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New Hampshire Ancillary Probate
Support GuideNew Hampshire20 min read

New Hampshire Ancillary Probate

New Hampshire ancillary probate files an authenticated copy of an out-of-state will under RSA 552:13 so a nonresident's New Hampshire land can pass.

By Settled Editorial

New Hampshire ancillary probate is the filing that clears New Hampshire real estate when the owner lived somewhere else. RSA 552:1 says no will passes real or personal estate until a probate court allows it, so a will proved in Massachusetts, Florida, or anywhere else does not move a New Hampshire parcel on its own. RSA 552:13 supplies the fix: an authenticated copy of that will and of its probate can be filed and recorded here.

Most families reach this page after a title company or a buyer's attorney refuses to close on a lake house, a camp, or a woodlot. The New Hampshire step is usually smaller than people fear, because the state publishes a petition that asks for no administration at all. This guide covers the authenticated-copy route, when a full New Hampshire estate has to open instead, which county takes the filing, and what the whole thing costs. Read it alongside how New Hampshire probate works for a resident estate. It is general information, not legal advice. Confirm your own facts with the circuit court clerk handling the case or a licensed New Hampshire attorney.

Two Cases, One Estate

A court reaches only the property inside its own state. The home-state court settles the main estate and every intangible asset in it, wherever the bank or brokerage happens to sit. New Hampshire land answers to New Hampshire.

FilingWhere it runsWhat it covers
Domiciliary probateThe state where the person lived at deathThe main estate, including bank accounts, brokerage holdings, and life insurance
New Hampshire filingThe Circuit Court, Probate Division for the county where the land sitsNew Hampshire real estate, and tangible property kept here

One word before the details. New Hampshire calls the person in charge an administrator, and RSA 553:1 makes that word cover an executor named in a will as well. The state is not a Uniform Probate Code state, so "personal representative" is not the local term, and the court that hears the case is the Circuit Court, Probate Division, with a circuit court clerk taking the filing. There is no register of probate handling estates here. The Register of Deeds is a separate county officer who records land documents, and that office is very much alive.

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What Needs a New Hampshire Filing, and What Skips It

Start with title, not value. New Hampshire has no small estate affidavit and no dollar cutoff, so there is no sworn shortcut waiting for a small parcel. See New Hampshire small estate rules for why that trips people up.

Property that needs the filing:

  • A house, condo, camp, or cottage held in the decedent's name alone
  • Vacant land, a woodlot, or farm acreage
  • A commercial building or rental property
  • An interest held as a tenant in common, which does not pass to the co-owner

Property that skips it:

  • Real estate covered by a recorded transfer on death deed under RSA 563-D
  • Real estate titled in a revocable living trust
  • Real estate held in joint tenancy with right of survivorship, which passes to the surviving owner
  • Bank accounts, brokerage accounts, and life insurance, which the home-state estate handles even when the branch sits in New Hampshire

The Authenticated Copy Route

RSA 552:13 is the section that does the work. A duly authenticated copy of a will made out of this state, proved and allowed by a court of probate in one of the United States or in a foreign country, together with a duly authenticated copy of the probate of that will, may be decreed filed and recorded in the probate office on the written application of a party in interest and on whatever citation and notice the court orders. Once that decree issues, the will has the same effect as if it had been executed with New Hampshire formalities and proved here. RSA 552:14 lets the executor or any interested person bring those copies to the judge of any county in which there is estate the will can operate on.

The New Hampshire Judicial Branch publishes a dedicated form for it. NHJB-2133-Pe, revised 11/01/2023, is the Petition to File and Record Authenticated Copy of Will and Probate from Another State (Real Estate in NH), No Administration. The court's own description says it is used when an estate has been processed or probated in a state other than New Hampshire and the deceased owned property here. Four points on the form change how you prepare:

  1. It is e-file only. The petition goes in electronically. Item 4 asks for the street and city of the New Hampshire property, the county where the deed is recorded, and the book and page.
  2. The authenticated papers travel by mail. The form's closing note says the filing is not complete until a copy of the will and probate, duly authenticated by the court in the state where the estate is open, is mailed to the Estates Electronic Filing Center. E-filing the petition alone leaves the case open.
  3. A town notice rides along. Item 6 requires form NHJB-2142-Pe, Notice to Town and Cities Pursuant to RSA 554:18-a, for each New Hampshire parcel. RSA 554:18-a tells the administrator to notify the selectmen of each town and the assessors of each city about the people coming into ownership of real estate through inheritance or devise, and to certify to the court that notice was given. That duty drops away only when the real estate is sold by license or consent.
  4. Item 7 says no administration is requested. That sentence is the reason this route stays cheap. Nobody is appointed, no bond is set, no inventory or accounting follows.

The filing fee is $260.00, listed on the Circuit Court schedule dated 07/01/2025 as "Petition for Authenticated Copy of Will and Probate from another state".

The Foreign Will Trap Worth Knowing

Two different New Hampshire rules answer to the phrase "out-of-state will", and mixing them costs a filing.

RSA 552:13 assumes the will has already been proved somewhere else. You are copying a completed foreign probate into a New Hampshire county record.

RSA 551:5 covers the will that has never been proved anywhere. A will made out of this state and valid under the law of the state or country where it was signed may be proved and allowed here, and it is then as effective as if it had followed New Hampshire law. A will self-proved where it was signed is self-proved here too. For that path the court asks for NHJB-2146-P, the Affidavit of Counsel as to Propriety of a Foreign Will or Codicil to be Admitted into Probate, which an attorney completes to state that the will was properly executed under the law of the place where and at the time it was signed. The e-file version, NHJB-2146-Pe, is titled Statement of Counsel.

So: already proved elsewhere means RSA 552:13 and the $260 authenticated-copy petition. Never proved anywhere means RSA 551:5, an ordinary New Hampshire proceeding, and an attorney statement about the law of the signing state. Check New Hampshire will requirements before assuming a handwritten out-of-state will qualifies, because New Hampshire recognizes no holographic will of its own.

When a Full New Hampshire Administration Opens Instead

The no-administration petition works when the point is simply to pass title. A New Hampshire estate has to open when there are New Hampshire debts to settle, when the land must be sold to pay them, or when someone contests the transfer.

That case starts with NHJB-2145-Pe, the Petition for Estate Administration, and the fee is tiered by estate value: $150.00 at $10,000 or less, $205.00 from $10,001 to $25,000, and $305.00 above $25,000.

Three New Hampshire rules shape who runs it.

  • RSA 553:2 sets the order of right to administer: the executor named in the will, then the surviving spouse or next of kin or their nominee, then a devisee or creditor, then whoever the judge thinks proper.
  • RSA 553:5 limits the out-of-state candidate. No person who is not an inhabitant of this state is appointed by reason of a right to the trust unless other circumstances, in the judge's opinion, make it proper. New Hampshire gives a home-state executor no automatic priority, which is the opposite of what Uniform Probate Code states do, so plan for the possibility that the court prefers a local appointee.
  • RSA 553:25 attaches a condition when the court does appoint someone from away. That administrator must promptly appoint a New Hampshire resident as agent to receive notice of claims and service of process, in writing, stating the agent's full name and post office address, filed with the clerk. Form NHJB-2120-P is the Appointment of Resident Agent. RSA 553:26 puts the agent into the published notice of appointment, RSA 553:29 makes a claim served on the agent count as one served on the administrator, and RSA 553:28 removes an administrator who ignores the requirement.

Selling the land inside an administration needs its own order. RSA 559:1 lets the judge license a sale of a decedent's real estate when the personal property is not enough to pay the demands chargeable to the estate, and NHJB-2136-P is the Motion and License to Sell Real Estate to Pay Demands. For the wider job, read New Hampshire executor duties.

Which County Takes the Filing

RSA 547:8 answers the venue question directly. Probate of the will and the granting of administration belong to the judge for the county in which the person was last an inhabitant, but if the person was not an inhabitant of this state, the same belongs to the judge for any county in which the person had estate, or in which the personal representative or kin has a cause of action. For a nonresident owner that means the county where the land sits. RSA 547:9 then keeps every later step in the county where the will was proved or administration was granted.

New Hampshire folded its old county probate courts into one statewide Circuit Court in 2011, and RSA 490-F:4 makes each county a judicial district for the probate division, with the records kept at the circuit court site at each county seat. Ten counties, ten probate divisions. The court is named by circuit number and city rather than by county, so the Hillsborough County filing goes to the 9th Circuit, Probate Division, Nashua, and not to anything in Manchester. Use the New Hampshire probate court directory to confirm the right one, and pull the current versions of every form from the New Hampshire probate forms page.

Documents to Gather

DocumentWhere it comes fromWhy the court wants it
Authenticated copy of the willThe home-state probate courtRSA 552:13 requires an authenticated copy, not a photocopy
Authenticated copy of the probate or decree allowing the willThe home-state probate courtProves the will was proved and allowed there
Certified death certificateThe office that issues death certificates where the death occurredConfirms the date of death
The recorded New Hampshire deedThe county Registry of DeedsSupplies the book, page, and legal description item 4 asks for
Notice to Town and Cities, NHJB-2142-PeFiled with the court and the town or cityRequired by item 6 and by RSA 554:18-a, one per parcel
Appointment of Resident Agent, NHJB-2120-POnly in a full administration with an out-of-state administratorRequired by RSA 553:25

Authenticated means a copy the issuing court attests to under its own seal, so a New Hampshire judge can rely on it. Order those copies early, since home-state clerks are the slowest step in most of these files.

New Hampshire Creditors and the Claim Clock

The no-administration route starts no creditor clock, because no administration is granted. Open a New Hampshire estate and three deadlines begin, and every one of them runs from the original grant of administration rather than from the date of death or the date notice was published.

  • A creditor has six months from the grant to exhibit a demand to the administrator (RSA 556:3).
  • Nobody may begin suit against the estate inside those first six months (RSA 556:1).
  • Suit must be begun within one year of the grant (RSA 556:5).

One separate clock does run from death: RSA 556:29 shuts creditors out of the decedent's real estate if no administration is granted within two years of the death. That two-year rule matters here more than anywhere else, because a nonresident's New Hampshire parcel often sits untouched for years. New Hampshire creditor claims works through the whole sequence.

What New Hampshire Taxes, and What It Does Not

New Hampshire collects nothing at death. RSA 86, the legacy and succession tax, and RSA 89, the transfer tax on the personal property of nonresident decedents, were both repealed for deaths on or after January 1, 2003. The estate tax chapter, RSA 87, is still printed in the code but has produced no tax for deaths on or after January 1, 2005, because it was tied to a federal credit that lapsed. The Department of Revenue Administration says the same thing in its own words.

The tax that does exist is the real estate transfer tax in RSA 78-B, and it does not reach an inheritance. RSA 78-B:2, XI exempts transfers by devise or other testamentary disposition, by the laws of intestate succession and descent, and by the death of a cotenant in real estate held in joint tenancy, whatever consideration the transferee pays. RSA 78-B:2, XXV separately exempts a transfer on death deed where no consideration changes hands. A later sale of the property to a buyer is fully taxable, at $0.75 per $100 charged to each side. When the family plans to sell after title clears, selling inherited New Hampshire property picks up from there.

Federal estate tax is a separate question and applies to large estates wherever the owner lived.

Keeping New Hampshire Property Out of Court

Everything above is avoidable, and the cheapest fix happens while the owner is alive.

  • Record a transfer on death deed. RSA 563-D took effect on July 1, 2024, and it works for a nonresident owner as well as a resident. The deed is void unless it meets the execution rules in RSA 477:3, carries the title "Transfer on Death Deed", states that the transfer to the beneficiary occurs at the transferor's death, and is recorded both before the transferor's death and within 60 days of the date it was signed, in the registry of deeds for the county or counties where the land lies. That 60-day window is the part people miss. After the death, RSA 563-D:22 asks the beneficiary to record a notarized notice of death affidavit within 60 days, though that filing is not a condition of the transfer of title. See the New Hampshire transfer on death deed for the full sequence.
  • Hold the parcel in a revocable living trust. Property titled to a trust passes under the trust, in every state where the owner holds land.
  • Own it in joint tenancy with right of survivorship. Title moves to the surviving owner by operation of law, with the tradeoff that the co-owner gains rights immediately.
  • Sell before death. Cash is an intangible asset the home-state estate settles.

How to avoid probate in New Hampshire sets these side by side.

When a New Hampshire Resident Owned Land Elsewhere

The rule runs both directions. A New Hampshire estate settles in the county circuit court under RSA 547:9, and it cannot pass title to a parcel in Maine, Vermont, or Florida. That state runs its own filing on its own timetable and its own fee, and the family carries two sets of paperwork until the second one closes. The same four fixes prevent it: a transfer on death deed where the other state allows one, a trust, survivorship title, or a sale.

What It Costs

ItemAmount
Petition for Authenticated Copy of Will and Probate from another state$260.00
Petition for Estate Administration, value $10,000 or less$150.00
Petition for Estate Administration, value $10,001 to $25,000$205.00
Petition for Estate Administration, value above $25,000$305.00
Recording a deed at the registry$10.00 first page, $4.00 each additional page
Land and community heritage surcharge on each deed$25.00

Two savings are already built in on the court side. The $55 publication charge and the $30 electronic filing surcharge sit inside the listed entry fee rather than on top of it, so a New Hampshire cost estimate that adds them separately double counts. Add authenticated copies from the home-state court and, for most families, a New Hampshire attorney for the local step, since the home-state lawyer cannot file here.

Frequently Asked Questions

When does an out-of-state estate need a New Hampshire filing?

When the person died owning New Hampshire real estate in their own name. RSA 552:1 says no will passes real or personal estate until a probate court allows it, so a will proved only in the home state does not move New Hampshire land until an authenticated copy is filed and recorded here under RSA 552:13.

Do I have to open a second full estate in New Hampshire?

Usually not. The common route is form NHJB-2133-Pe, the Petition to File and Record Authenticated Copy of Will and Probate from Another State (Real Estate in NH), and item 7 of that petition states that no administration is requested. A full New Hampshire administration is opened when debts have to be paid here or the land has to be sold to pay them.

Which New Hampshire county do I file in?

RSA 547:8 sends the estate of a person who was not an inhabitant of New Hampshire to the judge for any county in which the person had estate, or in which the personal representative or kin has a cause of action. That is normally the county where the New Hampshire real estate sits. RSA 547:9 keeps every later step in that same county.

Can the out-of-state executor be appointed in New Hampshire?

Not automatically. RSA 553:5 says a person who is not an inhabitant of New Hampshire is not appointed by reason of a right to the trust unless other circumstances, in the judge's opinion, make it proper. If the court does appoint someone from another state, RSA 553:25 requires a written appointment of a New Hampshire resident agent, filed with the clerk on form NHJB-2120-P.

What does the New Hampshire authenticated-copy filing cost?

The Circuit Court schedule dated 07/01/2025 charges $260.00 for a Petition for Authenticated Copy of Will and Probate from another state. Recording at the registry of deeds runs $10 for the first page and $4 for each additional page under RSA 478:17-g, plus the $25 land and community heritage surcharge on each deed.

Does New Hampshire tax a nonresident's property at death?

No. RSA 86, the inheritance tax, and RSA 89, the transfer tax on the personal property of nonresident decedents, were both repealed for deaths on or after January 1, 2003, and the estate tax in RSA 87 has produced no tax for deaths on or after January 1, 2005. RSA 78-B:2, XI also exempts a transfer by devise or intestate succession from the real estate transfer tax.

How do I keep New Hampshire property out of this entirely?

Record a transfer on death deed under RSA 563-D, hold the parcel in a revocable trust, or own it in joint tenancy with right of survivorship. The transfer on death deed is void unless it is recorded before death and within 60 days of the date it was signed, in the registry of deeds for the county where the land lies.

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Sources:

It is not legal advice.

Information current as of August 3, 2026

Settled Estate is not a law firm, and this content is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Probate laws and procedures in New Hampshire can change. Consult with a qualified attorney for advice specific to your situation. Full disclaimer.

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