Can You Contest a Will in Massachusetts?

Yes, and the deadline is more generous than most people are told, but it is also more specific. Under M.G.L. c. 190B, sec. 3-108, a proceeding to contest an informally probated will, and to seek appointment of the person with legal priority if the contest succeeds, may be commenced within the later of twelve months from the informal probate or three years from the date of death. The usual grounds are lack of testamentary capacity, undue influence, improper execution under sec. 2-502, and fraud. The first practical step is usually not litigation at all: it is finding out whether the will has already been informally probated, because that filing is what starts the twelve-month clock and it happens without a hearing that anyone attends. Massachusetts also requires the person filing for informal probate to give seven days’ written notice to all heirs and devisees beforehand, so a family member who received a letter about an estate has already been put on notice. To have a specific situation reviewed, call Jim Glaser Law at (617) JIM-WINS. The line is answered 24 hours a day, and the first telephone consultation is offered without charge.

The Deadline, Stated Precisely

Section 3-108 sets a general rule and then carves out exceptions. The general rule is that no informal probate or appointment proceeding, and no formal testacy or appointment proceeding, may be commenced more than three years after the decedent’s death, other than a proceeding to probate a will previously probated at the testator’s domicile and appointment proceedings relating to an estate in which there has been a prior appointment.

Clause (3) of the exceptions is the will-contest provision. It permits a proceeding to contest an informally probated will and to secure appointment of the person with legal priority for appointment in the event the contest is successful, commenced “within the later of 12 months from the informal probate or 3 years from the decedent’s death.”

The word “later” changes the answer depending on when the will was filed:

• A will informally probated two months after the death: the three-year mark from the death is later, so the challenger has roughly three years.
• A will informally probated thirty-four months after the death: twelve months from that informal probate runs past the three-year mark, so that longer period controls.

Anyone working from a flat “three years from death” rule, or from a “thirty days” rule borrowed from the citation practice in a formal proceeding, can get this wrong in both directions. The date of the informal probate is a fact worth establishing early, from the register’s file, before any strategy is set.

Why Families Often Do Not Find Out in Time

Informal probate is designed to move without a hearing. A magistrate reviews the paperwork and, if it is in order, allows the will and appoints the personal representative. There is no courtroom appearance for a relative to attend and no judge who hears an objection along the way.

What Massachusetts requires instead is notice, and the notice runs before the filing. Section 3-306 obliges the petitioner to give written notice seven days prior to petitioning, by delivery or ordinary mail, to all heirs and devisees, to anyone with a prior or equal right to appointment who has not waived it in writing, and to any personal representative whose appointment has not been terminated. Publication follows within thirty days after the appointment. The statute also requires that the notice state that the estate is being administered under informal procedure without supervision by the court, and that inventory and accounts are not required to be filed.

That letter is the moment most families are, in law, put on notice. It arrives looking like routine paperwork, and it is easy to set aside. Anyone who has doubts about a will should treat the arrival of that notice as the start of a clock rather than a formality, and should pull the file at the register of probate to confirm what was actually filed and when.

The Grounds

Lack of testamentary capacity. The question is whether the person understood, at the time of signing, the nature of the act, the general nature and extent of their property, and the people who would naturally be the objects of their bounty. Capacity is measured at the moment of execution. A diagnosis of dementia does not by itself establish incapacity, and the absence of a diagnosis does not defeat a claim; contemporaneous medical records, the observations of the witnesses, and the circumstances of the signing carry the weight.

Undue influence. The claim is that someone in a position of influence over the testator substituted their own intent for the testator’s, so the document expresses the influencer’s wishes rather than the testator’s. Undue influence claims typically turn on a pattern: a beneficiary who controlled access to the person, who arranged the drafting or transported the testator to the signing, who benefited by a dramatic and unexplained departure from a prior plan, combined with dependency, isolation, or declining health.

Improper execution. Section 2-502 requires a will to be in writing, signed by the testator or in the testator’s name by another individual in the testator’s conscious presence and at the testator’s direction, and signed by at least two individuals who each witnessed the signing or the testator’s acknowledgment. A document that fails those requirements can be challenged on its face. Notarization is not among the requirements; a will without a notary is not defective for that reason.

Fraud. This covers a will procured by deception, such as misrepresentations that induced the terms, or a document signed under a false understanding of what it was.

A later will or a revocation. Not every challenge attacks the mental state of the testator. Sometimes the strongest position is simply that a later document exists, or that the will offered was revoked.

Formal Proceedings, and Why the Choice Matters

A contest is brought as a formal proceeding, before a judge, in the Probate and Family Court division for the county where the person lived. That is a different posture from the informal track, and it changes what the court supervises.

Where a family already anticipates a fight, filing formally from the outset is usually better than allowing an informal probate to be entered and then attacking it. Converting after the fact costs time, and in the meantime a personal representative appointed informally is operating without the inventory and account filings that formal supervision brings.

Two proceedings are not subject to the three-year limit at all. The final sentence of section 3-108 provides that its limitations do not apply to proceedings to construe probated wills, or to determine the heirs of an intestate. A dispute about what an admitted will means, as opposed to whether it is valid, sits outside the deadline.

What Happens If the Contest Succeeds

A successful challenge does not hand the estate to the person who brought it. It removes the document, and the estate then passes under whatever governs in its absence.

If there is an earlier valid will, that document controls. This is why the existence of a prior will, and the degree to which the challenged document departs from it, matters so much to how a contest is evaluated at the outset. If there is no earlier will, the estate is intestate and passes under the statutory scheme: the surviving spouse’s share under section 2-102, and the remainder under section 2-103 to descendants, then parents, then the descendants of parents, then next of kin.

Control of the administration changes too. Section 3-108(3) frames the contest proceeding as one brought both to contest the informally probated will and to secure appointment of the person with legal priority for appointment if the contest succeeds. Priority runs under section 3-203: the person named in a probated will, then a surviving spouse who is a devisee, then other devisees, then the surviving spouse, then other heirs. Where the will that named the personal representative falls, the priority list resets to what applies without it.

Building the Record

Contests are won on documents and timelines far more often than on testimony about what someone said years ago. The material worth gathering early includes:

The court file. The register of probate holds the petition, the will as offered, the date of the informal probate, and the certificate of notice showing who was told and when. Everything about the deadline analysis starts here.

The drafting attorney’s file. Intake notes, drafts, correspondence, and billing records show who initiated the engagement, who was present at meetings, who communicated the instructions, and whether the testator was ever seen alone. In an undue influence case this file is frequently the center of gravity.

Medical records around the execution date. Capacity is assessed at the moment of signing. Records from the weeks on either side, along with medication lists and any cognitive assessments, speak to that moment far better than a later diagnosis does.

The witnesses and the notary. Section 2-502 requires at least two witnesses. What they observed, whether they were present together, and whether they knew the testator at all can be decisive on an improper-execution claim.

Financial records. Account statements, transfers, and changes to beneficiary designations in the same period often show whether a pattern of influence extended beyond the will itself.

Prior estate planning documents. An unexplained reversal of a long-standing plan is the single most common factual signature of an undue influence claim.

What Else Is Running at the Same Time

A family weighing a challenge should keep the rest of the estate’s calendar in view. Section 3-803 bars most creditor actions against the personal representative unless commenced within one year of the date of death, which is why an ordinary estate is not distributed before that anniversary. That same period is often when the underlying facts of a contest become visible: the account records, the drafting attorney’s file, the medical records, and the timeline of who was present in the last months.

Acting early preserves options. Witnesses can still be located, memories are fresher, and assets have not yet been distributed and spent. For the surrounding calendar, see how long a Massachusetts probate takes, and for what happens to an estate with no valid will, see dying without a will in Massachusetts. The practice-area overview is at Massachusetts probate and estate planning.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How long do I have to contest a will in Massachusetts? Under M.G.L. c. 190B, sec. 3-108, a proceeding to contest an informally probated will may be commenced within the later of twelve months from the informal probate or three years from the date of death. Which of the two controls depends on when the will was filed, so establishing the date of the informal probate from the register’s file is the first step.

Q: Who can contest a will? A person with a legal interest that the will affects: an heir who would take under intestacy, a beneficiary under the will or under an earlier will, or someone with a prior or equal right to appointment as personal representative. A person with no interest in the estate has no standing to challenge it.

Q: What are the grounds for contesting a will in Massachusetts? Lack of testamentary capacity at the time of signing, undue influence, improper execution under sec. 2-502, fraud, and the existence of a later will or a revocation. Disappointment in the outcome is not a ground.

Q: The will was already allowed informally. Is it too late? Not necessarily. Informal allowance is exactly the situation sec. 3-108(3) addresses, and the window runs to the later of twelve months from that informal probate or three years from the death. The date matters, so pull the register’s file before assuming anything.

Q: Can we still argue about what the will means after three years? Yes. Section 3-108 closes by providing that its limitations do not apply to proceedings to construe probated wills or to determine the heirs of an intestate. A dispute over interpretation is not the same as a challenge to validity, and the three-year wall does not apply to it.

Q: If we win, does the estate come to us? Not directly. A successful contest removes the document. If there is an earlier valid will, that one governs. If there is not, the estate passes as an intestate estate under sec. 2-102 and sec. 2-103. Control of the administration also shifts: sec. 3-108(3) contemplates the contest being brought together with a request to appoint the person with legal priority, and that priority runs under sec. 3-203.

Q: What evidence matters most in a Massachusetts will contest? The court file at the register of probate, the drafting attorney’s file, medical records from the period around the signing, what the two witnesses required by sec. 2-502 actually observed, financial records from the same period, and any prior estate planning documents. An unexplained reversal of a long-standing plan, combined with a beneficiary who controlled access to the person, is the pattern that most often supports an undue influence claim.

Q: Does Jim Glaser Law handle will and estate disputes? Yes, these matters are evaluated on the same intake call. The firm either handles the matter or connects the client with a Massachusetts probate and estate partner attorney at no extra cost to the client. This work is billed on a fixed-fee or hourly basis rather than on contingency, with terms set out in the written fee agreement, and the first telephone consultation is offered without charge. Call (617) JIM-WINS.