2017 Massachusetts General Laws
PART II REAL AND PERSONAL PROPERTY AND DOMESTIC RELATIONS
TITLE II DESCENT AND DISTRIBUTION, WILLS, ESTATES OF DECEASED PERSONS AND ABSENTEES, GUARDIANSHIP, CONSERVATORSHIP AND TRUSTS
Chapter 200 SETTLEMENT OF ESTATES OF ABSENTEES
Section 13 Distribution of property; procedure; tax

Section 13. If upon the expiration of seven years after the date of the disappearance or absconding as found and recorded by the court or, in case such receiver is not appointed within six years after said date, upon the expiration of one year after the date of the appointment of the receiver, the remainder of said property has not been accounted for, delivered or paid over to the absentee or his legal representative under section twelve, the court shall order the distribution thereof, subject to the deduction hereinafter provided, to the persons to whom, and in the shares and proportions in which, it would have been distributed if said absentee had died intestate within the commonwealth on the date of the expiration of said seven years or of said one year, as the case may be. Said remainder shall accordingly be so distributed unless, before such distribution is completed, the absentee or his legal representative referred to in section twelve appears and claims the same, in which case the court, upon the petition of the receiver or such absentee or legal representative, may make such further order relative to the distribution thereof as it deems just and equitable. Prior to making distribution as herein provided, said receiver shall deduct from the amount otherwise available for distribution, and shall pay over to the commissioner of revenue for the commonwealth, the equivalent of the tax which would have been imposed by chapter sixty-five or chapter sixty-five A or chapter sixty-five C if said absentee had died intestate within the commonwealth on said date and said property had passed to the distributees by inheritance.