Massachusetts

If a Massachusetts owner received MassHealth benefits after the age of 55, or long-term care at any age, the state has a claim against their probate estate, and for most families the house is the estate.

MassHealth can record a lien on the home during the recipient’s lifetime, which has to be paid at any closing while they are living; on death the lien is released and an estate recovery claim is filed against the probate estate instead, under G.L. c. 118E.

Estates under $25,000 are not pursued, and recovery can be deferred or waived where there is a surviving spouse, a minor or disabled child, or a caretaker heir, but for an ordinary family selling a parent’s house it is usually the first thing a title examination turns up and the last thing anyone expected.

Forest, agricultural and recreational land enrolled under Chapter 61, 61A or 61B carries rollback taxes on a change of use, generally the difference between the classified and full assessments for the five most recent years.

The town also holds a right of first refusal, so an owner selling that land for residential, commercial or industrial use has to notify the municipality first.

It then has 120 days to match the offer and a further 90 to complete the purchase, and no private sale can close until the town either waives or lets the period lapse.

That four-month hold cannot be shortened by either side, and it puts Chapter 61 land on a different selling calendar from everything else in the state.