Session Laws

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

SECTION 1. Section 5 of chapter 59 of the General Laws is hereby amended by inserting after clause Seventeenth C, as appearing in the 1986 Official Edition, the following clause:-

Seventeenth C 1/2. Real estate, to the taxable valuation of two thousand dollars or the sum of one hundred and seventy-five dollars, whichever would result in an abatement of the greater amount of actual taxes due, of a surviving spouse or of any minor whose parent is deceased, occupied by such spouse, or minor as her or his domicile, or a person or persons over the age of seventy who has owned and occupied it as a domicile for not less than ten years; provided, however, that the whole estate, real and personal of such spouse, person or minor does not exceed in value the sum of forty thousand dollars, exclusive of property otherwise exempt under clauses Twelfth, Twentieth and Twenty-first, exclusive of the value of the mortgage interest held by persons other than the person or persons to be exempted in such mortgaged real estate as may be included in such whole estate and exclusive of the first one hundred and fifty thousand dollars in value of real estate occupied by such person as his domicile. No real estate shall be so exempt which the assessors shall adjudge has been conveyed to such spouse, person or minor to evade taxation. A spouse, person or minor aggrieved by any such judgment may appeal to the county commissioners or to the appellate tax board within the time and in such manner allowed by section sixty-four or sixty-five, as the case may be. Any exemption under this clause, to the taxable valuation of two thousand dollars or the sum of one hundred and seventy-five dollars, whichever would result in an abatement of the greater amount of actual taxes due may be apportioned among the persons whose title to the real estate was acquired under the provisions of section three of chapter one hundred and ninety and who qualify for an exemption under this clause. This clause shall take effect upon its acceptance by any city or town. In those cities and towns which accept the provisions of this clause, the provisions of clause Seventeenth shall not be applicable; provided, however, that the state treasurer shall annually reimburse the city or town an amount equal to the reimbursement granted to such city or town under said clause Seventeenth for the most recent fiscal year in which it received such reimbursement.

SECTION 2. The provisions of this act shall take effect upon its passage and shall apply to all fiscal years beginning on or after July first, nineteen hundred and eighty-seven.