reglab/housing_qa huggingface dataset:
MA Gen L ch I § 1-102 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations|Title II - Descent and Distribution, Wills, Estates of Deceased Persons and Absentees, Guardianship, Conservatorship and Trusts|Chapter 190b - Massachusetts Uniform Probate Code|Article I - General Provisions, Definitions and Probate Jurisdiction of Court|Section 1-102 - Purposes; Rule of Construction

Section 1–102. [Purposes; Rule of Construction.]  (a) This chapter shall be liberally construed and applied to promote its underlying purposes and policies.  (b) The underlying purposes and policies of this chapter are:  (1) to simplify and clarify the law concerning the affairs of decedents and missing persons;  (2) to discover and make effective the intent of a decedent in distribution of the decedent's property;  (3) to promote a speedy and efficient system for liquidating the estate of the decedent and making distribution to the decedent's successors;  (4) to facilitate use and enforcement of certain trusts; and  (5) to make uniform the law among the various jurisdictions.
MA Gen L ch I § 1-106 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations|Title II - Descent and Distribution, Wills, Estates of Deceased Persons and Absentees, Guardianship, Conservatorship and Trusts|Chapter 190b - Massachusetts Uniform Probate Code|Article I - General Provisions, Definitions and Probate Jurisdiction of Court|Section 1-106 - Effect of Fraud and Evasion

Section 1–106. [Effect of Fraud and Evasion.]  Whenever fraud has been perpetrated in connection with any proceeding or in any statement filed under this chapter or if fraud is used to avoid or circumvent the provisions or purposes of this chapter, any person injured thereby may obtain appropriate relief against the perpetrator of the fraud or restitution from any person other than a bona fide purchaser benefiting from the fraud, whether innocent or not. Any proceeding shall be commenced within 2 years after the discovery of the fraud, but no proceeding may be brought against one not a perpetrator of the fraud later than 5 years after the time of commission of the fraud. This section has no bearing on remedies relating to fraud practiced on a decedent during the decedent's lifetime which affects the succession of the decedent's estate.
MA Gen L ch I § 1-107 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations|Title II - Descent and Distribution, Wills, Estates of Deceased Persons and Absentees, Guardianship, Conservatorship and Trusts|Chapter 190b - Massachusetts Uniform Probate Code|Article I - General Provisions, Definitions and Probate Jurisdiction of Court|Section 1-107 - Evidence of Death or Status

Section 1–107. [Evidence of Death or Status.]  In addition to the rules of evidence in courts of general jurisdiction, the following rules relating to a determination of death and status apply:—  (1) Death occurs when an individual has sustained either (i) irreversible cessation of circulatory and respiratory functions or (ii) irreversible cessation of all functions of the entire brain, including the brain stem. A determination of death shall be made in accordance with accepted medical standards.  (2) A certified or authenticated copy of a death certificate purporting to be issued by an official or agency of the place where the death purportedly occurred is prima facie evidence of the fact, place, date, and time of death and the identity of the decedent.  (3) A certified or authenticated copy of any record or report of a governmental agency, domestic or foreign, that an individual is missing, detained, dead, or alive is prima facie evidence of the status and of the dates, circumstances, and places disclosed by the record or report.  (4) In the absence of prima facie evidence of death under paragraph (2) or (3), the fact of death may be established by evidence, including circumstantial evidence.  (5) An individual whose death is not established under the preceding paragraphs who is absent for a continuous period of 5 years, during which the person has not been heard from, and whose absence is not satisfactorily explained after diligent search or inquiry, is presumed to be dead. The person's death is presumed to have occurred at the end of the period unless there is sufficient evidence for determining that death occurred earlier.
MA Gen L ch I § 1-108 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations|Title II - Descent and Distribution, Wills, Estates of Deceased Persons and Absentees, Guardianship, Conservatorship and Trusts|Chapter 190b - Massachusetts Uniform Probate Code|Article I - General Provisions, Definitions and Probate Jurisdiction of Court|Section 1-108 - Act by Holder of General Power

Section 1–108. [Act by Holder of General Power.]  For the purpose of granting consent or approval with regard to the acts or accounts of a personal representative or trustee, including relief from liability or penalty for failure to post bond or to perform other duties, and for purposes of consenting to modification or termination of a trust or to deviation from its terms,  (i) the sole holder or all co-holders of a presently exercisable general power of appointment, including one in the form of a power of amendment or revocation, or a presently exercisable power to appoint among a class of appointees which is broader than the class of those persons who would take in default of the exercise of such power,  (ii) if the court so permits in its discretion, the sole holder or all co-holders of a testamentary general power of appointment, or a testamentary power to appoint among a class of appointees which is broader than the class of those persons who would take in default of the exercise of such power,  are deemed to act for beneficiaries to the extent their interests (as objects, takers in default, or otherwise) are subject to the power.
MA Gen L ch I § 1-105 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations|Title II - Descent and Distribution, Wills, Estates of Deceased Persons and Absentees, Guardianship, Conservatorship and Trusts|Chapter 190b - Massachusetts Uniform Probate Code|Article I - General Provisions, Definitions and Probate Jurisdiction of Court|Section 1-105 - Construction Against Implied Repeal

Section 1–105. [Construction Against Implied Repeal.]  This chapter is a general act intended as a unified coverage of its subject matter and no part of it shall be deemed impliedly repealed by subsequent legislation if it can reasonably be avoided.
MA Gen L ch II § 2-607 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations|Title II - Descent and Distribution, Wills, Estates of Deceased Persons and Absentees, Guardianship, Conservatorship and Trusts|Chapter 190b - Massachusetts Uniform Probate Code|Article II - Intestacy, Wills and Donative Transfers|Section 2-607 - Nonexoneration

Section 2–607. [Nonexoneration.]  A specific devise passes subject to any mortgage interest existing at the date of death, without right of exoneration, regardless of a general directive in the will to pay debts.
MA Gen L ch II § 2-701 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations|Title II - Descent and Distribution, Wills, Estates of Deceased Persons and Absentees, Guardianship, Conservatorship and Trusts|Chapter 190b - Massachusetts Uniform Probate Code|Article II - Intestacy, Wills and Donative Transfers|Section 2-701 - Scope

Section 2–701. [Scope.]  In the absence of a finding of a contrary intention shown by the terms of the will, the rules of construction in this part control the construction of a governing instrument. The rules of construction in this part apply to a governing instrument of any type, except as the application of a particular section is limited by its terms to a specific type or types of donative disposition or governing instrument.
MA Gen L ch II § 2-610 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations|Title II - Descent and Distribution, Wills, Estates of Deceased Persons and Absentees, Guardianship, Conservatorship and Trusts|Chapter 190b - Massachusetts Uniform Probate Code|Article II - Intestacy, Wills and Donative Transfers|Section 2-610 - Annuities

Section 2–610. [Annuities.]  (a) If an annuity, or the use, rent, income or interest of property, real or personal, is given by will or by trust instrument for the benefit of a person for life or until the happening of a contingency, such person shall be entitled to receive and enjoy the same from and after the death of the deceased, unless it is otherwise provided in such will or trust instrument.  [There is no subsection (b).]
MA Gen L ch II § 2-609 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations|Title II - Descent and Distribution, Wills, Estates of Deceased Persons and Absentees, Guardianship, Conservatorship and Trusts|Chapter 190b - Massachusetts Uniform Probate Code|Article II - Intestacy, Wills and Donative Transfers|Section 2-609 - Ademption by Satisfaction

Section 2–609. [Ademption by Satisfaction.]  (a) Property a testator gave in the testator's lifetime to a person is treated as a satisfaction of a devise in whole or in part, only if (i) the will provides for deduction of the gift, (ii) the testator declared in a contemporaneous writing that the gift is in satisfaction of the devise or that its value is to be deducted from the value of the devise, or (iii) the devisee acknowledged in writing that the gift is in satisfaction of the devise or that its value is to be deducted from the value of the devise.  (b) For purposes of partial satisfaction, property given during lifetime shall be valued as expressed in the will or in the contemporaneous writing; if it is not so valued, such property shall be valued as of the time the devisee came into possession or enjoyment of the property or at the testator's death, whichever occurs first.  (c) If the devisee fails to survive the testator, the gift is treated as a full or partial satisfaction of the devise, as appropriate, in applying sections 2–603 and 2–604, unless the testator's contemporaneous writing provides otherwise.
MA Gen L ch II § 2-608 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations|Title II - Descent and Distribution, Wills, Estates of Deceased Persons and Absentees, Guardianship, Conservatorship and Trusts|Chapter 190b - Massachusetts Uniform Probate Code|Article II - Intestacy, Wills and Donative Transfers|Section 2-608 - Exercise of Power of Appointment

Section 2–608. [Exercise of Power of Appointment.]  (a) In the absence of a requirement that a power of appointment be exercised by a reference, or by an express or specific reference, to the power, a general residuary clause in a will, or a will making general disposition of all of the testator's property, expresses an intention to exercise a power of appointment held by the testator only if (i) the power is a general power and the creating instrument does not contain an effective gift if the power is not exercised or (ii) the testator's will manifests an intention to include the property subject to the power.  (b) Unless a contrary intent is manifested in the terms of an instrument creating or limiting a power of appointment, it shall be presumed that the person so creating or limiting such power intended to authorize the donee thereof, when exercising said power, not only to create absolute interests but also to create less than absolute legal and equitable interests, including interests in trust for the benefit of objects of said power even though the trustees thereof may not be objects of said power and including new powers of appointment, general or more limited, in objects of said power, even though the objects of the new powers may include one or more that are not objects of said power.
MA Gen L ch II § 2-606 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations|Title II - Descent and Distribution, Wills, Estates of Deceased Persons and Absentees, Guardianship, Conservatorship and Trusts|Chapter 190b - Massachusetts Uniform Probate Code|Article II - Intestacy, Wills and Donative Transfers|Section 2-606 - Nonademption of Specific Devises; Unpaid Proceeds of Sale, Condemnation, or Insurance; Sale by Conservator or Agent

Section 2–606. [Nonademption of Specific Devises; Unpaid Proceeds of Sale, Condemnation, or Insurance; Sale by Conservator or Agent.]  (a) A specific devisee has a right to the specifically devised property in the testator's estate at death and:  (1) any balance of the purchase price, together with any security agreement, owing from a purchaser to the testator at death by reason of sale of the property;  (2) any amount of a condemnation award for the taking of the property unpaid at death;  (3) any proceeds unpaid at death on fire or casualty insurance on or other recovery for injury to the property; and  (4) property owned by the testator at death and acquired as a result of foreclosure, or obtained in lieu of foreclosure, of the security interest for a specifically devised obligation.  (b) If specifically devised property is sold or mortgaged by a guardian of the estate conservator or by an agent acting within the authority of a durable power of attorney for an incapacitated principal, or if a condemnation award, insurance proceeds, or recovery for injury to the property are paid to a conservator or to an agent acting within the authority of a durable power of attorney for an incapacitated principal, the specific devisee has the right to a general pecuniary devise equal to the net sale price, the amount of the unpaid loan, the condemnation award, the insurance proceeds, or the recovery.  (c) The right of a specific devisee under subsection (b) is reduced by any right the devisee has under subsection (a).  (d) For the purposes of the references in subsection (b) to a conservator, subsection (b) shall not apply if after the sale, mortgage, condemnation, casualty, or recovery, it was adjudicated that the testator's incapacity ceased and the testator survived the adjudication by 1 year.  (e) For the purposes of the references in subsection (b) to an agent acting within the authority of a durable power of attorney for an incapacitated principal, (i) ''incapacitated principal'' means a principal who is an incapacitated person, (ii) no adjudication of incapacity before death is necessary, and (iii) the acts of an agent within the authority of a durable power of attorney are presumed to be for an incapacitated principal.
MA Gen L ch II § 2-602 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations|Title II - Descent and Distribution, Wills, Estates of Deceased Persons and Absentees, Guardianship, Conservatorship and Trusts|Chapter 190b - Massachusetts Uniform Probate Code|Article II - Intestacy, Wills and Donative Transfers|Section 2-602 - Will May Pass All Property and After&ndash;acquired Property

Section 2–602. [Will May Pass All Property and After–Acquired Property.]  Property owned by the testator at death and any acquired by the testator's estate thereafter passes under the will unless a different intention appears.
MA Gen L ch II § 2-604 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations|Title II - Descent and Distribution, Wills, Estates of Deceased Persons and Absentees, Guardianship, Conservatorship and Trusts|Chapter 190b - Massachusetts Uniform Probate Code|Article II - Intestacy, Wills and Donative Transfers|Section 2-604 - Failure of Testamentary Provision

Section 2–604. [Failure of Testamentary Provision.]  (a) Except as provided in section 2–603, a devise, other than a residuary devise, that fails for any reason becomes a part of the residue.  (b) Except as provided in section 2–603, if the residue is devised to 2 or more persons, the share of a residuary devisee that fails for any reason passes to the other residuary devisee, or to other residuary devisees in proportion to the interest of each in the remaining part of the residue.
MA Gen L ch II § 2-603 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations|Title II - Descent and Distribution, Wills, Estates of Deceased Persons and Absentees, Guardianship, Conservatorship and Trusts|Chapter 190b - Massachusetts Uniform Probate Code|Article II - Intestacy, Wills and Donative Transfers|Section 2-603 - Anti-Lapse; Deceased Devisee; Class Gifts

Section 2–603. [Anti–Lapse; Deceased Devisee; Class Gifts.]  If a devisee who is a grandparent or a lineal descendant of a grandparent is dead at the time of execution of the will, fails to survive the testator, or is treated as if he predeceased the testator, the issue of the deceased devisee who survive the testator take in place of the deceased devisee and if they are all of the same degree of kinship to the devisee they take equally, but if of unequal degree than those of more remote degree take per capita at each generation. A person who would have been a devisee under a class gift if he had survived the testator is treated as a devisee for purposes of this section whether his death occurred before or after the execution of the will.
MA Gen L ch II § 2-516 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations|Title II - Descent and Distribution, Wills, Estates of Deceased Persons and Absentees, Guardianship, Conservatorship and Trusts|Chapter 190b - Massachusetts Uniform Probate Code|Article II - Intestacy, Wills and Donative Transfers|Section 2-516 - Duty of Custodian of Will; Liability

Section 2–516. [Duty of Custodian of Will; Liability.]  After the death of a testator a person having custody of a will of the testator shall deliver it within thirty days after notice of the death to a person able to secure its probate and if none is known, to an appropriate court. A person who willfully fails to deliver a will is liable to any person aggrieved for any damages that may be sustained by the failure. A person who willfully refuses or fails to deliver a will after being ordered by the court in a proceeding brought for the purpose of compelling delivery is subject to penalty for contempt of court.
MA Gen L ch II § 2-601 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations|Title II - Descent and Distribution, Wills, Estates of Deceased Persons and Absentees, Guardianship, Conservatorship and Trusts|Chapter 190b - Massachusetts Uniform Probate Code|Article II - Intestacy, Wills and Donative Transfers|Section 2-601 - Scope

Section 2–601. [Scope.]  In the absence of a finding of a contrary intention shown by the terms of the will, the rules of construction in this part control the construction of a will.
MA Gen L ch II § 2-517 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations|Title II - Descent and Distribution, Wills, Estates of Deceased Persons and Absentees, Guardianship, Conservatorship and Trusts|Chapter 190b - Massachusetts Uniform Probate Code|Article II - Intestacy, Wills and Donative Transfers|Section 2-517 - Penalty Clause for Contest

Section 2–517. [Penalty Clause for Contest.]  A provision in a will purporting to penalize an interested person for contesting the will or instituting other proceedings relating to the estate is enforceable.
MA Gen L ch II § 2-703 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations|Title II - Descent and Distribution, Wills, Estates of Deceased Persons and Absentees, Guardianship, Conservatorship and Trusts|Chapter 190b - Massachusetts Uniform Probate Code|Article II - Intestacy, Wills and Donative Transfers|Section 2-703 - Choice of Law as to Meaning and Effect of Donative Dispositions

Section 2–703. [Choice of Law as to Meaning and Effect of Donative Dispositions.]  The meaning and legal effect of a donative disposition is determined by the local law of the state selected by the transferor in the governing instrument, unless the application of that law is contrary to the provisions relating to the elective share described in part 2, the provisions relating to exempt property and allowances described in part 4, or any other public policy of the commonwealth otherwise applicable to the disposition.
MA Gen L ch II § 2-605 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations|Title II - Descent and Distribution, Wills, Estates of Deceased Persons and Absentees, Guardianship, Conservatorship and Trusts|Chapter 190b - Massachusetts Uniform Probate Code|Article II - Intestacy, Wills and Donative Transfers|Section 2-605 - Increase in Devised Securities; Accessions

Section 2–605. [Increase in Devised Securities; Accessions.]  (a) If a testator executes a will that devises securities and the testator then owned securities that meet the description in the will, the devise includes additional securities owned by the testator at death to the extent the additional securities were acquired by the testator after the will was executed as a result of the testator's ownership of the described securities and are securities of any of the following types:  (1) securities of the same organization acquired by reason of action initiated by the organization or any successor, related, or acquiring organization, excluding any acquired by exercise of purchase options;  (2) securities of another organization acquired as a result of a merger, consolidation, reorganization, or other distribution by the organization or any successor, related, or acquiring organization; or  (3) securities of the same organization acquired as a result of a plan of reinvestment.  (b) Distributions in cash before death with respect to a described security are not part of the devise.
MA Gen L ch II § 2-704 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations|Title II - Descent and Distribution, Wills, Estates of Deceased Persons and Absentees, Guardianship, Conservatorship and Trusts|Chapter 190b - Massachusetts Uniform Probate Code|Article II - Intestacy, Wills and Donative Transfers|Section 2-704 - Taxes on Qtips

Section 2–704. [Taxes on QTIPS.]  A direction in a will or instrument of trust to pay taxes caused by, resulting from, or imposed by reason of the death of the testator or donor, as the case may be, out of the decedent's probate estate or trust estate or other property, shall not include, unless the will or instrument of trust or a provision of such tax laws specifically provides otherwise, taxes levied or assessed under the tax laws of the United States or of the commonwealth or of any foreign state or commonwealth on any qualified terminable interest property in which the decedent had a qualifying income interest for life.
MA Gen L ch II § 2-903 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations|Title II - Descent and Distribution, Wills, Estates of Deceased Persons and Absentees, Guardianship, Conservatorship and Trusts|Chapter 190b - Massachusetts Uniform Probate Code|Article II - Intestacy, Wills and Donative Transfers|Section 2-903 - Reformation

Section 2–903. [Reformation.]  Upon the petition of an interested person, a court shall reform a disposition in the manner that most closely approximates the transferor's manifested plan of distribution and is within the 90 years allowed by section 2–901(a)(2), 2–901(b)(2), or 2–901(c)(2) if:  (1) a nonvested property interest or a power of appointment becomes invalid under section 2–901 (statutory rule against perpetuities);  (2) a class gift is not but might become invalid under section 2–901 (statutory rule against perpetuities) and the time has arrived when the share of any class member is to take effect in possession or enjoyment; or  (3) a nonvested property interest that is not validated by section 2–901(a)(1) can vest but not within 90 years after its creation.