Since 2012, homeowners in Massachusetts have had two options for obtaining homestead protection for their residence.
First, they can do it “the old way” — by filing a legal declaration of homestead at the county registry of deeds. Translation: a small bit of hassle, a small fee to pay, maybe have lawyer get involved, or do you feel like taking it on yourself?
But then there is the “new” automatic homestead protection. Translation: do nothing except live in the house, no filing no fees.
The kicker is that the declared homestead exemption is able to protect up to $500,000 in equity in the property.
The automatic homestead exemption is limited to $125,000.
The really big kicker, though, is that for married folks, or others living under the same roof, the automatic do-nothing exemption is “one size fits all,” that is a husband and wife can NOT each claim $125K for a joint $250K benefit. $125K is all the benefit anyone gets for one house.
That makes filing the old fashioned declaration of homestead a big winner long-term. You might not have much equity in a property now, but taking the small step of filing a declaration might help out big time down the line.