New Hampshire waiver of administration: who qualifies and how it closes

Eligibility turns on the people, not the estate value

A waiver can work with or without a will when the beneficiary structure and the proposed administrator line up. The probate court also has discretion to allow a waiver when the circumstances make it appropriate.

• One individual is the sole beneficiary under the will and becomes administrator.
• All individual beneficiaries serve together, or they assent to another appropriate administrator.
• A trust is the sole beneficiary and its trustees assent to the administrator.
• One person is the sole intestate heir and becomes administrator.
• All intestate heirs serve together, or they assent to another appropriate administrator.

Open the estate and request the waiver

Begin with the Petition for Estate Administration, form NHJB-2145-Pe, and select waiver of full administration. The court process uses electronic filing unless an exception is granted. File the death certificate, the original will and codicils when there is a will, and any needed assents or resident-agent form. The court issues the certificate of appointment that lets the administrator take control of estate assets.

What the waiver removes

• No inventory of estate assets is required.
• No fiduciary bond is required.
• No accounting is required.
• Court supervision is lighter, but the administrator still handles the estate and its debts.

Close between six months and one year after appointment

File the Waiver of Full Administration Statement, form NHJB-2144-Pe, no sooner than six months and no later than one year after appointment. The court may extend the one-year deadline for good cause. The statement says there are no outstanding estate debts or obligations and identifies all real estate the decedent owned. Court approval completes the administration.

Real estate stays inside the record

The closing statement lists each parcel by location and deed book and page, and says whether it was sold or passed to an heir or devisee. When inherited real estate was not sold, the form directs the administrator to send a copy to the city assessor or town selectmen. The waiver therefore can cover an estate with real property; it is not a personal-property collection affidavit.

The administrator's debt duty remains

RSA 553:32 keeps the administrator responsible for paying administration expenses and the decedent's debts from estate assets. An interested person may ask for full administration before the waiver statement is filed, and the court may grant that request for good cause. Missing the closing deadline can also lead to a default notice, show-cause order, or full administration.

Summary administration is a different closing route

An estate that does not qualify for waiver may still ask for summary administration after it has been open for at least six months. That route removes the final account and receipts only after debts, tax issues, and beneficiary assents are addressed; it does not turn the case into a no-court affidavit process.