2012 Massachusetts General Laws
PART II REAL AND PERSONAL PROPERTY AND DOMESTIC RELATIONS(Chapters 183 through 210)
TITLE II DESCENT AND DISTRIBUTION, WILLS, ESTATES OF DECEASED PERSONS AND ABSENTEES, GUARDIANSHIP, CONSERVATORSHIP AND TRUSTS
CHAPTER 196 ALLOWANCES TO WIDOWS AND CHILDREN, AND ADVANCEMENTS
Section 2 Necessaries

[ Text of section effective until March 31, 2012. Repealed by 2008, 521, Sec. 15. See 2008, 521, Sec. 44 as amended by 2010, 409, Sec. 23 and 2011, 224.]

Section 2. Such parts of the personal property of a deceased person as the probate court, having regard to all the circumstances of the case, may allow as necessaries to the surviving spouse and for the family under the care of such spouse or if there is no surviving spouse, to the minor children of the deceased, not exceeding one hundred dollars to any child, and also such provisions and other articles as are necessary for the reasonable sustenance of the family, and the use of the house of the deceased and of the furniture therein for six months next succeeding the death, shall not be taken as assets for the payment of debts, legacies or charges of administration. After exhausting the personal property, real property may be sold or mortgaged to provide the amount of allowance decreed, in the same manner as it is sold or mortgaged for the payment of debts, if a decree authorizing such sale or mortgage is made, upon the petition of any party in interest, within one year after the approval of the bond of the executor or administrator.