Homestead Application Requirements In Massachusetts
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Clauses 41, 41B, 41C or 41C½ provide exemptions to seniors who meet specific ownership, residency, income and asset requirements. Seniors 70 or older may, alternatively, qualify for exemption under Clauses 17, 17C, 17C½ or 17D, which provide a reduced benefit, but have less strict eligibility requirements.
You can only declare a homestead on your principal residence. You can have more than one residence, but the law only allows protection on your primary dwelling. There are currently no legislative plans to allow the exemption to apply to a vacation home that is not a principal residence.
Filing a Declaration of Homestead costs thirty-five dollars ($35.00). Personal checks should be made payable to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Each owner, whether or not they qualify for an elderly or disabled exemption, must sign and acknowledge the document under the penalties of perjury before a notary public.
The Homestead Act, enacted during the Civil War in 1862, provided that any adult citizen, or intended citizen, who had never borne arms against the U.S. government could claim 160 acres of surveyed government land. Claimants were required to live on and “improve” their plot by cultivating the land.
Homestead declaration protects against attachment, seizure, execution on judgment, levy or sale for the payment of debts up to one million dollars ($1,000,000) per residence, per family.
Your Homestead will become effective on January 1st of the year FOLLOWING the year in which you ESTABLISHED your Homestead, SO LONG as you FILE for Homestead no later than March 1st of the year following the year in which you established your Homestead.
You can file a declared homestead by taking these steps: Buy a declared homestead form from an office-supply store, or download a form from the Registrar-Recorder's website. Fill out the form. Sign the form and have it notarized.
The spouse who holds the title of the property is responsible for applying for homestead exemption. Whether the house is owned through joint ownership with rights of survivorship, tenancy by the entirety, or another ownership type, Florida law preserves the rights of the owner's spouse.
How is the Homestead established? Section 4 of MGL Ch. 188 provides an automatic exemption available to everyone who owns a home and who occupies or intends to occupy the home as his or her principal residence. This exemption is for $125,000.00.
To protect the value of your property up to one million dollars ($1,000,000) per residence, per family, you must file a document called a “Declaration of Homestead”. You can file this form at the Registry of Deeds in the county or district where your property is located, referencing the title/deed to the property.
