Updated September 7, 2026. Quick answer: In Massachusetts, you have the later of 12 months from informal probate or 3 years from the date of death to contest a will that has already been admitted to probate, running from whichever of those two events is later.
How long do you have to contest a will in Massachusetts?
| Deadline to contest an admitted will | the later of 12 months from informal probate or 3 years from the date of death |
| What starts the clock | whichever of those two events is later |
| Dedicated will-contest statute? | Yes |
“No informal probate or appointment proceeding or formal testacy or appointment proceeding…may be commenced more than 3 years after the decedent’s death, except that…a proceeding to contest an informally probated will…may be commenced within the later of 12 months from the informal probate or 3 years from the decedent’s death.”
What makes Massachusetts different
Massachusetts guarantees the later of 12 months from informal probate or 3 years from death, so a will probated quickly after death still leaves a full 12-month window even past the general 3-year outer limit. The controlling authority is Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 190B, § 3-108, and the window runs from whichever of those two events is later.
What happens once this deadline passes?
Once the window above closes, Massachusetts’s probate of the will generally becomes final and binding on everyone who had the chance to object, subject only to the tolling or discovery exceptions described above; a separate objection Massachusetts allowed at the original probate hearing does not reopen or extend it.
Sources
| Statute / rule | Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 190B, § 3-108 |
| Massachusetts courts (general reference) | Massachusetts judicial branch |
| Massachusetts (additional reference) | Massachusetts.gov |
| Confidence | High |
Every statute or rule quoted on this Massachusetts page was read directly from the state’s own legislature/court/code site this session, or, where that site blocked automated access, from a reputable legal-citation mirror quoting the same official text with its official citation (disclosed below). General information, not legal advice; whether a specific contest is still timely can turn on facts (exactly when notice was given, how the will was probated, whether a disability applies) that only your own Massachusetts probate court file can confirm.