2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 65 - Taxation of Legacies and Successions › Section 9 - Lien for Tax; Exempt Property; Discharge, Etc.

Section 9. All property subject to tax under this chapter shall be charged with a lien for all such taxes and interest thereon which are or may become due on such property, subject, however, to the following provisions:— (1) Such lien shall not attach to real estate which, during the life of the grantor, is conveyed by recorded or registered deed and transferred in possession or enjoyment by him to the grantee in contemplation of death; (2) Such lien shall cease to attach to all or any part of such property upon payment in full of all taxes certified by the commissioner to be due and to become due with respect thereto; (3) Such lien may be discharged in whole or in part by the commissioner upon such conditions as he shall determine if he is satisfied that collection of the tax will not thereby be jeopardized. The issuance by the commissioner of a certificate of complete or partial discharge shall be conclusive that the lien upon property specified in such certificate is extinguished; (4) Such lien may be discharged by order or decree of the probate court discharging said lien, in whole or in part, and securing the payment to the commonwealth of the tax due or to become due by ordering the transfer of the lien on any particular property to other property of the same decedent or by securing such payment in such manner as the court shall deem just and reasonable; (5) Such lien shall cease to attach to any personal property after the same has been sold or disposed of for value by the person lawfully entitled to make such sale or disposition, and shall cease to attach to real estate after the same has been disposed of by the person lawfully entitled to make such disposition pursuant to license or decree of the probate court; provided, however, that such lien shall forthwith, upon any sale or disposition of such personal or real property, attach to the proceeds or other property acquired in substitution therefor; provided, further, that before a license is issued or a decree entered authorizing a sale or disposition of any property of a non-resident decedent subject to such lien, it shall appear in the records of the probate court by return of service of citation that the commissioner has had notice of the petition for such license or decree giving him an opportunity to be heard, or by written waiver of the commissioner that he has waived his right to be heard and the probate court may make an order securing, in such manner as the court shall deem just and reasonable, the payment to the commonwealth of the taxes due and to become due under this chapter.
The lien charged by this chapter and by corresponding provisions of prior laws upon any real estate shall terminate ten years after the date of death of the deceased, or, in the case of a lien imposed upon a future interest, ten years after the right of possession or enjoyment accrues, unless, prior to such termination, the commissioner of revenue shall have commenced an action to enforce such lien and shall have recorded notice of such action in the registry of deeds for the district where the land upon which the lien is claimed lies, or in case of registered land, in the appropriate registry district. Any such notice shall set forth the name of the deceased, and in the case of registered land, the name of the holder of the outstanding certificate of title of land sought to be charged, and the number of said certificate, and such notice shall be noted thereon.