Massachusetts trusts are governed primarily by the Massachusetts Uniform Trust Code, General Laws chapter 203E, which took effect in 2012 and brought the Commonwealth’s long tradition of trust law into a single statute. Massachusetts has one of the oldest bodies of trust law in the country, and many of its common-law doctrines, from the nominee trust used to hold real estate to the Supreme Judicial Court’s recognition of trust decanting, still shape how trusts work here. Whether you are creating a trust, serving as a trustee, or receiving distributions as a beneficiary, the rules on this page apply.
This is the hub page for Massachusetts trust law on the Holmes Law site. It covers the trust code, the main types of trusts, trustee duties and reporting, deadlines for contesting a trust or suing a trustee, modification and termination, decanting, spendthrift protection, the Massachusetts perpetuities rule, and how Massachusetts taxes trust income. The individual trust types each have their own page, starting with the MA Revocable Trust and MA Irrevocable Trusts. For the broader planning context, see Massachusetts Estate Planning.
The Massachusetts Uniform Trust Code
Chapter 203E is based on the national Uniform Trust Code, but Massachusetts modified it in several ways and left some articles partly reserved. It applies to express trusts, both lifetime and testamentary, and to charitable trusts. Section 105 lists the rules that a trust instrument cannot override, including:
- The requirements for creating a trust;
- The trustee’s duty to act in good faith and in accordance with the trust’s terms and purposes and the interests of the beneficiaries;
- The requirement that the trust have a lawful purpose;
- The court’s power to modify or terminate a trust under §§ 410 to 416;
- The effect of spendthrift provisions and the rights of certain creditors under article 5;
- The court’s power to adjust unreasonable trustee compensation and to police exculpatory clauses; and
- The court’s general power to act in the interests of justice.
Everything else, including most trustee powers and administrative rules, is a default that a well-drafted instrument can change.
Trusts Involving Massachusetts Real Estate
Under G.L. c. 203, § 1, a trust concerning land, other than one arising by operation of law, must be created by a signed written instrument. Massachusetts also has a statutory trustee’s certificate. Under G.L. c. 184, § 35, a certificate signed under the penalties of perjury by a trustee of record, certifying the identity of the trustees or beneficiaries or the trustees’ authority, binds the trust in favor of a purchaser or other person relying on it in good faith. Recording a trustee’s certificate is the routine way to prove authority when trust-owned real estate is sold or mortgaged.
Types of Massachusetts Trusts
- Revocable living trusts, used to avoid probate, manage property during incapacity, and implement estate tax planning. See MA Revocable Trust.
- Irrevocable trusts, including life insurance trusts, spousal lifetime access trusts, and MassHealth planning trusts. See MA Irrevocable Trusts.
- Supplemental and special needs trusts for beneficiaries who receive SSI, MassHealth, or other needs-based benefits. See MA Special Needs Trusts.
- Charitable trusts, including charitable remainder and lead trusts. See MA Charitable Trusts.
- Testamentary trusts created in a will and funded after probate.
- Nominee trusts, a Massachusetts real estate device in which the trustee holds record title and acts only at the direction of the beneficiaries, often used for privacy and ease of transfer.
- Pet trusts, expressly valid under § 408 for the care of animals alive during the settlor’s lifetime.
Trustee Duties Under Chapter 203E
Article 8 of the code sets out the trustee’s core obligations: to administer the trust in good faith according to its terms and purposes, to act with loyalty solely in the beneficiaries’ interests, to treat multiple beneficiaries impartially, to administer prudently, to keep trust property separate and identified, and to enforce and defend claims. Investment decisions are measured by the prudent investor standard.
Notice and Reporting
Massachusetts imposes a specific notice timetable. Under § 813(b), within 30 days after accepting the trusteeship or after the trust becomes irrevocable, whichever is later, the trustee must inform the qualified beneficiaries in writing of the trustee’s name and address. Under § 813(c), the trustee must send an account at least annually and at termination to current distributees and permissible distributees, and to other qualified beneficiaries who request it. The account must show trust property, liabilities, receipts, disbursements, trustee compensation, and a listing of assets with market values where feasible. A beneficiary may waive accounts, but a waiver does not relieve the trustee from liability for what the account would have disclosed.
While a trust is revocable and the settlor has capacity, § 603 provides that the trustee’s duties are owed exclusively to the settlor. Reporting to other beneficiaries begins in earnest when the trust becomes irrevocable, usually at the settlor’s death.
Distribution Proposals
Section 817 gives Massachusetts trustees a useful tool on termination. A trustee may send beneficiaries a written proposal for distribution. If the proposal informs the beneficiary of the right to object and the time to do so, and provides sufficient material facts, a beneficiary who does not object within 30 days loses the right to object.
Choosing and Paying a Massachusetts Trustee
A trustee can be an individual, several individuals acting together, or a bank or trust company. Many Massachusetts families pair a family member, who knows the beneficiaries, with an independent co-trustee or a professional, who brings investment and administrative discipline. Independence also matters for tax reasons: a beneficiary serving as sole trustee with unlimited discretion over distributions to themselves can create estate tax inclusion, so distribution standards such as health, education, maintenance, and support are commonly used.
Trustees are entitled to reasonable compensation unless the instrument says otherwise, and under § 105 the court retains power to adjust compensation set by the trust that is unreasonably low or high. A trustee who resigns, becomes incapacitated, or dies is replaced under the trust’s succession provisions, or by the court if the instrument is silent.
Deadlines for Contesting a Massachusetts Trust
Challenges to a trust that was revocable at the settlor’s death are governed by § 604. A person must bring a contest within the earlier of one year after the settlor’s death, or 60 days after the trustee sent that person a copy of the trust instrument and a notice of the trust’s existence, the trustee’s name and address, and the time allowed for bringing a proceeding. That 60-day window is shorter than the corresponding periods in California and many other states, and it gives Massachusetts trustees a practical way to bring finality to an administration.
Claims against a trustee for breach of trust are governed by § 1005:
- A claim is barred six months after a beneficiary receives a final account or statement fully disclosing the matter and showing termination of the trust relationship.
- Even without full disclosure, claims are barred three years after the beneficiary receives a final account or statement and is told where records can be examined.
- Otherwise, a beneficiary has three years from when they knew or reasonably should have known of a potential claim.
- In all other cases, a proceeding must be brought within five years after the trustee’s removal, resignation, or death, the end of the beneficiary’s interest, or the trust’s termination.
Modifying or Terminating a Massachusetts Trust
An irrevocable trust in Massachusetts is not necessarily frozen. The code offers several paths:
- Consent of settlor and beneficiaries, § 411(a): the court may approve a modification or termination even if it is inconsistent with a material purpose.
- Consent of beneficiaries, § 411(b): termination if the trust is no longer needed for any material purpose, or modification not inconsistent with a material purpose.
- Unanticipated circumstances, § 412: the court may modify administrative or dispositive terms, or terminate the trust, to further its purposes.
- Uneconomic trusts, § 414: after notice to qualified beneficiaries, a trustee may terminate a trust worth less than $200,000 if the value no longer justifies the cost of administration.
Massachusetts courts have also long entertained petitions for reformation to correct scrivener’s errors or achieve tax objectives, often with notice to the Internal Revenue Service.
Revocable Trusts Can Be Changed More Easily
Under § 602, a trust is revocable unless its terms expressly say it is irrevocable. The settlor may amend or revoke it by the method stated in the trust or, if none is stated, by any method showing clear and convincing evidence of intent. An agent under a power of attorney may exercise the settlor’s powers only if both the trust and the power expressly authorize it.
Decanting in Massachusetts
Massachusetts has no decanting statute. Instead, decanting rests on common law. In Morse v. Kraft, 466 Mass. 92 (2013), the Supreme Judicial Court held that a trustee with broad discretion to distribute principal for a beneficiary could distribute it to a new trust for the same beneficiary without court approval, based on the terms of the original trust. Whether decanting is available in a particular case depends on the language of the trust and the scope of the trustee’s discretion, so each situation requires a close reading of the instrument. Many modern Massachusetts trusts include an express decanting clause to remove the doubt.
Spendthrift Protection and Creditor Rights
Under § 502, a spendthrift provision is valid if it restrains both voluntary and involuntary transfer, and a term stating that an interest is held subject to a “spendthrift trust” is enough. A creditor of a beneficiary generally cannot reach the interest or a distribution before the beneficiary receives it.
The protection does not extend to the settlor’s own interest. Under § 505, the property of a revocable trust is subject to the settlor’s creditors during life and, after death, to the extent the probate estate is inadequate for claims, funeral expenses, and statutory allowances. For an irrevocable trust, a settlor’s creditor may reach the maximum amount that could be distributed to or for the settlor. Massachusetts has not enacted a domestic asset protection trust statute, which is discussed further on MA Irrevocable Trusts.
The Massachusetts Rule Against Perpetuities
Massachusetts follows the Uniform Statutory Rule Against Perpetuities, codified at G.L. c. 190B, § 2-901. A nonvested interest is valid if it is certain to vest or terminate within 21 years after the death of an individual then alive, or if it actually vests or terminates within 90 years after its creation. Because Massachusetts has not repealed the rule, a Massachusetts-governed trust cannot last indefinitely. Families who want a true multigenerational dynasty trust sometimes use the law of a state that has repealed or extended the rule, which raises choice-of-law and trustee-location questions.
How Massachusetts Taxes Trust Income
Massachusetts taxes trust income under G.L. c. 62, § 10. The statute reaches trustees of trusts created by a person who was a Massachusetts inhabitant when the trust was created, during the tax year, or at death, and trustees under the will of a Massachusetts decedent, but only if at least one trustee is a Massachusetts inhabitant. Trustee location therefore matters: a trust created by a Massachusetts resident with no Massachusetts trustee is generally treated differently. Section 10(c) also expressly excludes charitable remainder annuity trusts and unitrusts and pooled income funds from these rules. Taxable income is generally taxed to the extent it is payable to or accumulated for Massachusetts inhabitants, and income accumulated for unborn or unascertained persons is taxed as if accumulated for a Massachusetts inhabitant.
Trusts file Form 2, the Massachusetts fiduciary income tax return. Since 2023, Massachusetts has imposed an additional 4% surtax on taxable income above an inflation-indexed threshold, and it applies to trusts and estates as well as individuals. A single large capital gain inside a non-grantor trust can trigger the surtax. Distribution planning and grantor trust status are the main tools for managing it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Massachusetts require trusts to be filed with the court?
No. A lifetime trust is a private document and is generally not filed with the Probate and Family Court. Trustees of trusts that hold real estate typically record a trustee’s certificate under G.L. c. 184, § 35 rather than the full trust.
How long do I have to contest a Massachusetts trust?
For a trust that was revocable at death, the earlier of one year after death or 60 days after the trustee sends you the trust and the required notice, under § 604.
Is a beneficiary entitled to see the trust accounts?
Current beneficiaries are generally entitled to an annual account under § 813(c), and other qualified beneficiaries may request one. Beneficiaries may waive accounts, but they can withdraw the waiver for the future.
Can a Massachusetts trustee move a trust to another state?
Often yes, if the instrument allows a change of situs or the court approves it. Tax consequences under G.L. c. 62, § 10 should be analyzed first.
Can a Massachusetts trust last forever?
No. Under the Uniform Statutory Rule Against Perpetuities in § 2-901, interests must vest or terminate within 90 years or within 21 years after the death of a person alive when the trust was created.
Speak With a Massachusetts Trusts Attorney
Holmes Law is a remote practice led by Michael Holmes, a Massachusetts-licensed attorney who drafts and reviews Massachusetts trusts and advises trustees on notice, accounting, and distribution under chapter 203E. To discuss a trust you are creating, serving on, or benefiting from, contact Holmes Law in Massachusetts. General background is also available on the estate planning page.