Section 48A Burial expenses of wards; deposit; payment
[Text of section effective until July 1, 2009. Repealed by 2008, 521, Sec. 21. See 2008, 521, Sec. 44.]
Section 48A. Upon application therefor by a conservator or by a guardian of a mentally ill or mentally retarded person or a spendthrift, whose ward is a resident of the commonwealth, the probate court, after such notice as it deems necessary, and a hearing, may authorize such conservator or guardian to deposit for the purpose hereinafter stated, in a savings bank, or in the savings department of a trust company, within the commonwealth, or on paid-up shares and accounts of and in a co-operative bank, a sum not exceeding one thousand dollars, or may authorize said conservator or guardian to purchase a share account of a federal savings and loan association or a savings and loan association located within the commonwealth, in a sum not exceeding one thousand dollars, to be expended solely for, or towards the expense of, the burial of his ward. Such deposit or purchase shall be made in the name of the judge of probate for the time being, and shall be subject to the order of the judge and of his successors in office. The person making such deposit or purchase shall file in the probate court a memorandum thereof and the deposit book or share account book, and the amount so deposited or purchased shall, for the purpose of the accounting by said guardian or conservator, be allowed as payment. Upon the death of such ward, the probate court may, upon application and after like notice and hearing, order the payment of such deposit or purchase, together with any accrued interest thereon, hereinafter referred to as such deposit or purchase, to the executor of the will of such ward or to the administrator of the estate, to be expended by him only for the purpose hereinbefore stated, and, in case no executor or administrator is appointed, said court may order payment from such deposit or purchase together with any accrued interest thereon to any undertaker or other person, of any charge for such burial or sum expended therefor which it finds to be proper, but not exceeding the amount of such deposit or purchase together with any accrued interest thereon, or may apportion such deposit or purchase together with any accrued interest thereon between several claimants for such charges or expenses but in no event to exceed the total amount of such charges, or expenses; provided that any balance remaining after the payment of such charges or expenses shall become general assets of the estate. The provisions of chapter two hundred A shall not be applicable to funds deposited under this section.