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| 2 | 2 | | HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 3562 FILED ON: 1/20/2023 |
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| 3 | 3 | | HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 1635 |
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| 4 | 4 | | The Commonwealth of Massachusetts |
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| 5 | 5 | | _________________ |
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| 6 | 6 | | PRESENTED BY: |
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| 7 | 7 | | Kate Lipper-Garabedian |
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| 8 | 8 | | _________________ |
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| 9 | 9 | | To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General |
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| 10 | 10 | | Court assembled: |
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| 11 | 11 | | The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill: |
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| 12 | 12 | | An Act protecting property of elder or disabled persons. |
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| 13 | 13 | | _______________ |
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| 14 | 14 | | PETITION OF: |
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| 15 | 15 | | NAME:DISTRICT/ADDRESS :DATE ADDED:Kate Lipper-Garabedian32nd Middlesex1/20/2023Marian T. Ryan, Middlesex County |
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| 16 | 16 | | District Attorney |
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| 17 | 17 | | 151 Warren St, Lowell, MA 018521/20/2023 1 of 2 |
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| 18 | 18 | | HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 3562 FILED ON: 1/20/2023 |
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| 19 | 19 | | HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 1635 |
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| 20 | 20 | | By Representative Lipper-Garabedian of Melrose, a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. |
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| 21 | 21 | | 1635) of Kate Lipper-Garabedian and Marian T. Ryan, Middlesex County District Attorney |
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| 22 | 22 | | relative to the penalties for property crimes against elderly or disabled persons. The Judiciary. |
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| 23 | 23 | | [SIMILAR MATTER FILED IN PREVIOUS SESSION |
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| 24 | 24 | | SEE HOUSE, NO. 1744 OF 2021-2022.] |
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| 25 | 25 | | The Commonwealth of Massachusetts |
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| 26 | 26 | | _______________ |
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| 27 | 27 | | In the One Hundred and Ninety-Third General Court |
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| 28 | 28 | | (2023-2024) |
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| 29 | 29 | | _______________ |
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| 30 | 30 | | An Act protecting property of elder or disabled persons. |
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| 31 | 31 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority |
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| 32 | 32 | | of the same, as follows: |
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| 33 | 33 | | 1 SECTION 1: Section 30 of chapter 266, as appearing in the Official 2020 edition of the |
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| 34 | 34 | | 2General Laws, is amended by adding after subsection (6) the following subsection:- |
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| 35 | 35 | | 3 (7) Whoever, without consent of the owner, obtains possession or control over the |
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| 36 | 36 | | 4property of another, sixty years of age or older, or of a person with a disability as defined in |
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| 37 | 37 | | 5section thirteen K of chapter two hundred and sixty-five, if the value of such property exceeds |
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| 38 | 38 | | 6one thousand dollars, shall be guilty of unlawful possession of property, and shall be punished by |
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| 39 | 39 | | 7imprisonment in the state prison for not more than five years or in the house of correction for not |
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| 40 | 40 | | 8more than two and one-half years, or by a fine of not more than twenty-five thousand dollars or |
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| 41 | 41 | | 9by both such fine and imprisonment; if the property is an interest in real estate, whoever is guilty |
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| 42 | 42 | | 10of unlawful possession of property shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for not 2 of 2 |
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| 43 | 43 | | 11more than ten years or in the house of correction for not more than two and one-half years, or by |
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| 44 | 44 | | 12a fine of not more than fifty thousand dollars or by both such fine and imprisonment, and shall |
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| 45 | 45 | | 13restore or forfeit such interest in real estate to the owner. The court may order, regardless of the |
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| 46 | 46 | | 14value of the property, restitution to be paid to the victim commensurate with the value of the |
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| 47 | 47 | | 15property. If there is a caretaker for the person who is the owner, the consent of the owner shall |
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| 48 | 48 | | 16not be deemed voluntary and lawful to convey the property unless witnessed in writing by the |
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| 49 | 49 | | 17caretaker. A caretaker may not witness the consent of the owner if the caretaker intends to |
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| 50 | 50 | | 18receive or does receive any interest in the property conveyed or any other benefit as witness. |
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| 51 | 51 | | 19Lack of knowledge that a person has a caretaker shall not be a defense to prosecution under this |
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| 52 | 52 | | 20section. |
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| 53 | 53 | | 21 For the purposes of this section, “caretaker” is defined as a person with |
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| 54 | 54 | | 22responsibility for the care of an elder or person with a disability, which responsibility may arise |
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| 55 | 55 | | 23as the result of a family relationship, by a fiduciary duty imposed by law, or by a voluntary or |
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| 56 | 56 | | 24contractual duty undertaken on behalf of such elder or person with a disability. |
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| 57 | 57 | | 25 Where circumstances give rise to a reasonable doubt as to whether the person who |
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| 58 | 58 | | 26is the owner is competent to enter into such a property transfer, the other party to the transfer |
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| 59 | 59 | | 27must make reasonable inquiry as to whether the owner has a caretaker as defined above. |
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