There is no law in Massachusetts that prohibits a person from being both a personal representative and a beneficiary under a will. The personal representative is the person responsible for the administration of the will according to the wishes of the testator. A beneficiary is a person named in the will to receive a portion of the testator’s estate. There is no reason that a person cannot be named both the personal representative under a will and a beneficiary as well.

Not only is this allowed, it happens frequently. Married couples will often execute reciprocal wills naming each other the primary, if not only, beneficiary under the will as well as the primary personal representative of the estate.