Contacts
Probate and Family Court locations
The Details
What you need
A guardian or conservator appointed in Massachusetts can ask the court to transfer the guardianship or conservatorship to another state. You’ll need to file the Petition to Transfer Guardianship/Conservatorship from Massachusetts to Receiving State (MPC 110). There is no fee.
How to transfer
File your paperwork in the Probate & Family Court where the guardian or conservator was appointed.
Next steps
Give notice
After you've filed your paperwork, a citation will issue. You need to ask a disinterested person (someone who has no stake in the case) to give notice to the respondent in person by delivering a copy of the petition and the citation (Notice and Order) 14 days before the hearing. You'll also need to give notice by regular, first class mail to:
- Everyone named in the petition
- The U.S. Veteran's Administration
- The Department of Developmental Services (if the person is intellectually disabled)
If you don't know where one of the interested parties is, the court will give you instructions for how to publish the notice in a newspaper the court chooses. You may be eligible for a fee waiver to cover the cost of publishing the notice in a Massachusetts newspaper.
You should also file the original Notice of Hearing and Certificate of Service with a signed, completed Return of Service with the court. If you published the notice, you should also file:
- The original uncut tear sheet from the newspaper
- Any returned, undelivered, certified mail cards which were sent to all interested persons
- Signed green cards
More info
There will be a hearing if anyone given notice requests one or if the court chooses to. Any interested person can object to the transfer by filing a Notice of Appearance and/or Objection (MPC 505a). The incapacitated/protected person can have a lawyer assigned to them if anyone requests it or if the judge orders it. The case can be handled without a hearing if no one requests one and no one objects to the case.
To accept the petition, the court must be satisfied that:
- The guardianship or conservatorship will be accepted by the other state
- The incapacitated/protected person is already in the other state or is expected to move permanently to the other state
- No one has objected to the petition, or if someone has objected, they didn’t prove that the transfer would be against the interests of the incapacitated/protected person
- Plans for care and services for the incapacitated person or management of their affairs are reasonable and sufficient
If the court believes these conditions have been met, it will issue a temporary order to accept the petition.
Once the court receives an acceptance order from the receiving state, the judge will issue a final order transferring the guardianship or conservatorship and terminating the Massachusetts guardianship or conservatorship.