New Hampshire Probate Information

New Hampshire probate turns on two questions the family should answer before opening a court file: who inherits and who will serve, and whether the estate holds real estate. New Hampshire has no dollar-threshold small-estate affidavit, so the simplified routes are not keyed to a value cap. They are keyed to who inherits and who is appointed. Waiver of Administration (RSA 553:32) is available where the sole beneficiary or sole heir serves as administrator, where all beneficiaries or all heirs serve as co-administrators or an appropriate person is appointed with the assent of all of them, or where a trust is the sole beneficiary and an appropriate person, including a trustee, is appointed with the assent of all trustees. Summary Administration (RSA 553:33) covers other estates and ends court supervision without a final account. Confirming who the beneficiaries or heirs are, and how each asset is titled, therefore often decides the whole approach.

Property held jointly with rights of survivorship, payable-on-death and transfer-on-death accounts, life insurance and retirement accounts with named beneficiaries, and trust property all pass outside probate. Before filing anything with the Circuit Court Probate Division, identify every asset and debt and confirm how each asset is titled and valued, because the estate value sets the Petition for Estate Administration filing-fee tier and the presence of real estate shapes the path and the homestead analysis. Sunset's asset-discovery work, searching more than 2,300 financial institutions, exists for this step.

New Hampshire probate runs through one statewide court: the New Hampshire Circuit Court, Probate Division. The separate county Probate Courts were merged into the unified Circuit Court on July 1, 2011, and probate is now one of the Circuit Court's three divisions, alongside the District and Family Divisions. There is no standalone Probate Court, no elected register of probate, and no surrogate. Each of the 10 counties has one Probate Division location, keyed to a numbered circuit, and this knowledge base has a separate page for each county because the courthouse location and local contact differ from county to county even though the statewide law, forms, and fee schedule do not.

The filing office is the clerk of the Circuit Court Probate Division at the county's location, and a Circuit Court judge decides probate matters. The court runs one statewide Call Center that answers for every location at 1-855-212-1234; there is no per-county direct probate line. Venue is set by RSA 547:8: jurisdiction over the estate belongs to the court for the county in which the decedent was last an inhabitant, and, for a decedent who was not a New Hampshire inhabitant, any county in which the decedent had estate. In practice, file in the Probate Division for the county where the decedent was domiciled at death (RSA 547:8).

Waiver of Administration. New Hampshire's signature simplified path is Waiver of Administration (RSA 553:32), a fully-administered path that proceeds without an inventory, bond, or accounting. It is not keyed to a dollar threshold; it is keyed to who inherits and who serves. It is available where the sole beneficiary named in the will or the sole heir of an intestate estate is appointed administrator, where all beneficiaries or all heirs serve as co-administrators or an appropriate person is appointed with the assent of all of them, or where a trust is named in the will as sole beneficiary and an appropriate person, including a trustee, is appointed with the assent of all trustees, or where the court otherwise finds it appropriate. It is completed by filing an affidavit of administration, stating there are no outstanding debts, obligations, or claims and listing the decedent's real estate, not less than 6 months and no more than one year after appointment. Any interested person may petition for full administration, for good cause shown, at any time before that affidavit is filed.

Summary Administration. Summary Administration (RSA 553:33) applies to all estates, testate or intestate, other than those handled by Waiver of Administration. Not less than 6 months after appointment, the administrator files a sworn motion stating the estate has been open at least 6 months, there are no outstanding debts or unresolved claims, New Hampshire and federal estate taxes are paid or not due, and further supervision is unnecessary, attaching receipts and assents. On approval the court closes the estate and releases the bond, without a final account.

No small-estate affidavit. New Hampshire has no classic small-estate collection affidavit with a dollar cap. The former small-estate section, RSA 553:31, was repealed effective January 1, 2006 (2005, 252:9). The only simplified routes are Waiver of Administration (RSA 553:32) and Summary Administration (RSA 553:33). Some form vendors mislabel the Waiver of Full Administration form as a small estate affidavit; that label is wrong for New Hampshire.

Certificate of Appointment. The authority document the Circuit Court Probate Division issues is the Certificate of Appointment (Letter of Appointment), a combined certificate and letter that authorizes the fiduciary to open the estate account, access accounts, and act for the estate. The original carries no charge; additional certificates are charged under Rule 169. New Hampshire does not use the authority documents some other states issue, so banks and registries should be asked to accept the Certificate of Appointment.

Creditor claims run from the grant of administration. A creditor must exhibit its demand to the administrator within 6 months after the original grant of administration (RSA 556:1, 556:3), no suit may be brought within the first 6 months, and a creditor's suit generally must be brought within one year of the grant (RSA 556:5). The court may extend the time for good cause where justice and equity require and the claimant is not chargeable with culpable neglect (RSA 556:28). This window runs from the grant of administration, not from a published notice date, and is shorter than in many states.

Homestead. Every person is entitled to $400,000 worth of homestead, effective January 1, 2026 (RSA 480:1, 2025, 282:1), raised from $120,000. Co-owners of the same property may claim up to a $550,000 combined cap, and the full market value of the property may be claimed where the debt arose from unpaid medical bills or other debts directly resulting from terminal or catastrophic injury or illness. The homestead right is exempt from most creditor claims and protects the surviving spouse and children.

Elective share. A surviving spouse may waive the provisions of the will, and the homestead right, and elect a statutory share instead (RSA 560:10): with surviving issue, one third of the real and personal estate; with no issue but surviving parents or siblings, $10,000 plus one half of the remainder in each; with none of those, $10,000 plus $2,000 for each full year of marriage plus one half of the remainder. The waiver must be filed within a set period after appointment (RSA 560:14, 560:15).

No state death tax, and no tax on estate income. New Hampshire has no estate tax and no inheritance tax; the Legacy and Succession Tax was repealed for deaths on or after January 1, 2003, and no New Hampshire estate-tax return is required for deaths on or after January 1, 2005. New Hampshire also has no income tax on wages, and the Interest and Dividends Tax was fully repealed effective January 1, 2025, so for tax years 2025 and later there is no New Hampshire tax on the interest and dividends an estate earns during administration.

Federal estate tax. New Hampshire has no state estate tax. The separate federal estate tax applies only above the federal exemption, which is $15 million per individual for deaths in 2026 under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (signed July 4, 2025, and indexed annually).

A New Hampshire attorney is advisable when the estate is contested, when the will is missing or defective, when the estate is insolvent, when real estate must be sold and title questions arise, when a surviving spouse considers waiving the will and electing a statutory share (RSA 560:10), or when a creditor dispute or a complex asset such as a business interest is involved. For a Waiver of Administration estate (RSA 553:32) where the family is the sole beneficiary or sole heir, and for many ordinary Summary Administration estates (RSA 553:33), families complete the process without an attorney, using the e-Court system or TurboCourt and the court navigators. Sunset can connect families to a vetted New Hampshire probate attorney when the situation requires counsel.

Find the accounts and assets. Sunset searches more than 2,300 financial institutions and New Hampshire public records to surface bank and credit-union accounts, retirement plans, brokerage holdings, life insurance, New Hampshire real estate, vehicles, business interests, and unclaimed property, and flags how each asset is titled so the family can tell what passes outside probate, what belongs in estate settlement, and which administration path fits.

Generate the probate packet. Sunset assembles the statewide NHJB packet for the estate settlement path that fits, whether a Petition for Estate Administration for regular or waiver administration or the motion that closes a Summary Administration estate, ready to file through the NH Circuit Court e-Court system or, for self-represented filers, through TurboCourt.

Find a local probate attorney. When the situation calls for counsel, such as a contested estate, an insolvent estate, or a real-estate sale with title questions, Sunset connects families to a vetted New Hampshire probate attorney serving the relevant county.

Sunset is free for families. Revenue comes from bank partners that pay Sunset while estate funds sit in an FDIC-insured estate account ($3M coverage).