Massachusetts General Laws
Chapter 209 - Husband and Wife
Section 36 - Married Person Abandoned by Spouse; Spouse Living Apart; Conveyance and Will

Section 36. A probate court may upon complaint of a person, or if said person is incapacitated by reason of mental illness, of said person's guardian or next friend, enter a judgment that said person has been deserted by said person's spouse or is living apart from such spouse for justifiable cause, and said person may thereafter convey said person's real estate in the same manner and with the same effect as if said person were sole, and the surviving spouse shall not be entitled under section fifteen of chapter one hundred and ninety-one to waive the provisions of a will made by said person or to claim such portion of said person's estate as the spouse would take if said person had died intestate, nor shall such spouse be entitled upon said person's death, if said person leaves a will, to dower in said person's estate, as provided in section one of chapter one hundred and eighty-nine. Section seventeen of chapter two hundred and eight shall apply to proceedings upon such complaint, so far as applicable.

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