New Hampshire Waiver of Administration for Small Estates

Waiver of administration (RSA 553:32)

In any of six circumstances, there is no requirement for an inventory of the estate, no requirement for a bond, and no requirement for an accounting for assets. The circumstances are: (1) testate, an individual named in the will as sole beneficiary, appointed administrator; (2) testate, all individuals named as beneficiaries appointed co-administrators, or any appropriate person appointed with the assent of all such beneficiaries; (3) testate, a trust named as sole beneficiary, any appropriate person, including one or more trustees, appointed with the assent of all trustees; (4) intestate, an individual, including a surviving spouse, who is the sole heir, appointed administrator; (5) intestate, all heirs, including a surviving spouse if any, appointed co-administrators, or any appropriate person appointed with the assent of all heirs; and (6) whenever, in the discretion of the court, the court determines it is appropriate under the circumstances.

No dollar figure, no waiting period before collection, no holder duty, no successor definition, no notarization requirement, no death-certificate requirement, and no domicile requirement appears anywhere in section 553:32 as read. The court-discretion circumstance is discretionary. It is not a general small-estate fallback, an entitlement, or a value test, and no published limiting rule or case narrowing it was found in the sources read.

Administration is completed on the administrator's filing, and the probate court's approval, of an affidavit of administration. The affidavit is filed not less than 6 months and no more than one year after the date of appointment. On motion for good cause, the court may extend the one-year deadline. The affidavit states that to the best of the knowledge and belief of the administrator there are no outstanding debts or obligations attributable to the decedent's estate, and lists all real estate owned by the decedent at the time of death, including the location, book, and page. Late filing, including extensions, lets the court take appropriate action in its discretion, including issuing a notice of default, a show cause order, or requiring full administration. A pre-2013 automatic-default and clerk-notice rule is superseded and is not carried here.

Any interested person may petition for full administration at any time from the original grant of administration to the filing of the affidavit of administration, granted for good cause shown. If full administration follows, inventory and account deadlines run from the full-administration grant. All other deadlines, including the six-month minimum before a summary administration motion, run from the original grant. A disclaimer, ademption of legacies, or declination to serve as executor may be used to cause the estate to conform to the waiver circumstances. A guardian may be appointed administrator if the ward qualifies. A successor administrator may complete under the section. The section does not relieve the administrator from responsibility for payment of administration expenses and the decedent's debts from estate assets under RSA 554 and RSA 556. Waiver removes reporting, not liability.

The $25,000 figure is a bond rule, not a waiver threshold

RSA 553:13 states that, except as provided in RSA 553:32, no person shall administer until bond, sureties, or security is given. It then states that when the estate has a gross value of $25,000 or less, only a personal bond without sureties will be required. The judge may waive bond, sureties, or security in discretion, and may require further bond or reduce it. The $25,000 figure therefore softens the bond in non-waiver estates only. Section 553:32 waives the bond entirely in its own circumstances. The $25,000 must never be stated as a waiver qualification, and it must not be carried as a bond figure for waiver estates.

Summary administration is a different closing motion (RSA 553:33)

Summary administration applies to all estates, testate and intestate, other than estates governed by RSA 553:32. The two sections are mutually exclusive by statute. Summary administration expedites the closing of an estate that went through full administration, when further court supervision is no longer necessary. Approval eliminates the requirement of filing a final account and receipts for the balance. All other documents required by statute must still be filed.

The motion is filed not less than six months after the date of appointment. It carries a sworn statement that the estate has been open at least six months, that no outstanding debts, obligations, or unpaid or unresolved claims exist to the best of knowledge and belief, that no New Hampshire estate taxes are due or all are paid with a Department of Revenue Administration certificate filed, that no federal estate tax is due or the return was filed and taxes paid, and that court supervision is no longer necessary. Receipts or assents from all specific legatees and assents from all other persons beneficially interested must be attached. On granting, the court closes the estate and releases the bond, and the administrator completes administration without further supervision under the will and applicable law.

Voluntary administration is dead law

The $10,000 "voluntary" or "small estate administration" procedure applied only where the decedent died before January 1, 2006, the estate involved only personal property valued at $10,000 or less, and the decedent owned no real estate of any value other than by joint tenancy at death. No fee could be taken for services under a voluntary administration. The legacy forms were NHJB-2141-P, Petition for Small Estate Administration, and NHJB-2143-P, Statement of Voluntary Administration. A form copy of NHJB-2141-P still circulating, with a statement of administration no earlier than 60 days and no later than 90 days from appointment, describes the dead procedure. That 60 to 90 day clock must never be transferred into a waiver guide. The $10,000 figure is the entire provenance of template sites' "$10,000 small estate affidavit cap." No current $10,000 cap exists in New Hampshire law as read.

Opening steps and fees

Opening a waiver proceeding uses the Petition for Estate Administration, NHJB-2145-P, with a Legatees and Devisees form where there is a will and a Heirs-at-law form where there is not, plus the will and codicils, and a certified death certificate. The closing form is the Waiver of Administration Affidavit, NHJB-2144-P, completed after appointment and filed with the court. Current revisions of these forms were not opened on the Judicial Branch site, and whether the paper and e-filing variants both remain live is unconfirmed. The form copy of NHJB-2144-P shows a notarial officer signature and seal, but the statute is silent on notarization. Form requirements are not statute requirements, and each requirement in this guide is stated with its source.

The Bar guide states filing in the Circuit Court Probate Division in the county where the decedent last resided, and states that filing fees exist for all types of administration, payable to the Probate Court and paid from the estate. No dollar fee schedule was verified. The $150 and $205 fee bands in a single secondary source are unverified on any primary source opened and are not stated here. Probate entry fees are set by the supreme court under RSA 490:26-a and paid to the circuit court clerk. No "no fee" claim is made. The will-filing clock of 30 days in the Bar guide and the intestacy dollar figures in the Bar guide restatement of RSA 561 were not re-grounded in current statute text and are not stated here as statute.

What this guide does not state

No holder-presented affidavit lane is stated flatly as nonexistent, because the holder-lane sweep covered the section list of chapter 553 only. Banking, vehicle-title, and recording chapters were not searched for a successor-affidavit procedure, and the Department of Motor Vehicles deceased-owner guidance was not opened. What can be stated flatly is that RSA 553:32 contains no holder-presented affidavit. No domicile, accounting, or debt-payment condition beyond the section's own words is stated. No Department of Health and Human Services bond exception, debt-priority, or suit-deadline rule is stated, because those provisions were not opened.

For small-estate procedures in other states, see the Small Estate Affidavits by State directory. For the questions each state's procedure answers, see Small Estate Affidavit Questions.

Source

Sources: RSA 553:32, 553:33, and 553:13 full texts by republication (LawServer and Justia 2023 to 2025 editions, read 2026-11-01), with the 2013 reenactment of section 553:32 by 2013, ch. 67 (SB 107) as a session-law pointer read by snippet only; New Hampshire Bar Association and Circuit Court Administrative Office "Guide to Administering an Estate," revised January 2014, for the dead voluntary administration procedure, opening forms, venue, and fee existence; form copies of NHJB-2144-P (11/01/2014), NHJB-2144-Pe (01/01/2018), and NHJB-2141-P (03/25/2013) via secondary hosts. Facts verified 2026-11-01. Open flags: (1) current sections 553:32 and 553:33 must be re-opened on the official General Court site and the full 2013 session law opened; (2) no published limiting rule for the court-discretion circumstance was confirmed; (3) the current probate entry-fee dollar schedule under RSA 490:26-a was not opened; (4) current form revisions and live status on courts.nh.gov were not confirmed; (5) RSA 554:18-a, 554:26-a, and 553:16 were not opened; (6) RSA 561:1 and will-proof provisions were not opened; (7) banking, vehicle-title, and recording chapters were not swept for a holder lane and Department of Motor Vehicles guidance was not opened; (8) the venue statute was not opened; (9) RSA 126-A:34, RSA 554:19, and RSA 556 interplay was not opened.

This page explains how the process works and what the official rules say. It is general information, not legal advice. For a dispute about your specific situation, talk to the New Hampshire Circuit Court Probate Division or a lawyer.