Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 175 § 141
Any domestic life company may from its surplus funds or profits attributable to its participating business accumulate and hold, or hold if already accumulated, as a safety fund, an amount not in excess of 20 per cent of its reserve for such business or one hundred thousand dollars, whichever is greater, and, in addition thereto, any surplus that may have been contributed by the holders of the guaranty stock of the company, or which has been accumulated for the retirement of said guaranty stock and the margin of the market value of its securities over their book value, provided that in cases where the existing surplus or safety fund, exclusive of all accumulations held on account of existing deferred dividend policies, exceeds the limit above designated, the company shall be entitled to retain said surplus or safety fund, but shall not be entitled to add thereto so long as it exceeds said limit, and provided that for cause shown, the commissioner may at any time and from time to time permit any company to accumulate and maintain a safety fund in excess of the limit above mentioned, for such period as the commissioner may prescribe in any one permission, by filing in his office his reasons therefor and causing the same to be published in his next annual report. This safety fund shall be in addition to any safety fund accumulated from a mutual domestic life company's surplus funds attributable to its nonparticipating business, which funds may be appointed equitably, in the discretion of the company, as part of any annual dividend on participating business.
This section shall not apply to any company issuing only nonparticipating policies.
Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 175, § 141