Estate Inventory and Appraisement Requirements in Massachusetts
At a glance
| Governing law and administration type | MUPC estate administration; mandatory inventory with filing-or-mailing choice (G.L. c. 190B, § 3-706) |
|---|---|
| Who prepares, signs, and verifies | Representative prepares; filed MPC 854 carries fiduciary certification and perjury signatures (§ 3-706; MPC 854) |
| Deadline, trigger, and extension | Within 3 months after appointment; § 3-706 states no extension standard |
| Court filing or private delivery | File copy/original with court, or mail copy to all reasonably locatable interested persons (§ 3-706(c)) |
| Property scope, exclusions, and encumbrances | Original: property owned at death; successor: estate property; reasonable detail and encumbrance type/amount (§ 3-706(a)-(b)) |
| Valuation date and method | Original uses death-date fair market value; successor uses appointment-date fair market value (§ 3-706(a)-(b)) |
| Appraiser requirement and qualifications | Optional one or more qualified, disinterested appraisers for reasonably doubtful values (§ 3-707) |
| Recipients, confidentiality, and access | Private route mails all interested persons with reasonably available addresses; no special confidentiality rule in § 3-706 |
| Correction, supplementation, and noncompliance | No general statutory supplement—§ 3-708 reserved; removal possible for duty breach (§ 3-611) |
Requirements one by one
Preparation, deadline, and route
Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 190B, § 3-706 gives the personal representative three months after appointment to prepare the inventory. The section states no general extension standard.
The representative then chooses one of two routes: file a copy with the court, or mail a copy to all interested persons whose addresses are reasonably available. The representative may file the original instead of only a copy. Private mailing is therefore an alternative to ordinary filing, not an extra step after filing.
Different inventories for original and successor representatives
Section 3-706 creates two valuation snapshots. An original representative lists property the decedent owned at death and uses fair market value as of death. A successor instead inventories estate property and values each item as of the successor's appointment:
“Within 3 months after appointment, a successor personal representative shall prepare an inventory of the property of the estate.”
Both inventories list property in reasonable detail and disclose the type and amount of each encumbrance.
Filed-form certification and gross real-estate value
The court-promulgated MPC 854 asks the fiduciary, and a cofiduciary if applicable, to sign under penalties of perjury that the inventory is complete and accurate. Its personal-property and real-estate schedules call for the current loan, mortgage, or lien balance. For real estate, the form expressly defines the value column as fair market value without deducting a mortgage or lien.
Those filed-form requirements do not change the statute's alternative private mailing route. Section 3-706 itself requires preparation by the representative but does not add a statutory oath or notarization requirement.
Optional appraisers
Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 190B, § 3-707 permits one or more qualified and disinterested appraisers to help value an asset whose value may reasonably be in doubt. Different appraisers may handle different kinds of assets. The section does not make an outside appraisal universal and does not require an appraiser's certificate, signature, name, address, report, or license to accompany the inventory.
No general supplementary-inventory section
Massachusetts did not adopt the UPC provision commonly numbered § 3-708. The current official Article III index marks that section reserved, so there is no general statutory supplementary-inventory deadline or route in that section. An omission or error may still require action under a court order or the representative's fiduciary duties, but it should not be described as a § 3-708 supplement procedure.
Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 190B, § 3-611 allows an interested person to petition for removal. Cause includes disregarding a court order, mismanaging the estate, or failing to perform a duty of office.
What trips people up
The valuation date changes when a successor takes over. Reusing the decedent's date of death for every item in a successor's inventory conflicts with the appointment-date rule in § 3-706(b).
An encumbrance is disclosed separately. MPC 854 specifically instructs a filer to state real estate at fair market value without subtracting a mortgage or lien.
Court filing is not the only ordinary route. A representative who does not file must mail the inventory to every interested person whose address is reasonably available; the statute does not narrow that class to heirs or devisees.
Common questions
Must every inventory use MPC 854?
The court promulgates MPC 854 for a filed inventory. Section 3-706 separately allows private mailing to interested persons and does not say that a privately mailed inventory must use that court form.
Is a professional appraisal mandatory?
No. Section 3-707 makes qualified, disinterested appraisal help optional for an asset whose value may reasonably be in doubt.
Does Massachusetts require an appraiser certificate?
Section 3-707 does not. It authorizes appraisal assistance but states no certificate, inventory signature, or report requirement for the appraiser.
Statutes and sources
- Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 190B, § 3-706 — original and successor inventories, deadlines, property, valuation dates, encumbrances, filing, and mailing: https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartII/TitleII/Chapter190B/Section3-706 (accessed 2026-08-10).
- Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 190B, § 3-707 — optional qualified, disinterested appraisers: https://www.mass.gov/info-details/mass-general-laws-c190b-ss-3-707 (accessed 2026-08-10).
- Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 190B, § 3-611 — petition and causes for removal: https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartII/TitleII/Chapter190B/Section3-611 (accessed 2026-08-10).
- Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 190B, Article III index — confirms § 3-708 is reserved: https://www.mass.gov/lists/mgl-190b-article-iii-probate-of-wills-and-administration (accessed 2026-08-10).
- Mass. Probate & Family Court Form MPC 854 — filed-form certification, signatures, schedules, encumbrance balances, and gross real-estate value: https://courtforms.jud.state.ma.us/publicforms/PFC0108 (accessed 2026-08-10).
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.
What does Massachusetts law mean for your facts?
You just read the general rule. Ask your own question and see which parts of current Massachusetts law apply to your situation, with citations you can check.
Opens in Ezel Pro.
- Starts from the statutes this survey is built on
- Cites every source it relies on, so you can verify it
- Chat, drafting and research in one workspace