New Hampshire Probate Attorney

By Michael Monteforte, Jr.

Someone has died and you have been told you need to “go through probate.” You are probably holding a death certificate, a will you have not read closely, and a list of accounts nobody can get into.

Here is the part most people are relieved to hear: New Hampshire has two simplified routes through probate, and a great many estates qualify for one of them. The full, supervised version, inventories, bonds, annual accounts, is not what most families end up doing.

I am admitted in New Hampshire and I appear in the New Hampshire Circuit Court Probate Division. We handle the estate here rather than sending you to find a second firm.

Which Court, and Why It Matters

New Hampshire runs probate through the Circuit Court Probate Division in each of the ten counties. For southern New Hampshire that means:

• Hillsborough County, Nashua, Manchester, Merrimack, Hudson, Amherst, Milford, Bedford, Hollis, the 9th Circuit Court, Probate Division, in Nashua.
• Rockingham County, Salem, Derry, Londonderry, Windham, Plaistow, Hampstead, Atkinson, Exeter, Portsmouth, the 10th Circuit Court, Probate Division, in Brentwood.

It is not the same system as Massachusetts. If you have done this before for a parent in Middlesex County, set that experience aside.

Waiver of Administration: The Route Most Families Qualify For

Under RSA 553:32, the court can waive most of the supervision when the person administering the estate is also the one inheriting it. That covers the common situations:

• a sole beneficiary named in the will, serving as administrator
• all of the named beneficiaries serving together
• a sole heir where there is no will, which includes a surviving spouse
• a trust named as sole beneficiary, with the trustee administering

When a waiver is granted there is no inventory, no bond and no accounting. Instead, somewhere between six months and a year after appointment, the administrator files an affidavit confirming the debts are settled and listing any real estate owned at death.

That is a materially lighter process than full administration, and it is why “how long does probate take” has a different answer here than it does in Massachusetts.

Summary Administration: Closing the Estate Early

RSA 553:33 is the other route. Six months after appointment, the administrator can move to close the estate early, swearing that there are no outstanding debts or unresolved claims, that any taxes are handled, and that court supervision is no longer necessary.

It also requires receipts or assents from every specific legatee, and assents from everyone else with an interest. So it works when the family is in agreement, and it does not when they are not. If the court grants the motion, the estate closes, the bond is released, and the administrator finishes the work without further supervision.

The Six-Month Clock

Both routes share the same floor: six months from the date the administrator is appointed. Not six months from the death, and not six months from the funeral.

That distinction catches people out. It is worth getting the appointment done rather than waiting until the family has sorted everything else out, because the clock does not start until somebody is appointed.

There Is No New Hampshire Estate Tax, But Check the Massachusetts Side

New Hampshire has no estate tax and no inheritance tax. The Legacy and Succession Tax was repealed for deaths on or after 1 January 2003, and since 2005 there has been no New Hampshire estate tax return to file at all, according to the New Hampshire Department of Revenue Administration.

That does not end the question. If the person who died owned real estate in Massachusetts, a family home they never sold, a condo on the Cape, a rental in Lowell, Massachusetts taxes that property in the estate of a non-resident, and it may need its own Massachusetts filing alongside the New Hampshire probate. This is the single most common thing missed in a New Hampshire estate with a Massachusetts history.

Property on the Other Side of the Border

The mirror image comes up just as often. A Massachusetts resident dies owning a place in New Hampshire, on Winnipesaukee, a camp in the White Mountains, a house they bought to retire into. The main estate is administered in Massachusetts, and the New Hampshire real estate needs its own proceeding up here.

We handle both ends. You can read more about how we work across the border on our New Hampshire estate planning page, and about the Massachusetts side on our Massachusetts probate page.

What It Costs and How Long It Takes

A waiver estate in southern New Hampshire commonly runs six to twelve months from appointment to close, driven by that six-month floor rather than by the amount of work. Full administration takes longer. What actually stretches an estate is real estate that has to be sold, a business interest, or a family that does not agree.

Our probate fees are flat. You will have the number before you decide anything.

What We Do Not Do

We handle probate administration, getting the estate opened, the assets gathered, the debts paid, the property transferred and the estate closed. We do not take will contests or fiduciary disputes. If that is what you are facing, we will say so on the first call and point you somewhere useful rather than take the case.

Start with a free 15-minute consult call with our Lead Intake Coordinator, Nicole Ott, or give us a call at 978-657-7437. Tell her which county, and whether there is a will. That is usually enough for us to say what route the estate is likely to take.