How to Fill Out and File the Massachusetts Probate Inventory (MPC 854)

MPC 854 is the Massachusetts Probate and Family Court inventory form, and a personal representative uses it to list every asset the decedent owned at death, assign each a fair market value, and record any debts attached. You must prepare the inventory within three months of your appointment.¹

What the Form Is For

MPC 854 is an inventory, not a petition or decree. Its purpose is to give the court and interested persons a complete snapshot of the estate on a single document. The form has separate schedules for personal property and real estate, and the totals from each schedule carry over to the main page.

The same form is also used in guardianship and conservatorship cases where the court needs a formal accounting of a protected person’s property.² The mechanics are the same: list every asset, assign a value, note any liens.

Where to Get MPC 854

Mass.gov hosts two versions. One is an online fillable form on the court’s portal. The other is a downloadable PDF that lets you save your progress and return to it, provided you have Adobe Acrobat Reader.² Paper copies are available at any county Registry of Probate.

How to Complete the Form

Start at the top with the decedent’s full legal name, the docket number the court assigned, and the county division where the case is pending. For a guardianship or conservatorship, use the protected person’s name and the corresponding docket number.

Personal Property

List each item with enough specificity that someone reading the inventory can identify it. “Bank account” alone is not enough. Include the institution and account type. For investment accounts, name the brokerage and describe the holdings. Vehicles go in by year, make, and model.

Every entry needs a fair market value as of the date of death, not the date you fill out the form.¹ For a bank account, that’s the balance the day the decedent died. For publicly traded securities, use the closing price on the date of death, or the average of the high and low if markets were open.

When an asset carries debt, record the encumbrance separately. A car with an outstanding loan is listed at its full market value, and the loan balance goes in its own field. The form is built to show gross value and liabilities side by side.

Real Estate

List each property by address with a fair market value as of the date of death. A recent property tax assessment can serve as a starting point if you’re uncertain about value, but a formal appraisal offers stronger support for a large estate or one where the numbers might be challenged. Record any mortgage balance, home equity line of credit, or tax lien against the property.

If You’re a Successor Representative

The valuation date shifts if you took over from a prior personal representative who resigned or was removed. You report values as of the date of your appointment, not the original date of death.¹ The estate’s composition may have changed between the death and your appointment, and this rule captures the estate as you actually received it.

Signing

You sign under the penalties of perjury, certifying that the information is true to the best of your knowledge. If an attorney prepared the form, a separate signature line and email field are provided. Review every entry before signing. Mistakes here surface later in the accounting and cost credibility with the court.

Deadline and Delivery

You have three months from your appointment to prepare the inventory.¹ Once ready, you have two delivery options. You can file it (a copy or the original) directly with the court, or you can mail a copy to every interested person whose address you can reasonably ascertain. Interested persons include beneficiaries named in the will, heirs at law if there is no will, and anyone else with a stake in the estate.

The statute does not spell out a specific penalty for missing the three-month window. Delay still invites problems: the court or an interested person can petition to compel you to file, and a pattern of tardiness tells the judge that you may not be managing the estate responsibly.

Filing Fee

The court charges $75 for a petition to render an inventory.³ The fee is an administration expense paid from estate funds, not your personal money. Keep the receipt for the eventual accounting.

What Happens After You File

Once filed, the inventory becomes part of the court record and the baseline for the rest of the administration. Your later accounting has to reconcile with these numbers. If you list a house at $450,000 and sell it for $430,000, you will need to explain the difference. The inventory also gives the court and interested persons a way to judge whether you are managing assets prudently.

Assets Discovered After the Inventory

Finding property that was not on the original inventory is common, especially with multiple financial institutions or out-of-state holdings. The right procedure depends on whether the estate has been closed.

If the additional assets appear before the estate is closed, file a supplemental inventory on the same MPC 854 form, adding the new property and updating the totals.

If the court has already entered a decree on a petition for complete settlement, the process is heavier. File an Affidavit of Additional Assets with the court listing the newly discovered property and its value, along with a Certificate of Service confirming you sent the affidavit to every interested person. You also file a new bond on MPC 801 covering the additional assets, which carries its own $75 filing fee.⁴ Fresh Letters of Authority, if you need them, cost $25 per copy.

1
General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts General Laws Part II, Title II, Chapter 190B, Section 3-706
2
Mass.gov. Probate and Family Court Inventory (MPC 854)
3
Mass.gov. Probate and Family Court Filing Fees
4
Mass.gov. MUPC Estate Administration Procedural Guide