Massachusetts Statutes

Section 35. If all the subscribing witnesses to the deed are also dead or out of the commonwealth, the due execution thereof may be proved before such court by proving the handwriting of the grantor and of a subscribing witness.

Section 36. If a grantor refuses to acknowledge his deed, the grantee or any person who claims under him may apply to a court of record in the county where the land lies or where the grantor or a subscribing witness to the deed resides, and such court shall thereupon issue a summ…

Section 37. If a grantor refuses to acknowledge his deed and the subscribing witnesses thereto are all dead or out of the commonwealth, its execution may be proved before any court of record in this commonwealth by proving the handwriting of the grantor and of a subscribing witne…

Section 38. A person interested in a deed which has not been acknowledged may, before or during proceedings before a court for proof of its execution, file in the proper registry of deeds a copy thereof, compared with the original by the register; and the filing of such copy shal…

Section 39. The execution of a deed shall not be proved in the manner before provided unless it has at least one subscribing witness.

Section 4. A conveyance of an estate in fee simple, fee tail or for life, or a lease for more than seven years from the making thereof, or an assignment of rents or profits from an estate or lease, shall not be valid as against any person, except the grantor or lessor, his heirs …

Section 40. A certificate of proof of the execution of a deed shall be endorsed upon it or annexed thereto by the clerk or register of the court or by the judge before whom such proof is made, and the certificate shall state whether the grantor was present at the hearing.

Section 41. The proof of a deed or other instrument, if made without the commonwealth in some state, territory, district or dependency of the United States, may be made before any of the persons enumerated in clause (b) of section thirty; provided, however, that a certificate of …

Section 42. The forms set forth in the appendix to this chapter and in section 15 of chapter 222 for taking acknowledgments to deeds and other instruments and for certifying the authority of officers taking proofs or acknowledgments may be used but the existence of those forms sh…

Section 43. Whenever a final decree in equity shall be made by the supreme judicial, superior, probate or land court directing that a deed, conveyance or release of any real estate or interest therein shall be made, and the party directed to make such deed, conveyance or release …

Section 44. The recording or registration of a duly certified copy of such decree, attested by the clerk, assistant clerk, register or assistant register, recorder or deputy recorder, as the case may be, of the court where made, in the registry of deeds of the district where said…

Section 45. A person seized of land as tenant in tail may convey such land in fee simple by a deed in common form, as if he were seized thereof in fee simple; and such conveyance shall bar the estate tail and all remainders and reversions expectant thereon.

Section 46. If land is held by one person for life with a vested remainder in tail in another, the tenant for life and the remainderman may convey such land in fee simple by their deed or deeds in common form, as if the remainder had been limited in fee simple; and such deed or d…

Section 47. Equitable estates tail, in possession or remainder, and all remainders and reversions expectant thereon, may be barred in the same manner as legal estates tail and the remainders and reversions expectant thereon.

Section 48. The person to whom an equitable fee simple is conveyed pursuant to the preceding section shall, upon request therefor, be entitled to a conveyance of the outstanding legal estate from the person in whom such legal estate is then or thereafter vested in trust.

Section 49. If land is subject to a vested or contingent remainder, executory devise, conditional limitation, reversion or power of appointment, the probate court for the county where such land is situated may, upon the petition of any person having an estate or interest therein,…

Section 5. The record of a deed, lease, power of attorney or other instrument, duly acknowledged or proved as provided in this chapter, and purporting to affect the title to land, shall be conclusive evidence of the delivery of such instrument, in favor of purchasers for value wi…

Section 50. Notice of a petition under the preceding section shall be given in such manner as the court may order to all persons who are or who may become interested in the land to which the petition relates, and to all persons whose issue, not in being, may become interested the…

Section 51. A trustee appointed under section forty-nine shall give bond in such form and for such amount as the court appointing him may order, and he shall receive and hold, invest or apply the proceeds of any sale or mortgage made by him for the benefit of the persons who woul…

Section 52. If land is charged with the payment of money, either in fixed amounts or in annuities for a life or lives or for years, the supreme judicial or probate court for the county where any part of such land is situated may upon the petition of the persons holding title ther…

Section 53. If a deed purports to contain an absolute conveyance of land, but is made defeasible by a deed, bond or other instrument, the original deed shall not be thereby affected, as against any person other than the maker of the instrument of defeasance and his heirs and devi…

Section 54. (a) For the purposes of sections 54 to 55, inclusive, the following words, unless the context otherwise requires, shall have the following meanings:— ''Authorized person'', a person authorized to act on behalf of another person by a written document signed by the pers…

Section 54A. After the expiration of a period of ten years from the recording of a discharge or release of a mortgage held by husband and wife as tenants by the entirety and signed by only the husband or the wife, no steps shall be taken by action, entry or otherwise to foreclose…

Section 54B. Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, (1) a discharge of mortgage; (2) a release, partial release or assignment of mortgage; (3) an instrument of subordination, non-disturbance, recognition, or attornment by the holder of a mortgage; (4) any instrument for the pur…

Section 54C. (a) The recordation of a duly executed and acknowledged or proven discharge by a mortgagee, mortgage servicer or note holder shall constitute a discharge of the mortgage and a release of the lien created by the mortgage on the mortgaged premises; provided, however, t…

Section 54D. (a) Upon request of 1 or more obligors on a mortgage note, or an authorized person on behalf thereof, a mortgagee, mortgage servicer or note holder who is receiving payments under a mortgage note or other financial obligation secured by a mortgage described in the pa…

Section 55. (a)(1) A mortgagee, mortgage servicer or note holder who receives full payment and satisfaction of the conditions of a mortgage shall, within 45 days of receipt of payment, (i) cause to be recorded a duly executed and acknowledged discharge that conforms with subsecti…

Section 56. Any mortgage note secured by a first lien or second or subsequent lien on a dwelling house of 4 or less separate households or on a residential condominium unit occupied or to be occupied in whole or in part by the mortgagor shall be subject to the condition that if s…

Section 57. It shall be unlawful for a mortgagee to enforce, in any mortgage note secured by a first lien on a dwelling house of three or less separate households occupied or to be occupied in whole or in part by the mortgagor, a penalty, charge, premium, or fee on account of pay…

Section 58. Every instrument passing title to real estate abutting a way, whether public or private, watercourse, wall, fence or other similar linear monument, shall be construed to include any fee interest of the grantor in such way, watercourse or monument, unless (a) the grant…

Section 59. A mortgagee, assignee or holder of a mortgage note secured by a first or subordinate lien on a dwelling house of 4 or less separate households or on a residential condominium unit occupied or to be occupied in whole or in part by the mortgagor shall not require the mo…

Section 5A. A statement of a person's married or unmarried status, kinship or lack of kinship, or of the date of his birth or death, which relates or purports to relate to the title to land and is sworn to before any officer authorized by law to administer oaths may be filed for …

Section 5B. Subject to section 15 of chapter 184, an affidavit made by a person claiming to have personal knowledge of the facts therein stated and containing a certificate by an attorney at law that the facts stated in the affidavit are relevant to the title to certain land and …

Section 6. Every deed presented for record shall contain or have endorsed upon it the full name, residence and post office address of the grantee and a recital of the amount of the full consideration thereof in dollars or the nature of the other consideration therefor, if not del…

Section 60. Whenever any note made to finance or refinance the purchase of and secured by a first lien on a dwelling house in the commonwealth of four or fewer separate households occupied or to be occupied in whole or in part by the mortgagor provides for installment payments of…

Section 61. A mortgagee holding a first mortgage or lien on a dwelling house located in the commonwealth of 4 or fewer separate households occupied or to be occupied in whole or in part by the mortgagor who requires advance payments, deposits or other security by the mortgagor fo…

Section 62. Any mortgagee who requires the prepayment of taxes for real estate located in the commonwealth shall pay to the city or town wherein the property is located the full amount of taxes due on or before the date upon which said taxes become due provided that the mortgagor…

Section 63. A mortgagee, or a mortgage lender or mortgage broker as defined in section one of chapter two hundred and fifty-five E, shall not charge a loan fee, finder's fee, points, so-called, or similar fees in a mortgage transaction involving residential property located in th…

Section 63A. A mortgagee may, at the request of the owner of the equity of redemption, revise the rate of interest, change an adjustable or variable rate to a fixed rate, extend the term of the mortgage or change the amount of the periodic payments of principal or interest, or bo…

Section 63B. No mortgagee who makes a loan to be secured by a mortgage or lien on real estate located in the commonwealth in conjunction with which, a mortgage deed evidencing the same is to be recorded in a registry of deeds or registry district in the commonwealth, shall delive…

Section 64. No mortgagee shall discriminate, on a basis that is arbitrary or unsupported by a reasonable analysis of the lending risks associated with a residential mortgage transaction, in the granting, withholding, extending, modifying or renewing, or in the fixing of the rates…

Section 65. Any mortgagee doing business in the commonwealth who makes in excess of five mortgage loans per year shall accept a written memorandum of a preliminary contract of insurance pursuant to section ninety-eight of chapter one hundred and seventy-five as evidence of insura…

Section 66. A bank, lending institution, mortgage company or any mortgagee doing business in the commonwealth, when making a mortgage loan, shall not require, as a condition of a mortgage or as a term of a mortgage deed, that the mortgagor purchase casualty insurance on property …

Section 67. No mortgagee shall make a reverse mortgage loan on residential property except in accordance with sections 7 and 7A of chapter 167E. For the purposes of this section, the term ''residential property'' shall mean a 1 to 4 family dwelling owned and occupied in whole or …

Section 68. Any mortgagee doing business in the commonwealth and licensed as an insurance producer pursuant to section 162M or 162N of chapter 175, when making a mortgage loan secured by residential real estate located in the commonwealth, shall be subject, in addition to all app…

Section 69. No creditor or creditor's representative, as defined in section 35B of chapter 244, shall require in a mortgage, note or otherwise a purchaser or owner of residential property with 1 to 4 units to purchase or pay for flood insurance on the property that: (i) is at a c…