Section 32. Judges of the probate courts may transact business out of court at any time and place, if all parties entitled to notice assent thereto in writing or voluntarily appear; and in such cases their judgments and decrees shall be entered as of such sessions of the court as the convenience of the parties […]
Section 33. Orders of notice and other official acts which are passed as of course and which do not require previous notice to an adverse party may be issued and performed at any time.
Section 34. Probate courts shall have like power and authority for enforcing orders, sentences, judgments and decrees made or pronounced in the exercise of any jurisdiction vested in them, and for punishing contempts of such orders, sentences, judgments and decrees and other contempts of their authority, as are vested for such or similar purposes in […]
Section 34A. (a) Actions for contempt against any party for failure to obey any order or judgment of the probate court relative to support of a wife or children or affecting the custody of children shall be commenced in accordance with the rules of probate courts applicable to domestic relations matters. The cost of such […]
Section 34B. A judge of the probate court who has found a party to be in civil or criminal contempt for failure to obey any order or judgment of the probate court relative to support of a spouse or children or relative to the custody of children shall, before ordering such person to be confined […]
Section 35. A warrant or commission for the appraisal of an estate, for examining the claims against insolvent estates, for the partition of land or for the assignment of dower or curtesy or other interests in land, may be revoked by the court for sufficient cause, and a new commission may be issued or other […]
Section 36. Judgments, decrees and orders of probate courts shall be in writing, and in contested cases or in cases wherein the court has reserved judgment, notices thereof shall be given by the registers to the attorneys of record, and in the absence of an attorney of record, to any party who has appeared personally […]
Section 37. Each register shall keep a docket of all cases and matters in his court, and shall enter therein every case or matter by its appropriate title and number, brief memoranda of all proceedings had and papers filed therein, the dates of such proceedings or filing of such papers, and references to the places […]
Section 38. Oaths required in proceedings in the probate courts may be administered by the judge, register, first assistant register, assistant register, judicial case manager, assistant judicial case manager or session clerk in or out of court or by a justice of the peace or notary public and, when administered out of court, a certificate […]
Section 39. Probate courts may ascertain and determine the amount due any person for services as appraiser, for premiums of surety companies for acting as surety upon the official bonds of administrators, executors, trustees, guardians, conservators or receivers, or for services rendered by any person in connection with the administration of the estate of a […]
Section 39A. At any time during the administration of an estate, and irrespective of the pendency of a particular proceeding, the probate court shall have power to hear an application for, and fix and determine, the compensation and expenses of an attorney for services rendered to the estate or to its representative or to a […]
Section 39B. When a judgment or decree is entered in a contested proceeding seeking equitable relief or on an account or to determine the construction of a will or of any trust instrument or to determine any question as to the powers, rights or duties of any fiduciary under any written instrument or to determine […]
Section 4. Probate courts shall have exclusive original jurisdiction of actions by married women relative to their separate estate, of actions relative to the care, custody, education and maintenance of minor children provided for by sections thirty and thirty-seven of chapter two hundred and nine, and of actions relative to paternity, support, and custody of […]
Section 40. If an executor, administrator, guardian, conservator, trustee or receiver resigns or is removed, and neglects or refuses to deliver to his successor all property held by him under the trust, the probate court may, upon application of such successor or any person beneficially interested, order such delivery made, and shall have like powers […]
Section 41. A probate court may, upon application of a person interested in an estate in process of settlement in such court, direct the temporary investment of any money belonging to such estate in securities approved by the judge, or on paid-up shares and accounts of and in co-operative banks, or in share accounts or […]
Section 41A. A probate court may, upon application of an administrator or executor of an estate under such terms and conditions as the court may direct, authorize said person to deliver to the parent of a minor, any funds to which such minor is entitled and held by said administrator or executor when the sum […]
Section 42. A duly authorized attorney at law may enter his appearance as attorney for the party represented by him in any proceeding in a probate court, and all processes and notices served upon him shall have the same force and effect as if served upon the party whom he represents. Any person entering an […]
Section 43. In any proceeding in a probate court, the petitioner or respondent may at any time after the filing of the petition file interrogatories in the registry of probate for the discovery of facts and documents material to the support or defence of the proceeding. All provisions of chapter two hundred and thirty-one relative […]
Section 44. Upon complaint to a probate court by a person interested in the estate of a deceased person against a person suspected of having fraudulently received, concealed, embezzled or conveyed away any property, real or personal, of the deceased, the court may cite such suspected person, although he is executor or administrator, to appear […]
Section 45. In contested cases before a probate court or before the supreme judicial court on appeal, costs and expenses in the discretion of the court may be awarded to either party, to be paid by the other, or may be awarded to either or both parties to be paid out of the estate which […]
