Does New Hampshire have a small estate affidavit?

No. New Hampshire has no fixed-dollar small estate affidavit. Its shortcut is waiver of administration under RSA 553:32, which depends on who inherits and who serves as administrator rather than on a threshold.

What does waiver of administration remove?

Three requirements outright: no inventory of the estate, no bond, and no accounting for assets. The estate still opens and an administrator is still appointed.

When is waiver available?

When a sole beneficiary under a will is appointed administrator, when all beneficiaries serve as co-administrators, when all assent to one administrator, when a trust is sole beneficiary with trustee assent, or where the court finds waiver appropriate.

Does New Hampshire have voluntary administration?

No. That term belongs to Massachusetts and Maine. New Hampshire uses waiver of administration and, separately, summary administration under RSA 553:33 to close an estate early.

New Hampshire Small Estate: Waiver of Administration

General information, not legal advice. Where the decedent received New Hampshire Medicaid long-term care benefits, notify DHHS before distributing anything; distributing first can create personal liability. Consult a New Hampshire attorney.

Stop looking for a threshold: New Hampshire does not have a small estate affidavit and does not set a dollar figure for one. Its shortcut, waiver of administration under RSA 553:32, turns entirely on who inherits and who will serve as administrator. A million-dollar estate can qualify and a modest one can fail, depending only on the family structure.

See if waiver applies to you ↓

Who inherits decides, not how much

RSA 553:32 lists the situations that qualify, and each is about people rather than money. It applies where a decedent dies testate and an individual named in the will as the sole beneficiary is appointed administrator; where all individuals named as beneficiaries are appointed co-administrators, or any appropriate person serves with the assent of all of them; and where a trust is named sole beneficiary of the estate and an appropriate person, including a trustee, serves with the assent of all trustees. Intestate versions follow the same logic through the sole heir. Beyond the listed cases, the court may allow waiver where it finds it appropriate under the circumstances.

What waiver actually spares you

The statute is blunt about the payoff: notwithstanding any provision of law, there is no requirement for an inventory of the estate, no requirement for a bond, and no requirement for an accounting for assets. Those three obligations are where most of the cost and delay of a New Hampshire administration sits, so removing them changes the character of the job substantially. What waiver does not do is skip the estate entirely; the Circuit Court, Probate Division still appoints an administrator and the other deadlines continue to run, including notice to legatees and heirs and the publication of notice of appointment.

Three numbers that are not thresholds

Three dollar figures circulate in New Hampshire probate and none of them creates a small estate route, which is precisely why families keep searching for one. The $10,000 in RSA 553:16 waives publication of the notice of appointment. The $25,000 in RSA 553:13 allows a personal bond without sureties. And the tiered $10,000 and $25,000 amounts in the Circuit Court fee schedule are filing-fee brackets. Separately, some financial institutions will informally release a bank account under $10,000 to a surviving spouse or next of kin on a death certificate and identification, but that is institutional practice rather than a statutory procedure.

Vocabulary, and one deadline worth knowing

New Hampshire has not adopted the Uniform Probate Code, keeping its own statutes in RSA 547 and RSA 553 through 564, and it does not use "voluntary administration" at all; that term belongs to Massachusetts and Maine. What it does have alongside waiver is summary administration under RSA 553:33, a separate device used to close an estate early once further court supervision is unnecessary, available after the estate has been open at least six months. On timing, the will must be filed within ninety days of death, and no one has authority to act for the decedent until an estate is opened and an administrator appointed.

New Hampshire small estate questions

Is there a small estate affidavit?: No, and no fixed-dollar threshold. The shortcut is waiver of administration under RSA 553:32, based on who inherits and who serves.
What does waiver remove?: No inventory, no bond and no accounting for assets. The estate still opens and an administrator is still appointed.
When is it available?: Sole beneficiary serving as administrator, all beneficiaries serving together, all assenting to one administrator, a trust as sole beneficiary with trustee assent, or where the court finds it appropriate.
What are the $10,000 and $25,000 figures?: Not thresholds. They cover publication waiver, personal bond without sureties, and filing-fee brackets respectively.
Is there voluntary administration?: No. That belongs to Massachusetts and Maine. New Hampshire uses waiver and, separately, summary administration under RSA 553:33.

Written by the Trámites Notariales US editorial team, based on RSA 553:32, 553:33, 553:16 and 553:13. Confirm requirements with the Circuit Court, Probate Division.