happens next, even without a will.
Gather the paper trail
Alongside the will, start collecting whatever you can find: bank and investment statements, life insurance policies, the deed to their home if they owned property, and a general sense of what they owed. You don't need to have this perfectly organized. You just need to know where to look when it's time.
Don't touch anything yet
I know the instinct. A family member asks for a specific item, or a bill needs paying, and it feels kinder to just handle it. Please hold off. Assets generally need to move through the proper legal channel first, whether that's a trust or the probate process, so everything is distributed the way it's supposed to be, and so nobody in the family ends up in an awkward spot later over who took what and when.
Figure out how things were actually owned
This is the step that quietly determines everything else. Not every asset works the same way:
Something owned in your loved one's name alone usually needs to go through probate
Retirement accounts, life insurance, and payable-on-death accounts pass directly to whoever's named as beneficiary, no probate required
A home owned jointly with a spouse, with rights of survivorship, typically passes automatically to the survivor
Anything properly held in a trust passes according to the trust's terms, bypassing probate entirely
Most estates are a mix of all four. That's exactly why it's worth having someone look at the full picture with you rather than guessing.
Do you actually need probate?
Not always. Massachusetts has a simplified option, called voluntary administration, for smaller estates, generally $25,000 or less in personal property, not counting one vehicle, with no real estate involved. You are still filing “probate”, but it’s a much more simplified form of probate.For everything above that, you're looking at either informal or formal probate, and the difference mostly comes down to whether the will is straightforward and uncontested or not.
I wrote a full breakdown of how long each of these actually takes, since "it depends" isn't a very satisfying answer when you're the one waiting.
What if there's no will?
It's called dying intestate, and it's more common than people assume.
Massachusetts law then decides who inherits, generally starting with a spouse and children, and who's eligible to serve as personal representative, usually a close family member who petitions the court.
It's not chaos, there's an order to it, but it may not match what your loved one would have chosen, which is exactly why we always come back around to encouraging people to put a will in place while they still can.
What does the personal representative actually do?
Once the court appoints someone (Massachusetts uses "personal representative" where other states say "executor"), that person is authorized to gather the estate's assets, pay outstanding debts, sell property if needed, and eventually distribute what's left according to the will, or according to state law if there wasn't one.
It's a real job, often handled by someone who is also grieving, which is exactly why I don't think anyone should have to do it without support.
When to actually call someone
There's no wrong time to ask a question. But I'd especially encourage you to reach out sooner if:
You're not sure whether probate is even required
Real estate is involved
There's no will
Family members disagree about anything, even something small
You've been asked to serve as personal representative and have no idea where to start
A short phone call early on can save weeks of confusion later, and it costs you nothing to ask.
Your first-steps checklist
Secure the home, vehicle, and valuables
Notify close family and, if applicable, an employer
Request several certified copies of the death certificate
Locate the original will, if there is one
Gather account statements, the deed, and insurance policies
Hold off on distributing anything
Sort out how each asset was owned
Call a probate attorney if you're not sure what comes next
Common questions
Do I need a lawyer to handle probate in Massachusetts?
It's not required by law in every case, but probate comes with real deadlines and forms, and it's a lot to manage while grieving. Most families I work with are relieved to have someone else carrying that part.
How soon after a death does probate need to start?
Massachusetts generally requires probate to be filed within three years of the date of death, though there's a more limited process available if that window passes.
Can I access my loved one's bank account before probate is complete?
Usually not, unless you were a joint owner or named as a payable-on-death beneficiary.
This trips up a lot of families early on, and it's part of why probate exists, to legally authorize someone to act on the estate's behalf.
What's the difference between an executor and a personal representative?
Same role, different name. Massachusetts calls it personal representative; you'll hear "executor" used interchangeably, especially by people who've dealt with probate in other states.
You don't have to figure this out alone
Wherever you are in this process, whether you haven't started or you're stuck partway through, I'm here to take the legal weight off your shoulders so you can focus on your family.
Reach out, and let's figure out the next step together.
