Chapter 246

Section 1. Trustee process may be used in accordance with the applicable rules of court in connection with the commencement of all personal actions except actions only for specific recovery of goods and chattels, for malicious prosecution, for slander and libel, or for assault an…

Section 10. A person summoned as trustee shall file his answer within twenty days after service of the trustee summons upon him, unless the court otherwise directs. The answer shall disclose plainly, fully and particularly what goods, effects or credits, if any, of the defendant …

Section 11. Such answer shall be signed and sworn to by the trustee, or, in lieu of being sworn to, shall contain his written declaration, subject to the penalty prescribed by section one A of chapter two hundred and sixty-eight, that the answer is made under the penalties of per…

Section 12. The plaintiff may from time to time examine the alleged trustee upon written interrogatories filed in the clerk's office. The answers thereto shall be signed, sworn to and filed in said office within seven days after notice to the trustee or his attorney of the filing…

Section 13. If the answer of the alleged trustee shows that at the time of service of the trustee summons upon him he had not in his hands or possession any goods, effects or credits of the defendant, and the plaintiff declines to examine him, or if upon examination his answer ap…

Section 14. A person summoned as trustee who admits that he has in his hands any goods, effects or credits of the defendant, or who wishes to submit the question to the court whether he is chargeable upon the facts, may make a written statement, on oath, of such facts as are mate…

Section 15. A corporation summoned as trustee may appear and answer by its cashier, treasurer, clerk or such other officer or employee as it shall appoint or as the court shall require to attend for that purpose, and his answer and examination, on oath, shall be received as the a…

Section 16. The answer and statements of a trustee, on oath, shall be considered as true in determining how far he is chargeable; but either party may allege and prove any facts material in determining such question and not stated or denied by the trustee.

Section 17. A question of fact arising upon such additional allegations may be tried and determined by the court, or it may be submitted to a jury in such manner as the court orders.

Section 18. A person who, being duly summoned as a trustee, neglects to appear and answer as hereinbefore provided shall be defaulted and adjudged a trustee.

Section 19. If a person summoned as trustee, his executor or administrator, or if an officer, agent or other person who appears and answers for a corporation so summoned, knowingly and wilfully swears falsely in his answer or upon his examination, he shall be liable to the plaint…

Section 2. If, in an action in the supreme judicial or superior court in which trustee process is used, all the persons named in the summons as trustees dwell or have usual places of business in one county, the action shall be brought in that county; otherwise it may be brought i…

Section 20. The goods, effects or credits of the defendant intrusted to, or deposited in the hands or possession of, a person summoned as his trustee shall, except as hereinafter provided, be attached and held to respond to the final judgment, as if they had been attached upon an…

Section 20A. No person shall send out of this commonwealth by assignment, transfer, or in any other manner, with or without consideration, or institute in a foreign court any action upon a claim against a resident debtor of this commonwealth, with the intent of depriving such res…

Section 22. After a dividend on the estate of an insolvent debtor has been declared, it may, unless it is upon a claim for wages which would have been exempt from attachment by trustee process in the hands of the insolvent debtor, be so attached in the hands of the assignee.

Section 23. Funds, credits or dividends due from or in the hands of receivers appointed by a court may be so attached after an order has been made for their distribution.

Section 24. Money or any other thing due to the defendant absolutely and without any contingency may be so attached before it has become payable, but the trustee shall not be compelled to pay or deliver it before the time appointed by the contract.

Section 25. A person summoned as trustee having goods, effects or credits of the defendant in his possession by a conveyance or title void as to the creditors of the defendant may be adjudged a trustee, although the defendant could not maintain an action therefor against him.

Section 26. A trustee may retain or deduct from the goods, effects or credits in his hands all liquidated demands or judgments against the defendant of which, had he not been summoned as trustee, he might have availed himself upon a trial or by the set-off of judgments or executi…

Section 27. If, after the service of process on the trustee, but before he has knowledge thereof, he makes any payment in good faith or becomes liable to a third person by reason of the goods, effects or credits in his hands, or delivers such goods, effects or credits to the defe…

Section 28. If wages for personal labor or personal services of a defendant are attached for a debt or claim, an amount not exceeding the greater of 85 per cent of the debtor's gross wages or 50 times the greater of the federal or the Massachusetts hourly minimum wage for each we…

Section 28A. Twenty-five hundred dollars of any natural person in an account in a trust company, savings bank, cooperative bank, credit union, national banking association or other banking institution doing business in the commonwealth shall be exempt from attachment by trustee p…

Section 29. If, after wages for personal labor or services have been attached in connection with a civil action, the defendant is defaulted, or if the defendant makes an offer of judgment in accordance with an applicable rule of court and the plaintiff accepts such offer or fails…

Section 3. If, in an action in the supreme judicial or superior court in which trustee process is used in connection with the commencement thereof, the court finds that the trustee was made a party in order to give the court jurisdiction of the action in the county where the trus…

Section 30. Whoever wilfully causes, or aids and abets in causing, wages for personal services exempt from attachment to be attached by trustee process in order to unlawfully hinder or delay their payment to the person to whom they belong shall, on complaint of the person injured…

Section 31. If a savings bank is charged as trustee, and the court finds that the answer creates a doubt as to the identity of the defendant, it may require the plaintiff to give bond, with surety approved by the court, conditioned to indemnify such bank from any loss by reason o…

Section 32. No person shall be adjudged a trustee in the following cases: First, By reason of having drawn, accepted, made or endorsed a negotiable bill, draft, note or other security which at the date of the summons was negotiable to a holder in due course under the provisions o…

Section 33. If a person claiming, by assignment from the defendant or otherwise, goods, effects or credits in the hands of a supposed trustee enters an appearance, he shall be admitted as a party in order to determine his title to such goods, effects or credits, and may allege an…

Section 34. If it appears that the claimant holds a valid assignment from the principal defendant only as security for a debt, the court shall, at the request of the plaintiff, ascertain and determine the amount due upon such debt at the time of service upon the trustee, and the …

Section 35. If, while an action is pending, the defendant is summoned in another action as trustee of the plaintiff, the earlier action may proceed so far as to ascertain by a verdict, award or otherwise the amount due from the defendant, and it shall not be delayed on account of…

Section 36. If the action is not so continued and judgment is rendered against the defendant, he shall not afterward, while liable to an execution thereon, be adjudged a trustee on account of the demand so recovered against him.

Section 37. If, before final judgment in such pending action, the defendant therein is adjudged a trustee in the trustee process, and pays thereon the money demanded in the pending action, or any part thereof, such fact shall be stated on the record of the action, and judgment th…

Section 38. If, while an action is pending, the plaintiff is summoned as trustee of the defendant on account of a counterclaim filed therein, such pending action shall be subject to the three preceding sections in the same manner and with the same effect as if it were an action b…

Section 39. If a person is adjudged a trustee, the amount for which he is chargeable need not be specified in the judgment.

Section 4. No person shall be held to answer as a trustee in an action in a district court, except as provided in section fifty-four of chapter two hundred and eighteen, in any county other than that where he dwells or has a usual place of business; and if a person summoned as tr…

Section 40. If the goods, effects and credits in the hands of a person adjudged a trustee are not demanded of him by force of the execution within thirty days after final judgment, they shall be liable to another attachment, whether made before or after the judgment; or if there …

Section 41. If no such second attachment of the goods, effects and credits has been made, and no action has been brought therefor by the defendant, and if they have not been paid or delivered to the defendant before they are demanded of the trustee by the officer, the trustee sha…

Section 42. If the trustee cannot be found in the commonwealth by the officer to whom the execution is committed for service, a copy of the execution left at his dwelling house or at his last and usual place of abode, with a notice to him, endorsed thereon and signed by the offic…

Section 43. The judgment against a trustee shall acquit and discharge him from all demands by the defendant, his executor or administrator, for all goods, effects and credits paid, delivered or accounted for by the trustee by force of such judgment.

Section 44. If a person summoned as trustee is discharged, the judgment shall be no bar to an action brought against him by the defendant for the same demand.

Section 45. If a person adjudged a trustee does not, upon demand, pay over to the officer goods, effects or credits sufficient to satisfy the execution and if the execution is not otherwise satisfied, the plaintiff may commence an action in the court in which the judgment was ren…

Section 46. If a trustee duly served with a summons and complaint issued under the previous section fails to appear and answer, he shall be defaulted; and if he did not answer, and was not examined in the original action, judgment shall be rendered against him upon such default f…

Section 47. If a trustee defaulted in an action brought under section forty-five has answered or been examined in the original action, judgment shall be rendered upon the facts stated in such answer or examination for any part remaining in his hands of the goods, effects or credi…

Section 48. In a proceeding brought under section forty-five, if the trustee appears and answers, he may be examined; but if he has been examined in the original action, he shall be examined again only by order of the court. A trustee may prove any matter necessary or proper for …

Section 49. No action provided under section forty-five shall be brought against a person adjudged a trustee unless he is served within two years after judgment in the original action; or, if the money or other thing is not payable when the judgment is rendered, unless he is serv…

Section 4A. Whenever the venue of an action in a district court is based upon the residence or usual place of business of an alleged trustee, which action could not otherwise be properly brought in that district, the court may on motion of any party thereto transfer such action f…

Section 4B. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, in an action to enforce a support order pursuant to section thirty-six A of chapter two hundred and eight, the action shall be brought in the court which issued the order for alimony, maintenance or child sup…

Section 5. The trustee summons shall be served in accordance with the applicable rule of court.

Section 50. If a person summoned as trustee in his own right dies before the judgment recovered by the plaintiff has been fully satisfied, the goods, effects and credits in his hands at the time of the attachment shall remain bound thereby, and his executor or administrator shall…

Section 51. If a person so summoned dies before judgment in the original action, his executor or administrator may appear voluntarily or may be cited to appear, as in other cases. The further proceedings shall then be conducted in the same manner as if the executor or administrat…