2018 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 203E MASSACHUSETTS UNIFORM TRUST CODE
Article 2 JUDICIAL PROCEEDINGS
Section 205 Petition for transfers of trust property the disposition of which depends upon the death of an absentee
Section 205. Petition for transfers of trust property the disposition of which depends upon the death of an absentee
(a) If a trustee holds trust property the disposition of which depends upon the death of an absentee whose death has not been determined, the trustee, or any person who would be interested in the trust property if the absentee were dead may on or after the day 5 years after the date of the absentee's disappearance petition the court having jurisdiction of the trust for an order that the trust property be disposed of to the persons it would have been distributed to under the trust if the absentee had died on that day.
(b) The court may direct the petitioner to report the results of a reasonably diligent search for the absentee in any manner that may seem advisable, including any or all of the following methods:
(1) by inserting in a periodical of general circulation a notice requesting information from any person having knowledge of the whereabouts of the absentee;
(2) by notifying law enforcement officials, public welfare agencies and registers of deaths in appropriate locations of the disappearance of the absentee; or
(3) by engaging the services of an investigator.
The costs of any search so directed shall be paid from the trust property.
(c) After a search described in subsection (b) has been completed to the satisfaction of the court, notice of the hearing on the petition shall be given as provided in section 1–401 of chapter 190B.
(d) If after the hearing the court finds that the facts warrant a presumption of death, the court shall enter an appropriate order of disposition of the trust property and any undistributed net income.
