reglab/statecodes huggingface dataset:
2023 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 205 - Bonds of Executors, Administrators, Guardians, Conservators, Trustees and Receivers › Section 24 - Judge as Obligor

Section 24. If a judge of probate is obligor, either as principal or as surety, in a bond given to a former judge of the court, any action authorized by this chapter may be brought upon such bond in the name of the judge mentioned therein or in the name of his executor or administrator, and the register of probate for the county in which such bond was given may authorize an action thereon in like manner and upon the same conditions as may be done in other cases by the court.
2023 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 205 - Bonds of Executors, Administrators, Guardians, Conservators, Trustees and Receivers › Section 25 - Wife of Probate Judge as Obligor

Section 25. The wife of a judge of probate may be a defendant in an action upon a bond given to him or to his predecessor in such office.
2023 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 205 - Bonds of Executors, Administrators, Guardians, Conservators, Trustees and Receivers › Section 26 - Endorsement of Writ

Section 26. In every action on a bond under sections twenty, twenty-one and twenty-two, the writ shall be endorsed by the persons for whose benefit or at whose request the action is brought or by their attorney, and the endorsers shall be liable for the costs of suit, and execution therefor shall be issued against them and not against the judge. If the action is brought for the benefit of creditors or next of kin, there shall be a further endorsement on the writ specifying that it is brought for the benefit of such creditors or next of kin.
2023 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 205 - Bonds of Executors, Administrators, Guardians, Conservators, Trustees and Receivers › Section 27 - Obligor; Summoning

Section 27. If the principal in the bond is a resident of the commonwealth at the commencement of the action, and is not made a defendant therein or is not served with process, the court may, at the request of any of the sureties, continue or postpone the action so long as may be necessary to summon or bring in the principal as provided in the following section.
2023 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 205 - Bonds of Executors, Administrators, Guardians, Conservators, Trustees and Receivers › Section 28 - Obligor; Failure to Appear; Effect

Section 28. The sureties may take out a writ, in such form as the court may prescribe, to arrest the principal or to attach his goods or estate, and to summon him to appear and answer as defendant in the original action. If, after being served with such process fourteen days at least before the time appointed for him to appear and answer to the action, he neglects so to do, and if judgment is for the plaintiff, such judgment shall be rendered against the principal obligor with the other defendants in the same manner as if he had been originally a party to the action. An attachment or bail on such process shall be liable to respond to the judgment in like manner as if made or taken in the original action.
2023 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 205 - Bonds of Executors, Administrators, Guardians, Conservators, Trustees and Receivers › Section 29 - Actions Upon Bonds Given by Guardians, Conservators, Trustees or Other Fiduciary

Section 29. Except as otherwise provided, a bond given by a guardian, conservator, trustee, receiver, commissioner or other fiduciary officer may be put in suit by order of the probate court for the benefit of any person interested, and the proceedings in such action shall be conducted in like manner as is provided relative to actions on bonds given by executors or administrators.
2023 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 205 - Bonds of Executors, Administrators, Guardians, Conservators, Trustees and Receivers › Section 30 - Venue for Actions Upon Bonds

Section 30. An action on a bond payable to a judge of probate shall be brought in the superior court held for the county where the bond was taken.
2023 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 205 - Bonds of Executors, Administrators, Guardians, Conservators, Trustees and Receivers › Section 31 - Form of Execution

Section 31. If the court finds that there has been a breach of the condition of the bond of an executor or administrator, it shall, upon a hearing in equity, award execution in the name of the plaintiff as follows:
First, If the action is brought for the benefit of a creditor, execution shall be awarded for the use of the creditor for the amount due him upon the judgment which he has recovered, or upon the decree of distribution in his favor.
Second, If the action is brought for the benefit of a person who is next of kin, execution shall be awarded for the use of such person for the amount due him according to the decree of the probate court.
Third, If the action is brought for a breach of the condition in not accounting for the estate as required by law, execution shall be awarded, without expressing that it is for the use of any person, for the full value of all the estate of the deceased which has come to the hands of the executor or administrator and for which he does not satisfactorily account, and for all damages caused by his neglect or maladministration.
Fourth, If the action is brought for any other breach of the condition of the bond, execution shall be awarded for such amount and for the use of such person or persons, or without expressing it to be for the use of any particular person, as the court determines.
Fifth, If there are two or more persons for whose use execution is to be awarded as provided in this section, a separate execution shall be issued for the amount due each.
Sixth, The execution shall include costs of suit, as well as the debt or damages; and if there is more than one execution, costs shall be divided between them as the court orders.
2023 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 205 - Bonds of Executors, Administrators, Guardians, Conservators, Trustees and Receivers › Section 32 - Execution for Use of Particular Person; Procedure

Section 32. If an execution awarded under the preceding section is expressed to be for the use of a particular person, such person shall be considered as the judgment creditor, and may cause it to be levied in his name and for his benefit, as if the action had been brought and the judgment recovered in his name.
2023 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 205 - Bonds of Executors, Administrators, Guardians, Conservators, Trustees and Receivers › Section 33 - Execution for Undesignated Persons; Procedure

Section 33. If such execution is awarded without expressing it to be for the use of any particular person, all money received thereon shall be paid to the co-executor or co-administrator, if any, or to the person who is then the rightful executor or administrator, and shall be assets in his hands to be administered according to law.
2023 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 205 - Bonds of Executors, Administrators, Guardians, Conservators, Trustees and Receivers › Section 34 - New Breach; Effect

Section 34. If, after execution has once been awarded in an action upon a bond, the executor or administrator commits a new breach of the condition of the bond, or if a creditor, next of kin, legatee or other person interested in the estate has a claim for further damages on account of any neglect or maladministration of the executor or administrator, a writ of scire facias on the original judgment may be sued out in like manner as is provided for the commencement of the original action; and the court shall thereupon award a new execution in like manner as might have been done in the original action.
2023 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 205 - Bonds of Executors, Administrators, Guardians, Conservators, Trustees and Receivers › Section 35 - Bond of Guardian or Conservator; Limitation of Action Against Sureties

Section 35. No action shall be maintained against the sureties on a bond given by a guardian or conservator unless commenced within four years from the time of the discharge of the guardian or conservator; but if at the time of such discharge the person entitled to bring such action is out of the commonwealth, it may be commenced within four years after his return.
2023 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 206 - Accounts and Settlements of Executors, Administrators, Guardians, Conservators, Trustees and Receivers › Section 2 - Forms of Accounts

Section 2. Accounts rendered to the probate court by an executor, administrator, trustee, guardian or conservator shall be for a period distinctly stated therein, and consist of three schedules, of which the first shall show the amount of personal property, and with respect to a trustee, guardian or conservator also the amount of the real property, according to the inventory, or, instead thereof, the amount of the balance of the next prior account, as the case may be, and all income and other property received and gains from the sale of any property or otherwise; the second shall show payments, charges, losses and distributions; the third shall show the investment of the balance of such account, if any, and changes of investment. A trustee shall state in his accounts the receipts of principal and income separately and also the payments and charges on account of such principal and income separately.
2023 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 206 - Accounts and Settlements of Executors, Administrators, Guardians, Conservators, Trustees and Receivers › Section 3 - Examination on Oath

Section 3. An executor, administrator, guardian, conservator, trustee or receiver may be examined on oath before the court upon any matters relative to his accounts.
2023 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 206 - Accounts and Settlements of Executors, Administrators, Guardians, Conservators, Trustees and Receivers › Section 4 - Securities and Moneys; Requirement of Production

Section 4. In settling an account of any executor, administrator, trustee, guardian or other fiduciary, the probate court may require him, or any of them if there are more than one, to produce during the proceedings or afterward, as the court may direct, any securities or moneys comprised in the account or any documents relating to the investments of the estate, and to replace any moneys or property that have been improperly applied or disposed of, or the value thereof, and to pay or transfer the same or any moneys or property with which he or they may be charged into a proper account or otherwise, as the court may order, in such manner that the same shall be in the control of the persons entitled thereto; and the proceedings upon every such account shall be considered for all purposes to be proceedings in equity, and orders and decrees of the court therein shall be enforceable accordingly, and execution may issue for any such moneys against the fiduciary personally as upon a judgment at law in favor of the persons entitled to the control thereof, or any of them, for the benefit of all.
2023 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 206 - Accounts and Settlements of Executors, Administrators, Guardians, Conservators, Trustees and Receivers › Section 5 - Property; Accounting; Profits or Losses

Section 5. An executor or administrator with respect to personal property or a guardian, conservator or trustee with respect to real and personal property shall account for such property at its appraised value, but he shall make no profit by the increase nor sustain any loss by the decrease or destruction of any part thereof without his fault. If he sells any of such property for more than its appraised value, he shall account for the excess; if he sells for less than its appraised value, he shall be allowed for the loss if the court finds that the sale was expedient, and for the interest of all concerned; and he shall not be accountable for a debt inventoried as due to the estate if the court finds that it remains uncollected without his fault.
2023 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 206 - Accounts and Settlements of Executors, Administrators, Guardians, Conservators, Trustees and Receivers › Section 6 - Property Subject to Accountings

Section 6. An executor or administrator with respect to personal property including the proceeds from any sale or mortgage of real estate, or a guardian, conservator or trustee with respect to real and personal property, shall be chargeable in his account with all such property of the estate coming to him and which is by law to be administered, although not included in the inventory; and with all interest, profit and income coming to him from the property.
2023 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 206 - Accounts and Settlements of Executors, Administrators, Guardians, Conservators, Trustees and Receivers › Section 7 - Account of Guardian or Conservator of Mentally Ill Person or a Person With an Intellectual Disability; Allowance; Condition Precedent

Section 7. No final account or discharge of a guardian of a person with an intellectual disability shall be allowed unless at least seven days' notice has been given to the department of developmental services in the case of a person with an intellectual disability. No account of a guardian of a mentally ill person or a person with an intellectual disability or of a conservator shall be allowed without such notice as the court may order to the United States veterans' bureau or its successor if the ward is entitled to any benefit, estate or income paid or payable by or through said bureau or its successor.
2023 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 206 - Accounts and Settlements of Executors, Administrators, Guardians, Conservators, Trustees and Receivers › Section 8 - Income From Realty; Accounting; Manner

Section 8. If real estate of a deceased person is used, occupied or taken charge of by an executor or administrator, he shall account for the income and management thereof in the same manner as in the case of personal property.
2023 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 206 - Accounts and Settlements of Executors, Administrators, Guardians, Conservators, Trustees and Receivers › Section 9 - Mortgaged Realty; Manner of Accounting; Right of Entry

Section 9. If a mortgagee of real estate or an assignee of such mortgagee dies without having foreclosed the mortgage, the mortgaged property and the debt secured thereby shall be personal assets in the hands of his executor or administrator, and shall be administered and accounted for as such; and the executor or administrator shall have the same rights of entry and of action under said mortgage as the mortgagee or his assignee.
2023 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 206 - Accounts and Settlements of Executors, Administrators, Guardians, Conservators, Trustees and Receivers › Section 10 - Mortgaged Realty; Redemption; Release

Section 10. Upon the redemption of such mortgage the money paid thereon shall be received by the executor or administrator, and he shall thereupon release and discharge the mortgage; and until such redemption the executor or administrator, if possession has been taken either by himself or by the deceased, shall be seized of the mortgaged property in trust for the persons who would be entitled to the money if the property had been redeemed.
2023 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 206 - Accounts and Settlements of Executors, Administrators, Guardians, Conservators, Trustees and Receivers › Section 11 - Realty Taken by Executor or Administrator on Execution; Personal Assets

Section 11. If an executor or administrator recovers judgment for a debt due the deceased, and levies on real estate, he shall be seized of such real estate in trust for the persons who would have been entitled if the judgment had been satisfied in money; and the real estate so taken shall be considered as personal assets in his hands; and if redeemed, the money shall be received by the executor or administrator, who shall thereupon release the real estate.
2023 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 206 - Accounts and Settlements of Executors, Administrators, Guardians, Conservators, Trustees and Receivers › Section 12 - Realty Held in Mortgage or on Execution; Manner of Sale

Section 12. Real estate held by an executor or administrator in mortgage, or taken on execution by him, may, at any time before the right of redemption is foreclosed, be sold subject to such right, in the same manner as personal property of a person deceased; and after such right has been foreclosed, it may be sold in the same manner as real estate of which the deceased died seized.
2023 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 206 - Accounts and Settlements of Executors, Administrators, Guardians, Conservators, Trustees and Receivers › Section 13 - Realty Held in Mortgage or on Execution; Disposition

Section 13. If real estate so held by an executor or administrator in mortgage or on execution is not redeemed or sold as before provided, it shall be assigned and distributed to the same persons and in the same proportions as if it had been part of the personal property of the deceased; and if upon such distribution the property comes to two or more persons, the probate court may cause partition thereof to be made.
2023 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 206 - Accounts and Settlements of Executors, Administrators, Guardians, Conservators, Trustees and Receivers › Section 14 - Burial Lot and Monument; Allowance

Section 14. A reasonable amount expended for a burial lot and a monument, or for the repair, improvement or embellishment of a burial lot or monument, may be allowed by the court as part of the funeral expenses of a deceased person; and the court may at any time, upon petition of an executor or administrator, after notice, determine the amount which may be expended.
2023 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 206 - Accounts and Settlements of Executors, Administrators, Guardians, Conservators, Trustees and Receivers › Section 15 - Perpetual Care; Costs

Section 15. An executor or administrator may pay to a cemetery corporation or to a town having a burial place therein a reasonable amount for the perpetual care of the lot in which the body of the deceased is buried. The probate court shall determine, after notice, to whom the same shall be paid and the amount thereof, and such amount shall be allowed the executor or administrator in his account.
2023 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 206 - Accounts and Settlements of Executors, Administrators, Guardians, Conservators, Trustees and Receivers › Section 17 - Expense of Procuring Surety Chargeable on Estate

Section 17. Money paid with the approval of the judge of probate to a corporation qualified to act in the commonwealth in guaranteeing the fidelity of persons and in acting as surety on bonds, or to any person for acting as surety on any official bond given to such probate court, may be allowed as a charge against the estate and in the case of trusteeship shall be a charge against principal, except that if and so long as the trust estate shall consist wholly of real estate the money so paid shall be a charge against income.
2023 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 206 - Accounts and Settlements of Executors, Administrators, Guardians, Conservators, Trustees and Receivers › Section 31 - Settlement by Receivers

Section 31. The following claims shall, in the settlement of estates by receivers, be entitled to priority in the order named:
First, Debts due the United States or debts due, or taxes assessed by, the commonwealth or a county, city or town therein.
Second, Wages to an amount of not more than one hundred dollars due an operative, clerk or servant for labor, either performed within one year last preceding the appointment of the receiver or for the payment for which a suit, which was commenced within one year after the performance of the labor, is pending or was terminated within one year after said appointment.
Third, Debts to an amount of not more than fifty dollars due physicians for medical attendance on the debtor or his family, rendered within six months prior to said appointment.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations › Title III - Domestic Relations › Chapter 207 - Marriage › Section 1 - Marriage of Man to Certain Relatives Prohibited

Section 1. No man shall marry his mother, grandmother, daughter, granddaughter, sister, stepmother, grandfather's wife, grandson's wife, wife's mother, wife's grandmother, wife's daughter, wife's granddaughter, brother's daughter, sister's daughter, father's sister or mother's sister.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations › Title III - Domestic Relations › Chapter 207 - Marriage › Section 2 - Marriage of Woman to Certain Relatives Prohibited

Section 2. No woman shall marry her father, grandfather, son, grandson, brother, stepfather, grandmother's husband, daughter's husband, granddaughter's husband, husband's grandfather, husband's son, husband's grandson, brother's son, sister's son, father's brother or mother's brother.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations › Title III - Domestic Relations › Chapter 207 - Marriage › Section 3 - Application of Secs. 1 and 2

Section 3. The prohibition of the two preceding sections shall continue notwithstanding the dissolution, by death or divorce, of the marriage by which the affinity was created, unless the divorce was granted because such marriage was originally unlawful or void.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations › Title III - Domestic Relations › Chapter 207 - Marriage › Section 6 - Marriage During Existence of Former Marriage; Validity

Section 6. If a person, during the lifetime of a husband or wife with whom the marriage is in force, enters into a subsequent marriage contract with due legal ceremony and the parties thereto live together thereafter as husband and wife, and such subsequent marriage contract was entered into by one of the parties in good faith, in the full belief that the former husband or wife was dead, that the former marriage had been annulled by a divorce, or without knowledge of such former marriage, they shall, after the impediment to their marriage has been removed by the death or divorce of the other party to the former marriage, if they continue to live together as husband and wife in good faith on the part of one of them, be held to have been legally married from and after the removal of such impediment, and the issue of such subsequent marriage shall be considered as the legitimate issue of both parents.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations › Title III - Domestic Relations › Chapter 207 - Marriage › Section 8 - Prohibited Marriages Void Without Judgment

Section 8. A marriage solemnized within the commonwealth which is prohibited by reason of consanguinity or affinity between the parties, or of either of them having a former wife or husband living, shall be void without a judgment of divorce or other legal process.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations › Title III - Domestic Relations › Chapter 207 - Marriage › Section 10 - Prohibited Foreign Marriages; Null and Void

Section 10. If any person residing and intending to continue to reside in this commonwealth is disabled or prohibited from contracting marriage under the laws of this commonwealth and goes into another jurisdiction and there contracts a marriage prohibited and declared void by the laws of this commonwealth, such marriage shall be null and void for all purposes in this commonwealth with the same effect as though such prohibited marriage had been entered into in this commonwealth.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations › Title III - Domestic Relations › Chapter 207 - Marriage › Section 14 - Determination of Validity of Marriage

Section 14. If the validity of a marriage is doubted, either party may institute an action for annulling such marriage, or if it is denied or doubted by either party, the other party may institute an action for affirming the marriage. Such action shall be commenced in the same manner as an action for divorce, and all the provisions of chapter two hundred and eight relative to actions for divorce shall, so far as appropriate, apply to actions under this section. Upon proof of the validity or nullity of the marriage, it shall be affirmed or declared void by a judgment of the court, and such judgment of nullity may be made although the marriage was solemnized out of the commonwealth, if at that time and also when the action was commenced the plaintiff had his domicile in the commonwealth, or if he had resided in this commonwealth for five years last preceding the commencement of said action, unless the court finds that he has removed into this commonwealth for the purpose of obtaining said judgment.
The register of probate shall, within two days after the expiration of the appeal period following the entry of a judgment annulling a marriage, or if an appeal was taken within two days after entry of final judgment pursuant to a rescript of the appellate court, send an attested copy thereof to the commissioner of public health, the clerk or registrar of the city or town in the commonwealth where the marriage was solemnized, and the clerk or the registrar of each city and town in the commonwealth where a party to the marriage dwelt at the time of the marriage. The commissioner of public health and every clerk or registrar to whom such an attested copy is sent shall, forthwith upon receipt of such copy, enter upon the margin of his record of the marriage a note of reference to the judgment of annulment.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations › Title III - Domestic Relations › Chapter 207 - Marriage › Section 17 - Issue of Marriage Void by Reason of Prior Marriage

Section 17. If a marriage is declared void by reason of a prior marriage of either party and the court finds that the second marriage was contracted with the full belief of the party who was capable of contracting the second marriage that the former husband or wife was dead, or that the former marriage was void, or that a divorce had been adjudged leaving the party to the former marriage free to marry again, or that there was no former marriage, such finding shall be stated in the judgment, and the issue of the second marriage, if born or begotten before the second marriage was declared void, shall be the legitimate issue of the parent capable of contracting the marriage.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations › Title III - Domestic Relations › Chapter 207 - Marriage › Section 18 - Care and Maintenance of Children After Judgment of Nullity of Marriage; Power of Court

Section 18. Upon or after a judgment of nullity, the court shall have like power to make orders relative to the care, custody and maintenance of the minor children of the parties as upon a judgment of divorce.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations › Title III - Domestic Relations › Chapter 207 - Marriage › Section 19 - Intention of Marriage; Situs; Time; Fees

Section 19. Persons intending to be joined in marriage in the commonwealth shall, not less than three days before their marriage, jointly cause notice of their intention to be filed in the office of the clerk or registrar of any city or town in the commonwealth, and pay the fee provided by clause (42) of section thirty-four of chapter two hundred and sixty-two. In computing the three day period specified in this section and in determining the third day referred to in section twenty-eight, Sundays and holidays shall be counted.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations › Title III - Domestic Relations › Chapter 207 - Marriage › Section 20 - Intention of Marriage; Written Notice; Oath

Section 20. The clerk shall require written notice of intention of marriage, on forms furnished by the state registrar of vital records and statistics, containing such information as is required by law and also a statement of absence of any legal impediment to the marriage, to be given before such town clerk under oath by both of the parties to the intended marriage; provided, that if a registered physician makes affidavit to the satisfaction of the town clerk that a party is unable, by reason of illness, to appear, such notice may be given on behalf of such party, by his or her parent or legal guardian, or, in case there is no parent or legal guardian competent to act, or by the other party. Said forms containing the parties' written notice of intent to marry shall constitute a public record. In addition to such forms, the town clerk shall also require the parties to furnish information required for a separate report to be transmitted to the state registrar, including the social security number and residence address of both parties and such other information as may be required by state or federal law. A copy of said report shall not be retained by the town clerk nor shall it constitute a public record. The state registrar may make the information contained in said separate report available to the IV–D agency as set forth in chapter 119A and to such other state or federal agencies as may be required by state or federal law. In case of persons, one or both of whom are in the armed forces, such notice may be given by either party, provided that one is domiciled within the commonwealth. In the case of persons, one of whom is incarcerated in a county house of correction, or a state correctional facility, such notice shall be given by either party to the intended marriage. The oath or affirmation to such notice shall be to the truth of all the statements contained therein whereof the party subscribing the same could have knowledge, and may be given before the town clerk or before a regularly employed clerk in his office designated by him in writing and made a matter of record in the office. No fee shall be charged for administering such oath or affirmation. In towns having an assistant town clerk, he may administer the oath.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations › Title III - Domestic Relations › Chapter 207 - Marriage › Section 25 - Nonage Minors; Divorce; Annulment; Protective Orders

Section 25. Notwithstanding sections 7, 24 and 33A or any other general or special law to the contrary, any minor who is married may avail themself of all legal remedies and relief that would otherwise be available if they were not a minor, in order to initiate proceedings for divorce under chapter 208, annulment under chapter 207 and protective orders under chapters 209A and 258E.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations › Title III - Domestic Relations › Chapter 207 - Marriage › Section 26 - Intention of Marriage; Notice Without Consent; Liability; Cancellation

Section 26. Whoever, without the consent of both parties to an intended marriage, gives the notice of their intention of marriage required by law shall be liable in damages to either of such parties whose name was so used without such consent. The superior court, upon petition of either party alleged to intend marriage in such a notice given without the consent of both parties, and not followed by their intermarriage, may, after notice and a hearing, order that such notice of intention be cancelled in the town records.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations › Title III - Domestic Relations › Chapter 207 - Marriage › Section 27 - Intention of Marriage; Adopted Persons

[Text of section effective until July 1, 2022. For text effective July 1, 2022, see below.]
Section 27. A party to an intended marriage who has been legally adopted shall, in the notice of intention thereof, give the names of his parents by adoption; and the names of his parents may also be added. The consent of a parent by adoption to the marriage of a minor shall be sufficient if the consent of a parent of a minor is required by law as a preliminary to marriage. If the natural parents of a minor have been divorced and the consent of one of them is required by law, preliminary to the marriage of such minor, the consent of the parent having the custody of such minor shall be sufficient.
Chapter 207: Section 27. Intention of marriage; adopted persons
[Text of section as amended by 2022, 126, Sec. 84 effective July 1, 2022. See 2022, 126, Sec. 197. For text effective until July 1, 2022, see above.]
Section 27. A party to an intended marriage who has been legally adopted shall, in the notice of intention thereof, give the names of his parents by adoption; and the names of his parents may also be added.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations › Title III - Domestic Relations › Chapter 207 - Marriage › Section 28 - Certificate of Intention of Marriage; Delivery; Time

Section 28. On or after the third day from the filing of notice of intention of marriage, except as otherwise provided, but not in any event later than sixty days after such filing, the clerk or registrar shall deliver to the parties a certificate signed by him, specifying the date when notice was filed with him and all facts relative to the marriage which are required by law to be ascertained and recorded, except those relative to the person by whom the marriage is to be solemnized. Such certificate shall be delivered to the minister or magistrate before whom the marriage is to be contracted, before he proceeds to solemnize the same. If such certificate is not sooner used, it shall be returned to the office issuing it within sixty days after the date when notice of intention of marriage was filed.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations › Title III - Domestic Relations › Chapter 207 - Marriage › Section 29 - Certificate of Intention of Marriage; Issuance to Immigrants

Section 29. If either of the parties to an intended marriage has arrived as an immigrant from a foreign country within five days, the notice of intention may be filed at any time before the marriage, and the certificate required by the preceding section shall be issued at any time after the filing of such intention.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations › Title III - Domestic Relations › Chapter 207 - Marriage › Section 30 - Certificate of Intention of Marriage; Dispensing With Three Days' Notice

Section 30. Upon application by both of the parties to an intended marriage, when both parties are residents of the commonwealth or both parties are non-residents, or upon application of the party residing within the commonwealth when one of the parties is a resident and the other a non-resident, a judge of probate or a justice of a district court, or a special judge of probate and insolvency or special justice of a district court, may, after hearing such evidence as is presented, grant a certificate stating that in his opinion it is expedient that the intended marriage be solemnized without delay. Upon presentation of such a certificate, or, in extraordinary or emergency cases when the death of either party is imminent, upon the authoritative request of a minister, clergyman, priest, rabbi, authorized representative of a Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is or attending physician, the clerk or registrar of the town where the notice of intention has been filed shall at once issue the certificate prescribed in section twenty-eight.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations › Title III - Domestic Relations › Chapter 207 - Marriage › Section 31 - Certificate of Intention of Marriage; Prohibition of Alteration

Section 31. No alteration or erasure shall be made by any person on the certificate under section twenty-eight until it has been returned to the clerk or registrar, and then only in such form and to such extent as he may prescribe. Any such certificate may be recorded after correction in accordance herewith.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations › Title III - Domestic Relations › Chapter 207 - Marriage › Section 33a - Intention of Marriage; Proof of Age

Section 33A. The clerk or registrar shall not issue a certificate under section 28 before receiving proof of age of the parties and verifying that both parties are not less than 18 years of age. Such proof shall be contained in any of the following documents, graded and taking precedence in the following order: (i) an original or certified copy of a record of birth; (ii) an original or certified copy of a baptismal record; (iii) a passport; (iv) a life insurance policy; (v) an employment certificate; (vi) a school record; (vii) an immigration record; (viii) a naturalization record; or (ix) a court record. The clerk or registrar shall not accept documentary evidence of a lower grade unless the clerk or registrar is satisfied that evidence of a higher grade is not readily procurable.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations › Title III - Domestic Relations › Chapter 207 - Marriage › Section 35 - Refusal of Certificate of Intention of Marriage

Section 35. The clerk or registrar may refuse to issue a certificate if he has reasonable cause to believe that any of the statements contained in the notice of intention of marriage are incorrect; but he may, in his discretion, accept depositions under oath, made before him, which shall be sufficient proof of the facts therein stated to authorize the issuing of a certificate. He may also dispense with the statement of any facts required by law to be given in a notice of intention of marriage, if they do not relate to or affect the identification or age of the parties, or a former marriage of either party, if he is satisfied that the same cannot with reasonable effort be obtained.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations › Title III - Domestic Relations › Chapter 207 - Marriage › Section 36 - Marriages Without Commonwealth by Citizens; Filing of Certificate of Intention of Marriage

Section 36. Any resident of this commonwealth who marries outside the commonwealth and thereafter resides within the United States or any of its territories or possessions, or the spouse or heirs-at-law of such a person, may personally present to the town clerk or registrar of the town where such person was domiciled at the time of said marriage an original certificate, declaration or other written evidence of the same, or a photostatic copy thereof. The clerk or registrar may file such certificate, declaration, written evidence or photostatic copy as evidence establishing such marriage, or may make a copy thereof, which he shall attest as a true copy, and which he may then file as such evidence.
If such certificate, declaration, written evidence, photostatic copy or attested copy is not, in the opinion of the clerk or registrar, sufficient to establish such marriage, and he refuses to file the same, a judge of probate in the county wherein such town lies may, on petition and after a hearing, at which the clerk shall have an opportunity to be heard, order him to receive such certificate, declaration, written evidence, photostatic copy or attested copy as sufficient evidence to establish such marriage, whereupon such clerk or registrar shall file the same.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations › Title III - Domestic Relations › Chapter 207 - Marriage › Section 37 - Impediments to Marriage; List; Posting

Section 37. The commissioner of public health shall furnish to the clerk or registrar of every town a printed list of all legal impediments to marriage, and the clerk or registrar shall forthwith post and thereafter maintain it in a conspicuous place in his office.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part II - Real and Personal Property and Domestic Relations › Title III - Domestic Relations › Chapter 207 - Marriage › Section 38 - Solemnization of Marriage; Situs; Persons Authorized

Section 38. A marriage may be solemnized in any place within the commonwealth by the following persons who are residents of the commonwealth: a duly ordained minister of the gospel in good and regular standing with his church or denomination, including an ordained deacon in The United Methodist Church or in the Roman Catholic Church; a commissioned cantor or duly ordained rabbi of the Jewish faith; by a justice of the peace if he is also clerk or assistant clerk of a city or town, or a registrar or assistant registrar, or a clerk or assistant clerk of a court or a clerk or assistant clerk of the senate or house of representatives, by a justice of the peace if he has been designated as provided in the following section and has received a certificate of designation and has qualified thereunder; an authorized representative of a Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is in accordance with the usage of their community; a priest or minister of the Buddhist religion; a minister in fellowship with the Unitarian Universalist Association and ordained by a local church; a leader of an Ethical Culture Society which is duly established in the commonwealth and recognized by the American Ethical Union and who is duly appointed and in good and regular standing with the American Ethical Union; the Imam of the Orthodox Islamic religion; and, it may be solemnized in a regular or special meeting for worship conducted by or under the oversight of a Friends or Quaker Monthly Meeting in accordance with the usage of their Society; and, it may be solemnized by a duly ordained nonresident minister of the gospel if he is a pastor of a church or denomination duly established in the commonwealth and who is in good and regular standing as a minister of such church or denomination, including an ordained deacon in The United Methodist Church or in the Roman Catholic Church; and, it may be solemnized according to the usage of any other church or religious organization which shall have complied with the provisions of the second paragraph of this section.
Churches and other religious organizations shall file in the office of the state secretary information relating to persons recognized or licensed as aforesaid, and relating to usages of such organizations, in such form and at such times as the secretary may require.