The Massachusetts homestead declaration: what it protects and how to record it

What a homestead does

Chapter 188 protects a home that is your principal residence against attachment, seizure, execution on a judgment, and levy and sale for payment of debts, up to the homestead amount. In practice, if a court judgment is entered against you for an ordinary debt, for example a lawsuit that exceeds your insurance coverage, the creditor cannot force a sale to reach the protected equity.

The statute lists debts it does not protect against. These include property taxes and other assessments, liens and debts recorded before the homestead, mortgages you signed, support orders for a spouse or children, and judgments based on fraud, duress, undue influence or lack of capacity. The homestead also has nothing to do with property tax relief; residential and personal exemptions are covered in our property tax guide.

Automatic or declared: the amounts

There are two levels. The automatic homestead applies without any filing. The declared homestead requires a recorded declaration and, since August 2024, protects up to $1,000,000. The amounts below are as of October 2026; the statute splits them among co-owners as follows.

Who can file, and for which home

A home under the statute is a one- to four-family dwelling, a condominium unit or a cooperative unit that the owner occupies or intends to occupy as a principal residence. An owner includes a person with a present vested beneficial interest in a trust that holds the home. You can have only one principal residence, so you can have only one declared homestead; recording a declaration on another property ends the first one for you.

Owners who are 62 or older, or who meet the disability standard in the statute, can file the §2 version. Because each such owner gets the full declared amount, couples where one or both qualify should ask the attorney which section each owner should file under. One person cannot hold rights under §2 and §3 at the same time, and when owners of the same home file under different sections, the statute sets a combined limit.

How to record it

The declaration is a short form. Registries of deeds post blank forms, including separate versions for owners 62 or older or disabled and for homes held in trust, and many closing attorneys prepare one with the closing package for a fee. Either way, check these points against the statute.

• It is a separate document. A homestead cannot be created inside the deed, so the declaration is signed and recorded on its own, usually right after the deed.
• Each owner who will benefit signs and acknowledges it under the penalties of perjury, usually before a notary, and the declaration names the owners and any spouse who is not on title.
• It states that the home is, or is intended to be, the principal residence.
• Spouses who own together both sign a §3 declaration. If the home is in a trust, the trustee signs.
• A §2 declaration for an owner 62 or older, or disabled, includes a statement to that effect; for disability, the statute calls for a Social Security award letter or a physician’s letter recorded with it.
• Record it at the Registry of Deeds for the county or district where the home is. As of October 2026 the Secretary of the Commonwealth lists the fee for recording a declaration of homestead as $35, including all surcharges. Check your registry’s posted fees before you go or mail it, especially if your home is registered land.
• Keep the recorded copy with the book and page, or document number, alongside your deed.

Refinancing, selling, trusts and family changes

A homestead does not block a new mortgage. A mortgage signed by all the owners comes ahead of the homestead, a non-owner spouse does not have to sign it, and the statute says a lender may not require or record a release of homestead when it makes a mortgage loan. If a refinance lender asks you to release your homestead, ask your attorney to point to that section.

A sale ends the homestead in the home, but the sale proceeds stay protected until you acquire another principal residence or one year after the sale, whichever comes first. A recorded release or a new declaration on another home also ends it, and a person who stops using the home as a principal residence loses the protection. A deed into a trust for your own benefit does not end it; ask your attorney whether the trustee should also record a declaration so the record is clear.

The protection continues for a surviving spouse, a former spouse and minor children who live in the home, within the limits in the statute. After a death, a divorce or a change of owners, review the declaration with your attorney.