How Probate Works in New Hampshire

File a petition with the Probate Division to be appointed executor or administrator (with the will, if there is one). After appointment, give notice of the appointment (by publication unless the gross estate is $10,000 or less), file an inventory within 90 days, pay valid debts and taxes, file an account within one year and yearly after that, and then distribute and close the estate. Waiver of administration and summary administration shorten these steps.

Waiver of administration (RSA 553:32): available when the sole beneficiary or heir (or all of them together, or someone they all agree on) is appointed, or when the court finds it appropriate. No inventory, bond or accounting is required; the estate is closed by filing an affidavit of administration stating there are no outstanding debts, 6 to 12 months after appointment. Summary administration (RSA 553:33): for other estates, the administrator may ask to close without a final account once the estate has been open at least 6 months, with sworn statements that debts and taxes are paid and with the beneficiaries' written assents. Neither procedure has a dollar limit in the statute. Notice of appointment does not have to be published when the gross estate is $10,000 or less.

A creditor must present a claim to the executor or administrator within 6 months after the original grant of administration, and must sue on the claim within 1 year after the original grant of administration. Time while administration is suspended does not count.

Priority to serve: the executor named in the will; then the surviving spouse, next of kin, or their nominee; then beneficiaries or creditors; then anyone the judge considers proper. Minors and persons the judge finds unsuitable cannot serve. A non-resident may be appointed only if the judge finds it proper, and a non-resident must appoint a New Hampshire agent in writing. A bond with sureties is generally required; for estates of $25,000 or less only a personal bond without sureties is needed, the judge may waive bond, and no bond is required under waiver of administration.

Probate of wills and the administration and settlement of estates are handled by the Probate Division of the New Hampshire Circuit Court, which took over the jurisdiction of the former probate courts.