Massachusetts General Laws

Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 260, § 7 (2026)

Minors and incapacitated persons

✓ current as of July 2026

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Section 7. If the person entitled thereto is a minor, or is incapacitated by reason of mental illness when a right to bring an action first accrues, the action may be commenced within the time hereinbefore limited after the disability is removed.

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 91 cases (8 in the last 5 years), 1930–2026 · leading case: McGuinness v. Cotter, 591 N.E.2d 659 (Mass. 1992).

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McGuinness v. Cotter, 591 N.E.2d 659 (Mass. 1992). · cites it 9× “Albert, supra, as well as to the mental incapacity tolling provision in G. L. c. 260, § 7 (1990 ed.). We agree. This court previously has noted the distinction between a statute of repose and a statute of limitations.”

Riley v. Presnell, 565 N.E.2d 780 (Mass. 1991). · cites it 4× “Riley also claims that the statute of limitations ought to be tolled by G.L.c. 260, § 7, as amended through St. 1987, c.”

Harlfinger v. Martin, 435 Mass. 38 (Mass. 2001). · cites it 5× “Previously, § 60D had contained only the three-year statute of limitations, which applied to minors’ claims notwithstanding the tolling provisions of G. L. c. 260, § 7. 5 The imposition of a statute of repose on medical malpractice claims was in apparent response to this court’s…”

O'BRIEN v. Massachusetts Bay Transp. Auth., 541 N.E.2d 334 (Mass. 1989). · cites it 5× “A judge in the Superior Court allowed the motion, reasoning that G. L. c. 260, § 7, the disability tolling statute, “does not apply because although [the] injured party was mentally ill a guardian had been appointed prior to injury.”

Gaudette v. Webb, 284 N.E.2d 222 (Mass. 1972). · cites it 5× “The second provision relied upon by the plaintiff is G. L. c. 260, § 7, which tolls the statute of limitations in part if a person is a “minor .”

Hernandez v. City of Boston, 474 N.E.2d 166 (Mass. 1985). · cites it 6× “258, § 4, the general statute applicable to actions against public employers, or G. L. c. 260, § 7, the general statute applicable to actions by minors.”

Irwin v. Town of Ware, 467 N.E.2d 1292 (Mass. 1984). · cites it 2× “The "per incident" construction of the statute makes settlement of any claims by adults, arising from incidents of negligence in which one or more minors have been injured, difficult, if not impossible.”

Pederson v. Time, Inc., 532 N.E.2d 1211 (Mass. 1989). “If Totten were insane from April 22 to April 27, 1981, the statute providing for the tolling of limitations periods, G. L. c. 260, § 7, 6 would apply and would make the April 27, 1984, action timely.”

Parr v. Rosenthal, 57 N.E.3d 947 (Mass. 2016). · cites it 2× “The medical malpractice statute applicable to juveniles eliminates tolling until the minor's eighteenth birthday (G. L. c. 260, § 7), but the legal malpractice statute does not.”

Ellis v. Ford Motor Co., 628 F. Supp. 849 (D. Mass. 1986). · cites it 6× “See Mass.Gen. Laws ch. 260, § 7. 7 In Gaudette , the plaintiff intestate died in an automobile accident on April 15,1967.”

Lombard v. Eunice Kennedy Shriver Ctr. for Mental Retardation, Inc., 556 F. Supp. 677 (D. Mass. 1983). · cites it 6× “Plaintiff argues that M.G.L. c. 260, § 7, 5 tolls the applicable statute of limitations for those with mental disabilities, and that therefore the three year limitation period is not effective in this ease because he remains mentally disabled.”

Andrews-Clarke v. Lucent Tech., Inc., 157 F. Supp. 2d 93 (D. Mass. 2001). · cites it 2× “More problematic than the named plaintiffs possible incapacity is the status of the children as minors who may be entitled to a tolling of the statute of limitations under Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 260, § 7 . See O’Brien v.”

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