Patrick Signs Long-Awaited Probate Reform
After nearly 20 years of revisions, legislative wrangling and delays, Gov. Deval Patrick Thursday signed the state's sweeping new probate law.
The resulting Uniform Probate Code cuts down drastically on the time and complexity of the state's probate processes and brings the system into the 21st Century. The legislation "demystifies and cleans up existing ambiguities dating back hundreds of years," said Martin W. Healy, the Massachusetts Bar Association's general counsel and acting executive director.
The reforms signed into law bring the state's probate code into line with those of other states, add protections for people under guardianships and trusts, ease the administration of probate matters and reduce delays.
Richard C. Barry Jr., an attorney at Fletcher, Tilton & Whipple in Worcester, served on the joint Massachusetts Bar Association/Boston Bar Association committee that drafted the reforms for nearly 15 years.
He said the state had been operating with a probate code from the 19th Century. "The UPC will greatly improve the probate laws in Massachusetts, making the procedures for the settlement of estates and the administration of trusts less arduous," he said.
After a handful of years drafting the new code, it spent years stuck in the legislature until it finally passed the state House of Representatives and Senate in July.
Some of the changes go into effect this year, but the bulk of the code will become effective in 2011.
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