Filing the Massachusetts Probate Bond (MPC 801): Sureties and Penal Sum

The Massachusetts probate bond on Form MPC 801 is the guarantee you file with the Probate and Family Court when you seek appointment as a personal representative, guardian, or conservator. It promises that you’ll handle the estate or protected person’s property faithfully, and the court will not issue your letters of authority until the bond is approved. You file it with your petition for appointment at the Registry of Probate in the county where the case is pending.

Who Has to File One

Nearly every fiduciary appointed through the Probate and Family Court needs a bond. Under M.G.L. c. 190B § 3-603, a personal representative in either formal or informal probate must provide a bond before receiving letters.¹ Guardians have the same obligation under § 5-307, which conditions the bond on faithful performance of duties.² Conservators appointed over a protected person’s property use the same form.

There is one significant exception. When the personal representative is a bank or trust company authorized to exercise fiduciary powers in Massachusetts, no surety is required.¹ The court can still require security if an interested person asks for it.

With Sureties or Without

The most important choice on the form is whether the bond is filed with or without sureties. A surety is a third party, either a corporate bonding company or an individual, who backs your promise of faithful performance. Section 3-603 allows the surety requirement to be waived in four situations:

The will directs no bond or waives the surety requirement.
Every heir (in an intestate estate) or every devisee named in the will files a written waiver.
The personal representative is a bank or trust company qualified to act as fiduciary in Massachusetts.
The court finds that sureties are not in the best interests of the estate.

If any of these applies, you file a bond without sureties, and your own signature is the only guarantee.¹ This is the usual outcome when the will contains standard waiver language.

Even after appointment, the calculus can change. Any interested person with more than $5,000 at stake, or any creditor with a claim over $5,000, can file a written demand that you add sureties. Once that demand is filed, you have 30 days to secure suitable sureties or face removal.³

If sureties are required, you have two choices. A corporate surety is an insurance company licensed to write bonds; you pay an annual premium tied to the bond amount, and the company signs the form with you. Individual sureties are also permitted. Each individual surety must be a Massachusetts resident with sufficient unencumbered assets, and must certify that under penalties of perjury on the bond form itself.

Setting the Penal Sum

The penal sum is the maximum dollar amount the bond covers, and it goes in a specific field on the form. For personal representatives, § 3-604 provides a clear rule: file a sworn statement estimating the value of the decedent’s personal estate and set the bond equal to that estimate.⁴

Personal estate covers everything except real property: bank accounts, investments, vehicles, personal belongings, and business interests. Real estate is excluded unless the court specifically authorizes a sale. If assets are deposited with a domestic financial institution under an arrangement that blocks unauthorized withdrawals, the court can reduce the bond. On petition, the court can also increase, reduce, or substitute the bond at any point during administration.⁴ When in doubt, estimate on the high side. An insufficient penal sum will delay your appointment.

Filling Out the MPC 801

The form is available as a fillable PDF from the Massachusetts court forms portal on mass.gov.⁵ If you want to save a partially completed version and return to it, download the alternative version, which needs Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Work through the fields in this order:

Court and case information. Enter the division of the Probate and Family Court handling the case and the docket number. If the case has not been docketed yet, leave the docket number blank and file the bond with your initial petition.
Fiduciary role. Indicate whether you are being appointed as personal representative, guardian, conservator, trustee, or other fiduciary.
Estate or protected person. Provide the full name of the decedent or the protected person whose affairs you will manage.
Penal sum. Enter the dollar amount of the bond. For personal representatives this equals your sworn estimate of the personal estate.
Surety type. Select whether the bond is with or without sureties, and identify any corporate or individual sureties by name and address.
Signatures. You, the principal, must sign. Individual sureties sign and certify under penalties of perjury that they are Massachusetts residents with sufficient unencumbered assets. Corporate sureties sign through an authorized representative.

The bond names the first justice of the appointing court as the obligee, meaning the court holds the bond for the benefit of everyone with an interest in the estate.⁶ Any surety who signs also consents to the court’s jurisdiction. Check every field before submitting; a missing signature or blank penal sum will get the filing returned.

Where to File and What It Costs

The completed MPC 801 goes to the Registry of Probate in the county where the case is pending. Three options are available.

E-file through eFileMA. Massachusetts Probate and Family Courts accept electronic filings at efilema.com. Register an account, upload the bond as a separate document with its own filing code, and pay any fees electronically. Bundling multiple forms under one filing code will get the submission returned.⁷
In person. Bring the signed original to the Registry of Probate clerk’s office during business hours.
By mail. Send the signed original to the Registry of Probate for the appropriate county.

When the bond is filed with your initial petition, there is no separate bond filing fee. The cost is included in the petition’s filing fee, which is typically $375 plus a $15 surcharge for informal or formal probate appointments. If you file a new bond, a subsequent bond, or a modification after the initial appointment, each of those filings costs $75. A petition to discharge a surety is also $75.⁸

What Happens After You File

The Register of Probate reviews the bond for completeness. It then goes to a judge or magistrate for approval as part of your appointment. If the penal sum is too low or the surety information is inadequate, the court will order corrections before issuing letters of authority. Once approved, the bond stays in effect for your entire term as fiduciary.

The bond does not expire after a single claim. If someone successfully recovers on it for a breach of duty, the bond remains active and can be pursued again until the full penal sum is exhausted.⁶

Changing the Bond Later

Estates rarely look the same at closing as they did at appointment. If the estate turns out to be worth much more or much less than your initial estimate, or if you deposit assets into a restricted account that reduces the risk, you or any interested person can petition the court to adjust the bond amount, release a surety, or substitute a different one.⁴ Each modification petition carries a $75 filing fee.⁸

The bond obligation ends when your appointment terminates, whether by completion of the administration and filing of a closing statement, resignation, removal, or court order. A surety is not liable for anything the fiduciary did before that surety’s bond took effect, which matters when a successor takes over and a new bond replaces the old one.⁶

1
Mass.gov. Massachusetts General Law c.190B Section 3-603 – Bond Without Sureties
2
Mass.gov. Massachusetts General Laws c.190B Section 5-307
3
General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts Code Part II Title II Chapter 190B Article III Section 3-605 – Demand for Sureties by Interested Person
4
General Court of Massachusetts. General Law Part II Title II Chapter 190B Section 3-604 – Bond With Sureties Procedure Reduction
5
Massachusetts Court System. Probate and Family Court Bond MPC 801
6
Mass.gov. Massachusetts General Laws c.190B Section 3-606 – Terms and Conditions of Bonds
7
Mass.gov. eFiling in the Probate and Family Court
8
Mass.gov. Probate and Family Court Filing Fees