Massachusetts · statute · Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 241 · 37 active provisions
Section 1. Any person, except a tenant by the entirety, owning a present undivided legal estate in land, not subject to redemption, shall be entitled to have partition in the manner hereinafter provided. If such estate is in fee, he shall be entitled to partition in fee; if a life estate or a term for years, he shall b…
Section 2. Probate courts and the land court shall have concurrent jurisdiction of all petitions for partition. Any petition for partition may be filed in the probate court for any county where any part of the land included in the petition lies, or in the land court for any land within the commonwealth. The petition ma…
Section 3. If a case is begun in a probate court and the land is within the jurisdiction of the probate court in 2 or more counties, the court in which proceedings are first begun shall retain jurisdiction thereof, which shall exclude the jurisdiction of probate courts of other counties; but this shall not prevent the…
Section 4. The court may make partition of all or any portion of the land included in the petition of which the parties thereto are co-tenants; but if all of the common land is not included in the petition, the court may, upon request of any party thereto, seasonably filed, cause any other part of the common land to be…
Section 5. The court may set off to the petitioner his share, leaving the residue of the land for the persons entitled thereto, subject to a future partition; or it may set off to the persons entitled to the residue their respective shares therein. If two or more co-tenants consent to hold their shares undivided, such…
Section 6. The petition shall set forth on oath the nature and extent of the share of each co-tenant, so far as known to the petitioner, stating whether he has an estate of inheritance, for life or for years, whether in possession, remainder or reversion, and whether vested or contingent. It shall contain a description…
Section 7. Upon the filing of a petition for partition, the petitioner shall forthwith cause to be filed, in the registry of deeds for each registry district where any of the land included in the petition lies, a notice of the same, containing a brief description of the land in such district included therein, and the n…
Section 8. Notice shall be given by a citation containing a brief description of the land, and the minimum price in case it is desired to sell the land or any part thereof at private sale. The citation shall be addressed to all known respondents by name, and, in addition, in express terms to all other persons intereste…
Section 9. If any party named in the petition has not been served personally with the citation and has not appeared, or is a minor or under other disability and has no guardian or other legal representative within the commonwealth, or if any person whose name is unknown, or who is unascertained or not in being, appears…
Section 10. If it is found that the petitioner is entitled to have partition for the share claimed or for any less share, the court shall make the interlocutory decree that partition be made, and therein determine the persons to whom and the proportions in which the shares shall be set off. The petition shall not be de…
Section 11. If the ownership of any share appears to be in dispute or uncertain, the court may, in its discretion, without determination of such question, order the partition to proceed by setting off the remaining shares, or by sale. The land not set off, or the proceeds of the share in dispute or uncertain, may be le…
Section 12. If the court determines the petitioner entitled to partition, it shall thereupon appoint one or more disinterested commissioners and issue a warrant to them to make partition. The commissioners, before entering upon their duties, shall be sworn to execute the warrant faithfully and impartially, and a certif…
Section 13. If the land lies in different counties, the court may in its discretion issue separate warrants and appoint different commissioners for each county, or for two or more counties together, in which case the partition shall be made of the land in each county, or group of counties, as if there were no other lan…
Section 14. If a part of the land cannot be divided without great inconvenience to the owners, or is of greater value than the share of any party, or if all the land cannot be divided without such inconvenience, the whole or any part thereof may be set off to any one or more of the parties, with his or their consent, u…
Section 15. If money is awarded to make the partition just and equal, the court shall be satisfied, before the partition is confirmed, that the money has been paid or secured to the parties entitled thereto. Money awarded on account of shares in dispute or uncertain may be ordered to be deposited in the manner provided…
Section 16. The court may after hearing accept and confirm the return of the commissioners, or set it aside and commit the case anew to the same or to other commissioners having the same powers as those originally appointed; or it may, after a hearing, amend the return, and accept and confirm it as amended. After the r…
Section 17. The court may at any time direct an examination of the title, or the making of a plan, of any land included in the petition, or such investigation relating to the description or title of any of it as seems useful or desirable for its better division or sale. If it appears from the report of a title examiner…
Section 18. The partition by division, when confirmed and established by a final decree under section sixteen, or the sale if partition is made by sale, shall be conclusive upon all persons named in the petition or interested in the land therein described who appeared in the case or who waived notice or assented in wri…
Section 19. A person who was not made a party and has not appeared, who claims the whole or any part of the share assigned to or left for any of the supposed co-tenants in the decree for partition, shall be concluded by the decree, so far as it relates to the partition and the assignment of the shares, as if he had bee…
Section 20. A person who was not made a party and has not appeared and who claims part of the land as a co-tenant with any of those who were parties to the action, shall, if the share so claimed was unknown or not allowed and left for him in the process of partition, be concluded by the decree so far as it relates to t…
Section 21. A person who has not appeared and who claims to hold by title paramount to that under which the petitioner claims as a co-tenant shall not be concluded by the partition, but may maintain his action for the land against any or all of the parties, or persons holding under them, within the time in which he mig…
Section 22. The reasonable expenses and charges of partition proceedings, including examination of title and preparation of plan ordered by the court under section seventeen, and the fees of counsel, of the commissioners, and of all agents, guardians and other persons appointed to represent interests in accordance with…
Section 23. If the court in which partition proceedings are pending finds that one of the co-tenants has erected any buildings or made other permanent improvements on the common land, it may, if justice and equity so require, award such compensation as it deems proper for the value of such buildings or other improvemen…
Section 24. If after a first partition improvements have been made on a part of the land which, by a new partition, is taken from the share of the party who made the improvements, he shall be entitled to compensation therefor, to be awarded and enforced as provided in the preceding section.
Section 25. The court in which a petition has been brought under this chapter shall have jurisdiction in equity over all matters relating to the partition, and, in case of sale, over the distribution of the proceeds thereof; also to hear and determine all matters of accounting between the parties to the petition in ref…