Probate look up in Massachusetts

[Brian Ortins]

I have a probate question for fellow MA investors. I looked up a property using the city's online assessors database, and saw the word PROB #'S followed by 2 sets of numbers. What is the next step to learn more about the current situation of the property, as it appears vacant? I was hoping to get some input from @Shaun Reilly

[Rich Hupper]

So far what I have been doing is going to:

http://ma.mypublicnotices.com/

Then I look for recent probate petitions by a personal representative. This usually lists the deceased person and the personal rep. This will also list a docket number and which probate court will be handling the estate.

Then I take the docket number to the appropriate court house and ask one of the filing clerks to dig up the file. 

After I look at the file I try to find who are the key players and where they live. 

So far I have not had any luck.