Mass. Gen. Laws » Part II Title I Chapter 184
Massachusetts General Laws

Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 184, § 17 (2026)

Judgments or decrees; effect of recording

✓ current as of July 2026
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Section 17. A judgment or decree, at law or in equity, rendered after June eighth, eighteen hundred and ninety-two, affecting the title to real property, shall not have any effect except against the parties thereto, their heirs and devisees and persons having actual notice thereof, unless a certified copy of the record thereof has been recorded in the registry of deeds for the county or district where the land lies, with a memorandum of the town where the land lies and a description thereof sufficiently accurate for identification if the record of the judgment or decree does not give those particulars. If a notice of the pendency of the action has been duly recorded in the registry of deeds, the record of the judgment or decree may be made within sixty days after its rendition, and the entry of an ordinary attachment of real property in the registry of deeds shall be considered notice of the pendency of the action.

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 5 cases (1 in the last 5 years), 1994–2021 · leading case: Gray v. Burke (In Re Coletta Bros. of North Quincy, Inc.), 172 B.R. 159 (Bankr. D. Mass. 1994).
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Gray v. Burke (In Re Coletta Bros. of North Quincy, Inc.), 172 B.R. 159 (Bankr. D. Mass. 1994). · cites it 8× “The principal issue presented by these motions is whether, under Massachusetts law, G.L. c. 184, § 17, a Chapter 7 Trustee is bound by a prepetition judgment against the Debtor to partition by sale certain real property of which the Debtor is a co-owner, where the other co-owner…”
In Re Pina, 363 B.R. 314 (Bankr. D. Mass. 2007). · cites it 6× “183, §§ 4 , 43, and 44; Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 184, § 17 ; and Mass.”
Wolfe v. Gormally, 440 Mass. 699 (Mass. 2004). “It appears in a related statute, G. L. c. 184, § 17, providing that a judgment “affecting the title to real property” is ineffective unless recorded.”
Baldiga v. Golemo (In re Golemo), 494 B.R. 588 (Bankr. D. Mass. 2013). “Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 184, § 17 (emphasis supplied).”
Lindenbaum v. Perez (2021). “The Dubinsky Decision And Reference to the 1901 Compilation Plan in Perez's Deed Perez contends that the Dubinsky Decision is of no consequence relative to the current dispute because the judgment was never registered on the certificate of title for Lot 92A as required by G. L.…”
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