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New Hampshire Probate Accounting
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New Hampshire Probate Accounting

New Hampshire probate accounting: the 90-day inventory under RSA 554:1, the account due one year after appointment, and what Rule 108 puts inside it.

By Settled Editorial

New Hampshire probate accounting rests on two dated filings. The administrator files an itemized inventory within 90 days of appointment under RSA 554:1, then an account of administration within one year of appointment and every year after that until a final account is allowed. Probate Division Rule 108 governs what belongs inside each account.

This guide works through both filings, the standard the Circuit Court measures an account against, who has to receive a copy, and the three gates an estate passes before a final account can be allowed. It sits under the New Hampshire executor duties guide, which covers the rest of the job, and the New Hampshire probate guide, which covers the filing process from the first petition.

New Hampshire Accounts to the Court, Not Just to the Family

Some states let an ordinary estate close on a sworn statement to the beneficiaries with no court review of the numbers. New Hampshire does not work that way. The account is a court filing, the judge allows or disallows it, and the standard it has to meet is written down in a court rule.

Two vocabulary points prevent most of the wrong answers here. The person doing the accounting is the administrator, the term RSA 553:1 defines to include everyone to whom administration of an estate or execution of a will is granted. New Hampshire is not a Uniform Probate Code state, and "personal representative" is not the local term. The filing office is the Circuit Court, Probate Division and its circuit clerk, one in each of the ten counties. It is not a Register of Probate, and it is not a county probate court. The New Hampshire probate courts directory has the ten locations.

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Two Filings, Two Clocks

FilingDueAuthorityCourt form
InventoryWithin 90 days of appointmentRSA 554:1, INHJB-2125-P, Inventory of Fiduciary
First account of administrationWithin 1 year of appointmentRSA 554:26-a, INHJB-2117-P, Executor's / Administrator's Accounting
Later accountsAnnually, until a final account is allowedRSA 554:26; RSA 553:13, I(c)NHJB-2117-P
Final accountWhen administration is completeRSA 554:26NHJB-2117-P

Both clocks start at appointment, not at the death. That matters in New Hampshire more than in most states, because the creditor rules run from the same event. The New Hampshire probate deadlines guide groups every dated duty under the event that starts it.

The Inventory Sets Every Later Number

RSA 554:1, I requires every administrator to file with the court, under the penalties of law and within 90 days after the date of appointment, a full, true and itemized inventory of all the estate that has come to the administrator's knowledge. The statute names the contents: a detailed itemized list of all real and personal property, the fair market value of each as of the date of death, and how that value was determined, whether by appraisal, tax information, bank statement or another source.

That last requirement is unusual and people skip it. A number with no stated basis is an incomplete entry under the statute's own words. Write the source next to the figure while you still remember it.

Two more points sit in the same section. Paragraph II says no appraiser has to give an opinion of value on the assets you list, though the judge may appoint one on a motion or on the court's own action when the property or the size of the estate makes it advisable. Paragraph III gives you a route when someone claims a present legal or equitable right to something you listed: petition the court under RSA 547:11-b to settle the question between the parties instead of guessing.

A false statement on the inventory is an unsworn falsification punishable under RSA 641:3. The inventory is sworn work.

What You Do Not Inventory

RSA 554:5 carves out a short list where the decedent leaves a widow, husband, children or heirs: wearing apparel, Bibles, family pictures, photographs, albums, and any other personal trinkets of sentimental rather than intrinsic value. Those items are neither inventoried nor accounted for. You deliver them to the surviving husband or wife; if there is none, they go among the children, and if there are no surviving children, among the heirs. A will can direct otherwise.

Read that carve-out narrowly, because RSA 554:6 catches everything else: all assets, though not inventoried, shall be accounted for and the administrator charged with them in the account. Leaving an asset off the inventory does not take it out of the account.

Two related charging rules shape the numbers you carry forward. Under RSA 554:7 goods and chattels are accounted for at the appraised value unless they are sold, and an administrator who runs the sale with fidelity and impartiality is credited with the loss or charged with the gain. Under RSA 554:11 all debts due to the estate that due diligence might have collected are accounted for in money, whether or not you actually collected them.

The Account of Administration

RSA 554:25 states the content in one sentence: the account, or the schedules filed with it, shall contain an itemized account of every sum of money received and paid out by the administrator, with the date of each and a statement of the source it came from or the consideration it was paid for.

RSA 554:26 sets the rhythm. Every administrator and executor files an annual account of administration unless the judge excuses it on petition, and no excusal may run longer than three years. RSA 554:26-a, I fixes the first date at one year after appointment, and RSA 553:13, I(c) restates the same duty as a condition of the bond: render an account upon oath within one year, and annually after that until a final account is filed and allowed. Cite the pair rather than 554:26-a alone, because 554:26-a carries the one-year date while 554:26 and 553:13 carry the annual duty.

Rule 108 Is the Standard the Court Measures Against

Probate Division Rule 108, Fiduciary Accounting Standards, applies to all interim and final accountings of administrators, trustees, guardians and conservators. It answers most of the questions the statutes leave open.

Form and period. Accounts are rendered on a cash basis, except in extraordinary circumstances on a written order of the court. Each account covers a stated period with an opening and a closing date, no longer than twelve months and ending on the last day of a calendar month. A first account begins on the date of appointment and ends on the last day of the calendar month before the anniversary month of the appointment. Later accounts run twelve months, unless a specified event such as a death, a closing or a date set in the will shortens one.

Receipts and disbursements. For administrators, the account lists all receipts by source, other than the principal value of real estate unless the property was actually sold, and all disbursements by payee. Gains and losses on disposing of property are netted and reported with receipts.

Readability is a rule, not a courtesy. Rule 108(A) requires an account that a person of average intelligence, literate in English and familiar with ordinary financial terms, can understand after a careful read. Terms of special meaning such as "debit" and "credit", and abbreviations, should be avoided or explained.

The opening summary. Rule 108(B) makes every account start with a short statement identifying the fiduciary and the subject matter, then give the sequence of the account and whether it is the final one, the period covered, the fiduciary's name, title, mailing address and telephone number, the attorney if there is one, the parties interested in the account with the capacity in which they are interested and their addresses, and a summary of total receipts, total disbursements and the balance on hand.

Itemization. Rule 108(C)(1) says a first account has to detail the items received and may not simply point at the total of an inventory filed separately. Rule 108(C)(2) says a second or later account may not open by referring to the prior account's total either; it lists each item again. Balances on hand are itemized on their own schedule.

The lines the court looks for. Rule 108(C)(6) requires compensation of attorneys, professionals and fiduciaries to be shown separately, at a summary level, unless the court orders otherwise, with extraordinary costs such as appraisals and ancillary administration expenses shown separately and explained. Rule 108(C)(7) requires a real estate disposition to show the date, the gross price or disposition value, and every adjustment including the costs of sale and the transfer taxes, so a reader can see how the net proceeds were calculated. Rule 108(C)(9) makes you show separately, and explain, any interest and penalties paid on late tax returns or on probate citations for a late filing. Rule 108(C)(12) forbids listing a disbursement as "estimated" or "reserved" without an explanation.

Valuation. Under Rule 108(D)(1)(a), book value for an administrator is the value of the property at the date of death, which ties the account back to the inventory. Rule 108(D)(10) gives decedent's estates a break the trust and guardianship accounts do not get: an estate account need not reflect current values of assets at the end of the accounting period.

Serving the Account and the 30-Day Objection Window

Filing is half the duty. RSA 550:11, II requires a fiduciary who files an account to contemporaneously forward two things to every person beneficially interested and every party appearing of record: a copy of the account, and a notice that the account may be approved unless a written objection containing the specific factual or legal basis is filed within 30 days after the account is filed. The fiduciary then certifies to the court that this was done.

RSA 550:12 defines who is beneficially interested, and the list runs wider than the residuary beneficiaries:

  • An heir or distributee of an intestate estate
  • A residuary legatee under a will
  • A specific legatee who has not yet received the legacy
  • A beneficiary with a vested interest in a trust
  • The attorney general, in estates involving charitable trusts
  • A ward, or a minor under guardianship aged 14 or older
  • An heir or legatee under the will of a deceased ward
  • A creditor who is known to the fiduciary and has not been paid
  • The trustee of a trust that is a beneficiary of the estate

An unpaid known creditor gets the account. Estates that treated the mailing list as a family matter learn that one late. If everyone entitled to notice signs an assent under RSA 550:13, RSA 550:11, IV lets the court approve the account sooner than 30 days at its discretion, which is how a cooperative family shortens the close.

Three Gates Before a Final Account Can Be Allowed

Gate one: file the account before you notice it. RSA 554:26 says that before giving notice to settle the final account, the administrator files it in the probate office of the county where it is to be settled, causes the fact of that filing to appear in the notice, and at the same time files a statement of the names and residences of the heirs, legatees and beneficiaries so far as they are known.

Gate two: tell the towns who inherited the land. RSA 554:18-a requires every administrator, before rendering the final account, to notify the selectmen of each town and the assessors of each city of the people coming into ownership of real estate by inheritance or devise, and to certify to the probate court on a court-approved form that the notice was given. The section does not apply where the real estate was sold by license or consent. Missing this step stalls an otherwise finished estate. A beneficiary who plans to sell should read the New Hampshire selling inherited property guide before the transfer is recorded.

Gate three: the Department of Revenue Administration certificate. RSA 87:25 bars the probate court from allowing any final account or motion for summary administration until the department's certificate is filed stating that all returns required by RSA 87 were filed, the taxes paid, and provision made for anything that may still become due. RSA 87:26 lets the administrator, the clerk or the judge request that certificate, and RSA 87:27 says an account otherwise ready for allowance is simply continued until the certificate arrives. New Hampshire's estate tax chapter has produced no tax for deaths on or after January 1, 2005, because RSA 87:9 voided the chapter when the federal credit for state death taxes lapsed. The certificate question survives on the court paperwork anyway, so answer it rather than assuming it went away with the tax.

The Two Routes That Remove an Account

New Hampshire has no dollar-threshold small estate and no small-estate affidavit. What it has instead is a pair of simplified routes defined by which accounting they take away, both keyed to relationship and consent.

Waiver of administration, RSA 553:32. Paragraph I(a) removes the inventory, the bond and the accounting in six situations, including a sole beneficiary under a will who serves as administrator, a sole intestate heir who serves, all beneficiaries or heirs serving as co-administrators or assenting to one administrator, a trust as sole beneficiary with all trustees assenting, and the court's own discretion. Administration finishes when the court approves an affidavit of administration filed not less than 6 months and no more than one year after appointment. The court can extend that one-year date for good cause.

Summary administration, RSA 553:33. This one applies to every estate other than those governed by RSA 553:32, so the two are mutually exclusive. Granting the motion eliminates the requirement of filing a final account and receipts for the balance of the estate, and all other required documents still get filed. The estate must have been open at least 6 months with no outstanding debts, obligations or unresolved claims, no New Hampshire or federal estate tax due, and receipts or assents from the specific legatees plus assents from everyone else beneficially interested. On granting the motion the court closes the estate and releases the bond.

Neither route is faster than month six, and neither turns on the size of the estate. The New Hampshire small estate guide works through which one an estate qualifies for.

One further way an account disappears: under RSA 554:19-b, IV, an order granting a petition that the estate is insolvent may allow the inventory or any accounts to be waived at the court's discretion.

Your Own Fee Goes in the Account

New Hampshire sets no percentage commission, and no RSA section fixes administrator pay. The authority is Probate Division Rule 88, which subjects the fees and expenses of fiduciaries and attorneys to the approval of the court and requires them to be reasonable for the work, the responsibility and the risk. The rule lists eight factors the court may weigh: the time and labor required, the size of the estate, the requisite skill, the customary fee, a fee agreement, the results obtained, time limitations, and the length of the professional relationship.

Rule 88 and Rule 108(C)(6) work together. One says your fee has to be reasonable; the other says it has to be visible on its own line rather than folded into a bundle of administration costs. Show it, and describe the work behind it.

What Filing an Account Costs

Probate fees in New Hampshire are statewide. One Circuit Court, one published schedule, ten counties.

FilingFee
Executor or administrator accounting, gross estate greater than $25,000$105.00
Executor or administrator accounting, gross estate of $25,000 or less$0.00
Motion for summary administration$105.00
Trustee, guardian or conservator accounting$105.00

The $105.00 line comes from Rule 169(I)(t) and the $0.00 line from the published Circuit Court filing fee schedule. Watch the $25,000 figure. The same number marks where RSA 553:13, II drops the bond to a personal bond without sureties, which makes it look like a threshold for a simplified procedure. It is not one. New Hampshire has no estate-value threshold that changes the procedure.

Missing a Date: Default, Citation, and Who Hears About It

RSA 554:26-a, I builds the enforcement in. An inventory still unfiled 30 days after its due date, or an account still unfiled 90 days after its due date, puts the fiduciary in default by operation of the statute. The clerk of the circuit court mails notice of the default within 10 days. The fiduciary then either files or shows good cause within 30 days of that notice. Failing both, the judge issues a citation to appear under RSA 550:2, and the fiduciary pays the default and citation fees. Those charges run $25.00 per default and $50.00 per citation, each occurrence.

Paragraph II is the part that gets attention. When a citation issues, the clerk mails a copy at the same time to any surety on the fiduciary's bond, anyone who has filed an appearance, any residuary beneficiary, and the director of charitable trusts where a charitable disposition or trust is involved. A missed account is not a quiet matter between you and the clerk.

Mistakes That Send New Hampshire Accounts Back

  • Pointing at the inventory instead of itemizing. Rule 108(C)(1) rejects a first account whose opening entry is the inventory total. List the items.
  • Opening a later account with the prior total. Rule 108(C)(2) wants each item listed again, not a reference to the last account.
  • Burying your fee. Rule 108(C)(6) puts fiduciary, attorney and professional compensation on separate lines.
  • Filing on an accrual basis. Rule 108(A)(1) requires cash basis unless the court orders otherwise in writing.
  • Filing and not serving. RSA 550:11 makes the copy and the 30-day objection notice go out at the same time as the filing, and it includes unpaid known creditors.
  • Forgetting collectible debts owed to the estate. RSA 554:11 charges you with what due diligence would have collected.
  • Treating the $25,000 fee line as a small-estate route. It changes the bond and the filing fee, and nothing else.
  • Distributing before the claim window closes. Work the New Hampshire creditor claims guide first, because the six-month exhibition period runs from the original grant of administration.

Frequently Asked Questions

When is the first account due in a New Hampshire estate?

Within one year after the date of appointment, and annually after that until a final account is filed and allowed. RSA 554:26-a carries the one-year date, and RSA 553:13, I(c) carries the annual duty as a condition of the administrator's bond. The court form is NHJB-2117-P, Executor's / Administrator's Accounting.

Does every New Hampshire estate file an account?

No. Waiver of administration under RSA 553:32 removes the inventory, the bond and the accounting altogether, and it turns on relationship and consent rather than the size of the estate. Summary administration under RSA 553:33 removes the final account and the receipts while leaving the earlier filings in place.

What happens if a New Hampshire account is filed late?

The clerk opens a default. Under RSA 554:26-a an account still unfiled 90 days after its due date puts the fiduciary in default, the clerk mails notice within 10 days, and the fiduciary then has 30 days to file or show good cause. After that the judge issues a citation under RSA 550:2. Default and citation charges run $25.00 and $50.00 per occurrence.

Do New Hampshire beneficiaries get to see the account?

Yes, and the statute puts that on the fiduciary. RSA 550:11 requires the fiduciary to send every person beneficially interested, and every party appearing of record, a copy of the account at the same time it is filed, plus a notice that the court may approve it unless a written objection stating the factual or legal basis arrives within 30 days.

What does Probate Division Rule 108 require?

Rule 108 sets the fiduciary accounting standards for all interim and final accounts. Accounts run on a cash basis, cover a stated period of no more than twelve months, list receipts by source and disbursements by payee, and open with a summary naming the fiduciary, the period, the interested parties and the totals. Rule 108(C)(6) makes you show compensation of attorneys, professionals and fiduciaries separately.

What does filing an account cost in New Hampshire?

Rule 169(I)(t) charges $105.00 for an executor or administrator accounting on an estate with a gross value greater than $25,000, and the published Circuit Court filing fee schedule prints $0.00 at or below $25,000. New Hampshire probate fees are statewide, so the county does not change the amount.

Can a New Hampshire estate close without a tax certificate?

No. RSA 87:25 stops the probate court from allowing a final account or a motion for summary administration until the Department of Revenue Administration certificate is on file showing that the returns required by RSA 87 were filed and the tax paid. New Hampshire has produced no estate tax for deaths on or after January 1, 2005, and the certificate step still sits in the closing paperwork.

Related Guides

Court practice and the facts of an estate change how these rules land. Confirm the dates and the schedules that affect your family with the circuit clerk or a licensed New Hampshire attorney, and work the rest of the series from the New Hampshire probate hub.

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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