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New Hampshire Family Allowance
Support GuideNew Hampshire15 min read

New Hampshire Family Allowance

New Hampshire's family allowance has no dollar figure. RSA 560:1 lets the probate judge decree a reasonable sum out of the personal estate for present support.

By Settled Editorial

New Hampshire sets no dollar figure for a family allowance. RSA 560:1 lets the probate judge decree a reasonable allowance out of the personal estate for the surviving spouse's present support, and the decree of distribution then charges that money against the survivor's own share. RSA 560:2 adds forty days in the house without rent. Both rules leave the amount to the judge.

That answer will not match most of what you find online. Many states publish a flat family allowance, a fixed number of months of support, or a set exempt property figure. New Hampshire publishes none of the three. If a page hands you a New Hampshire family allowance amount, it took that number from another state's code.

The Word New Hampshire Uses

New Hampshire calls the person who settles an estate the administrator, not the personal representative. The state never adopted the Uniform Probate Code, which is why the vocabulary and the rules both differ from the neighboring states that did adopt it. Chapter 560 of the Revised Statutes Annotated carries the heading Rights of Surviving Spouse, and it holds three separate things: the allowance for support, the forty-day house right, and the election against a will.

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What New Hampshire Actually Gives a Surviving Spouse

ProtectionWhat the statute providesStatuteAmount
Allowance for present supportA reasonable allowance out of the personal estate, decreed by the judgeRSA 560:1No figure in the statute
Forty days in the houseOccupancy without rent for forty days after the death, plus reasonable sustenanceRSA 560:2No figure in the statute
Clothing and ornamentsApparel and ornaments of the widow, and apparel, Bibles and school books of minor children, are their property and not assetsRSA 554:4Items, not cash
Sentimental articlesApparel, Bibles, family pictures, photographs, albums and personal trinkets of sentimental value are not inventoriedRSA 554:5Items, not cash
Unpaid wagesWages, salary or commissions paid straight to the surviving spouse on an affidavit, with no administrationRSA 560:20Up to $500
Homestead right after deathThe surviving spouse holds the homestead right for the survivor's lifetimeRSA 480:3-aRight of occupancy

Read that table as one answer rather than six. New Hampshire spreads its support rules across three chapters, and only the first row is what other states would call a family allowance.

RSA 560:1 Names No Amount

Section 560:1 opens with a single sentence: the judge may make to the widow of the person deceased, intestate or testate, a reasonable allowance out of the personal estate, for her present support. Three phrases in that sentence carry the whole rule.

May makes the allowance discretionary. Nothing in the section entitles a survivor to a decree, and nothing sets a floor. The judge weighs the request, and a judge who sees no need can decline. That is a real difference from a Uniform Probate Code allowance, which the survivor claims as of right.

Out of the personal estate limits the source. Personal estate means personal property: cash, bank balances, vehicles, furniture, and the household goods. Land is not personal estate, and RSA 560:1 says nothing about selling any. So the family home is not the funding source for an allowance in New Hampshire.

Present support sets the purpose. The allowance is money to live on while the estate is open, which means the request works best when it is filed early and when it shows the survivor's actual monthly needs against the estate's cash.

The Allowance Comes Out of the Share

Here is the part that surprises people. The rest of RSA 560:1 says that in the decree of distribution of the personal estate, the whole allowance, or such part of it as the judge deems reasonable, shall be accounted as part of the survivor's distributive share. The same accounting applies when the survivor elects to take one third or one half of the real estate under RSA 560:10.

So the allowance is an advance, not an addition. Money paid during the administration reduces what the survivor collects at the end of it. In a Uniform Probate Code state the family allowance stacks on top of the share and the survivor keeps both. New Hampshire runs the opposite way.

One piece of that sentence is worth reading twice. The statute charges the whole allowance against the share, or such part of it as the judge may deem reasonable. The judge has room to charge back less than the full amount. That discretion sits in the text, and a survivor with a strong reason to ask for it should ask when the allowance is decreed rather than when the final account is filed.

Forty Days in the House

Section 560:2 gives a separate right. The survivor may remain in the house for forty days after the death without being chargeable with rent, and during those forty days takes reasonable sustenance out of the estate. The section then ties itself back to the allowance: the judge takes the forty days into consideration when deciding what allowance to decree.

The clock runs from the death, not from the appointment of the administrator, and not from any court filing. That makes it the one New Hampshire support deadline that starts ticking before anybody opens an estate.

Forty days is short, and it is not a right to keep the house. It buys time to arrange somewhere to live while the estate gets organized.

The Homestead Right Is a Different Rule

New Hampshire also has a homestead right, and it does not expire in forty days. Under RSA 480:3-a, after the owner dies the surviving husband or wife is entitled to the homestead right for the survivor's lifetime.

The dollar side of the homestead changed recently. RSA 480:1 now protects $400,000 of a person's homestead, with claims totaling no more than $550,000, under a 2025 amendment effective January 1, 2026. Every source published before 2026 gives the old $120,000 figure. Check the date on anything that quotes you a homestead number for New Hampshire.

The homestead right also has to be waived before a survivor can elect against a will under RSA 560:10, which makes it part of a larger decision. Read the spousal election and homestead right alongside this page, because the allowance and the election are decided on different clocks.

New Hampshire Has No Exempt Property Set-Aside

Search for a New Hampshire exempt property allowance and you will find figures. They belong to other states. New Hampshire has no exempt property allowance, no set-aside, and no dollar amount for one, because the state never enacted the Uniform Probate Code article that creates it.

What New Hampshire has instead is a pair of item rules, and they hand over things rather than money.

RSA 554:4 says the wearing apparel of the widow and her ornaments, and the wearing apparel, Bibles and school books of the minor children, are their property. Those items are not assets of the estate and the will cannot give them away.

RSA 554:5 covers the decedent's own things. Wearing apparel, Bibles, family pictures, photographs, albums and any other personal trinkets of sentimental rather than intrinsic value are not inventoried and are not accounted for. The administrator delivers them to the surviving husband or wife, or if there is none, divides them among the children, or among the heirs. A will can still direct otherwise.

Both sections are about identity, not value. A wedding album leaves the estate under RSA 554:5. A coin collection does not.

Five Hundred Dollars of Wages Without an Estate

One more support rule sits at the end of the chapter and gets missed. Under RSA 560:20, wages, salary or commissions of up to $500 due from an employer are paid straight to the surviving spouse with no administration of the estate at all. The spouse files an affidavit with the employer stating that they are the surviving spouse, and RSA 560:21 protects the employer who pays on it.

The figure has stood since 1955, so it will not settle a household budget. It is still the fastest money in the chapter, and it needs no court.

How to Ask the Court for an Allowance

The allowance is decreed inside an open estate, so somebody has to be appointed administrator first. The case belongs to the Circuit Court, Probate Division. RSA 490-F:4 makes each county a judicial district for the probate division and keeps the probate records at the circuit court site in each county seat, so the county where the estate is filed is the county that hears the request. The New Hampshire probate court directory lists the address and clerk for each one.

There is no allowance form. The Judicial Branch publishes its probate paperwork as the NHJB series, and no form in that set covers an RSA 560:1 allowance, so the request goes in as a motion in the open case. The general Motion Form is NHJB-2201-DFP, which the court describes as the generic form for a person motioning the court for some relief.

Bring numbers. The statute asks for a reasonable allowance for present support, and a judge deciding what is reasonable needs the survivor's monthly expenses, the survivor's own income, and what cash the estate is actually holding. The estate inventory does most of that work, which is one reason the allowance request tends to follow the inventory rather than lead it.

Where an Allowance Sits Against Debts

New Hampshire pays estate claims in the order of payment set by RSA 554:19: costs of administration first, then funeral, burial and cremation expenses, then debts and taxes with preference under federal law, then claims of the Department of Health and Human Services, then just debts, and last of all legacies and distributions to heirs.

The allowance is not one of those six classes. It is decreed by the judge out of the personal estate and then accounted in the decree of distribution, which puts it on the distribution side of the ledger rather than the claims side. In an estate with more debt than money, that ordering matters, and it is a question to put to the judge who decrees the allowance. The New Hampshire creditor claims guide covers how those claims arrive and when they are barred.

One more interaction is worth knowing if the decedent used a transfer on death deed. RSA 563-D:16 is titled Liability For Creditor Claims And Statutory Allowances, and it lets the estate reach property that passed by a transfer on death deed when the probate estate cannot satisfy an allowed claim. No proceeding under that section may begin if no administration was granted within two years of the death.

Why RSA 560:1 Still Says Widow

Both support sections are written in their original gendered wording. RSA 560:1 speaks of the widow, her present support and her distributive share, and was last amended in 1971. RSA 560:2 speaks of the house of her husband and has no modern amendment on its source line at all.

The legislature did modernize the sections around them. RSA 560:3 abolished dower and curtesy for husband and wife, widower and widow alike. RSA 560:10 and RSA 560:14 both speak of either husband or wife and of his or her rights. The chapter heading itself reads Rights of Surviving Spouse.

We quote the older sections as they are printed rather than rewriting them, because the exact words are what a court reads. How that wording applies to a surviving husband, or to a same-sex surviving spouse, is a question for the Probate Division handling the estate or for a New Hampshire lawyer.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much is the family allowance in New Hampshire?

There is no amount. RSA 560:1 lets the judge make a reasonable allowance out of the personal estate for the survivor's present support, and it names no dollar figure, no percentage, and no number of months. Any page quoting a New Hampshire family allowance amount is repeating another state's statute.

Is a New Hampshire family allowance paid on top of the inheritance?

No. RSA 560:1 says the whole allowance, or as much of it as the judge deems reasonable, shall be accounted as part of the survivor's distributive share in the decree of distribution. It is also accounted that way when the survivor waives the will and elects a share of the real estate under RSA 560:10. That is the opposite of the Uniform Probate Code states, where the allowance sits on top of the share.

Can a New Hampshire surviving spouse stay in the house after the death?

Yes, for forty days. RSA 560:2 lets the survivor remain in the house for forty days after the death without being chargeable with rent, with reasonable sustenance out of the estate during that time. The judge also takes that forty-day period into account when fixing the allowance under RSA 560:1.

Does New Hampshire have an exempt property allowance?

No. New Hampshire never adopted the Uniform Probate Code, so it has no exempt property set-aside and no dollar figure for one. The closest rules are RSA 554:4 and RSA 554:5, which hand specific items to the family rather than a sum of money.

Which items pass to the family outside the New Hampshire estate?

RSA 554:4 makes the wearing apparel and ornaments of the widow, and the apparel, Bibles and school books of the minor children, their own property rather than assets of the estate. RSA 554:5 keeps wearing apparel, Bibles, family pictures, photographs, albums and personal trinkets of sentimental rather than intrinsic value out of the inventory and hands them to the surviving spouse, then the children, then the heirs.

Which New Hampshire court form is used for a family allowance?

There is no allowance form. The New Hampshire Judicial Branch publishes its probate paperwork as the NHJB series and none of those forms covers the RSA 560:1 allowance, so the request goes in as a motion inside the open estate. The general Motion Form is NHJB-2201-DFP.

Can the allowance be paid out of the decedent's real estate?

No. RSA 560:1 draws the allowance out of the personal estate, meaning cash, accounts, vehicles and household goods. It says nothing about selling land, so a house is not the funding source. The house shows up instead in the forty-day rule of RSA 560:2 and in the homestead right of RSA 480:3-a.

Why does RSA 560:1 still say widow?

The section has not been reworded since 1971 and RSA 560:2 has not been touched since the nineteenth century, so both still read widow, her, and her husband. The legislature did modernize the sections around them: RSA 560:3 abolished dower and curtesy for husband and wife alike, and RSA 560:10 and RSA 560:14 speak of either husband or wife. Ask the Probate Division or a New Hampshire lawyer how the older wording applies to your situation.

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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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