Section 2-302 Omitted children - Massachusetts Statutes

[Text of section added by 2008, 521, Sec. 9 effective July 1, 2011. See 2008, 521, Sec. 44.]

Section 2-302. [Omitted Children.]

(a) Except as provided in subsection (b), if a testator fails to provide in a will for any children born or adopted after the execution of the will, the omitted after-born or after-adopted child receives a share in the estate as follows:

(1) If the testator had no child living when the will was executed, an omitted after-born or after-adopted child receives a share in the estate equal in value to that which the child would have received had the testator died intestate, unless the will devised all or substantially all the estate to the other parent of the omitted child and that other parent survives the testator and is entitled to take under the will.

(2) If the testator had 1 or more children living when the will was executed, and the will devised property or an interest in property to 1 or more of the then-living children, an omitted after-born or after-adopted child is entitled to share in the testator’s estate as follows:

(i) The portion of the testator’s estate in which the omitted after-born or after-adopted child is entitled to share is limited to devises made to the testator’s then-living children under the will.

(ii) The omitted after-born or after-adopted child is entitled to receive the share of the testator’s estate, as limited in subparagraph (i), that the child would have received had the testator included all omitted after-born and after-adopted children with the children to whom devises were made under the will and had given an equal share of the estate to each child.

(iii) To the extent feasible, the interest granted an omitted after-born or after-adopted child under this section shall be of the same character, whether equitable or legal, present or future, as that devised to the testator’s then-living children under the will.

(iv) In satisfying a share provided by this paragraph, devises to the testator’s children who were living when the will was executed abate ratably. In abating the devises of the then-living children, the court shall preserve to the maximum extent possible the character of the testamentary plan adopted by the testator.

(b) Neither subsection (a)(1) nor subsection (a)(2) applies if:

(1) It appears from the will that the omission was intentional; or

(2) The testator provided for the omitted after-born or after-adopted child by transfer outside the will and the intent that the transfer be in lieu of a testamentary provision is shown by the testator’s statements or is reasonably inferred from the amount of the transfer or other evidence.

(c) If at the time of execution of the will the testator fails to provide in the will for a living child solely because the testator believes the child to be dead, the child is entitled to a share in the estate as if the child were an omitted after-born or after-adopted child.

(d) In satisfying a share provided by subsection (a)(1), devises made by the will abate under section 3-902.

(e) No such omitted child shall take any share in real property unless a claim is filed in the registry of probate by or on behalf of such child within 1 year after the death of the decedent.