Executor and Personal-Representative Bond Requirements in New Hampshire
At a glance
| Governing law and default bond rule | RSA 553:13 governs ordinary decedent-estate administration in the Probate Division: except for RSA 553:32 waiver administration, no person may administer until giving the judge a bond with sufficient sureties in a reasonable judge-approved sum, or other security acceptable to the judge. The judge may waive bond, sureties, or other security in the judge's discretion (§ 553:13(I), (III)). |
|---|---|
| Covered representative and proceeding | Chapter 553 defines “administrator” to include every person granted administration of an estate or execution of a will and gives first priority to the executor named in the will, so the ordinary rule covers executors and administrators in domestic decedent estates (§§ 553:1-553:2). The general provisions do not prescribe separate versus joint bonds for ordinary co-administrators; RSA 553:32 separately recognizes qualifying co-administrator arrangements. |
| Will waiver and limits | The current ordinary-bond statute states no automatic waiver based solely on a will's direction dispensing with bond or surety. A testate estate can avoid bond through RSA 553:32 when its beneficiary/appointment conditions are met, and the judge independently may waive bond, sureties, or other security under § 553:13(III). |
| Beneficiary, heir, or distributee waiver | RSA 553:32 eliminates bond (along with inventory and accounting) when the appointed administrator is the sole individual beneficiary or sole heir; when all individual will beneficiaries or all intestate heirs serve as co-administrators; when an appropriate administrator is appointed with the assent of all such beneficiaries or heirs; or when a trust is sole beneficiary and all trustees assent. The statute does not provide a partial waiver protecting nonassenting interests or prescribe substitute assent for minors, incapacitated, unknown, or unborn persons; it does say disclaimer, ademption, or declination to serve may be used to make an estate qualify (§ 553:32(I), (III)). |
| Demand and court discretion | The judge may require further bond with sufficient sureties or reduce an existing bond at any time, either independently or on motion of the administrator or a “beneficially interested person” (§ 553:13(IV)). That defined group includes heirs/distributees, unpaid specific legatees, residuary legatees, vested trust beneficiaries, certain wards and successors, the attorney general for charitable-trust estates, trustees of beneficiary trusts, and a creditor known to the fiduciary and unpaid (§ 550:12). Any interested person may petition for full administration before the RSA 553:32 affidavit is filed, but only for good cause; the statutes do not make a creditor's or beneficiary's request for bond automatically controlling (§ 553:32(II)). |
| Amount, property base, and reduction | The probate judge approves a “reasonable sum”; RSA 553:13 supplies no formula based on personal property, real property, annual income, rents, or debts. Gross estate value of $25,000 or less changes the security requirement to a personal bond without sureties, not to a stated penal-sum formula. The judge may require further bond or reduce an existing bond when appropriate, and any change in the penal sum requires a court order (§ 553:13(II), (IV); Probate Division Rule 103-B). |
| Surety, collateral, deposits, and corporate exceptions | The default is sufficient sureties, but the judge may accept other forms of security in lieu of a bond and may waive bond, sureties, or security (§ 553:13(I), (III)). Estates worth $25,000 or less require only a personal bond without sureties; Probate Division Rule 103-A says personal bonds may be used only when court-ordered and prescribes the principal's undertaking. Rule 103 requires documented authority for a surety-company signer, Rule 103-B requires a court order to change sureties or penal sum, and Rule 22 bars an attorney from serving as surety in a pending case. No ordinary-estate statute or cited rule specifies restricted deposits, blanket bonds, a number of personal sureties, or an institutional personal-representative exemption; § 553:13 separately exempts DHHS when it administers under RSA 126-A:34(I)(e). |
| Nonresident and special qualification rules | A noninhabitant has no appointment right merely by priority unless the judge finds other circumstances make appointment proper (§ 553:5). Every nonresident administrator, and a resident administrator leaving with intent to be absent over a year, must forthwith file a written appointment of a New Hampshire resident agent; a nonresident must identify that agent in the appointment notice, replace a vacant agent immediately, and is removed for noncompliance (§§ 553:25-553:28). These provisions impose no additional bond amount or surety requirement based solely on nonresidence. |
| Filing timing, letters, suspension, removal, and lapse | Bond or acceptable security must exist before the appointee administers the estate; the statute does not state a separate filing deadline, expressly say that letters/certificate must be withheld, or create an automatic lapse for initial nonfiling (§ 553:13(I)). A judge may later require further bond, but the surveyed provisions do not expressly state removal solely for failing to supply it. A qualifying RSA 553:32 administration has no bond; an interested person may obtain full administration for good cause before the affidavit of administration, while summary administration under § 553:33 closes the estate and releases an existing bond. Nonresident-agent noncompliance, by contrast, expressly requires removal (§ 553:28). |
Requirements one by one
Bond is the ordinary prerequisite to administration
RSA 553:13 bars administration until the appointee gives a reasonable judge- approved bond with sufficient sureties or other acceptable security, unless RSA 553:32 applies. The judge may waive bond, sureties, or other security and may later require further bond or reduce an existing bond. RSA 553:1 and RSA 553:2 make the ordinary rules applicable to executors and administrators.
For an estate with gross value of $25,000 or less, § 553:13 requires only a personal bond without sureties. Probate Division Rules 22, 103, 103-A, and 103-B regulate attorney sureties, corporate-surety authority, court-ordered personal bonds, and changes to sureties or the penal sum.
Waiver administration depends on the appointment structure
RSA 553:32 eliminates bond, inventory, and accounting for the listed sole- beneficiary, all-beneficiary, sole-heir, all-heir, and sole-beneficiary-trust arrangements, including the statute's assent routes. It also lets an interested person seek full administration for good cause before the affidavit of administration is filed.
This is not an automatic will-direction waiver. The appointment and beneficiary or heir structure must fit § 553:32, or the probate judge must exercise the separate discretion in § 553:13.
The judge controls amount and later security
RSA 553:13 uses a reasonable judge-approved sum rather than a property-and- income formula. A motion may come from the administrator or a beneficially interested person. RSA 550:12 defines that group to include listed heirs, legatees, trust beneficiaries, wards, the attorney general in charitable-trust estates, trustees of beneficiary trusts, and a known unpaid creditor.
Residence affects the agent requirement
RSA 553:5 limits a noninhabitant's claim to appointment by priority. RSA 553:25 through RSA 553:28 require a nonresident administrator, and a resident leaving with the specified intent, to appoint and maintain a New Hampshire resident agent; noncompliance requires removal. Those provisions do not add a separate nonresident bond amount.
Summary administration under RSA 553:33 closes the estate and releases an existing bond when the court grants the motion. It does not replace the initial qualification rule for an estate outside RSA 553:32.
What trips people up
- A will's statement alone is not the statutory waiver route described in RSA 553:32.
- The $25,000 rule changes the bond to a personal bond without sureties; it does not eliminate bond.
- A beneficially interested person's motion permits judicial action but does not automatically dictate the result.
- Nonresident-agent noncompliance has an express removal consequence even though residence alone does not change the bond amount.
Common questions
Can all beneficiaries choose another administrator and avoid bond?
RSA 553:32 permits an appropriate person to serve with all individual will beneficiaries' assent when the statutory conditions are met.
When is an existing bond released at closing?
RSA 553:33(IV) provides for release when the court grants summary administration and closes the estate.
Statutes and sources
- N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. §§ 553:1, 553:2, and 553:13 — covered representatives, default, amount, small-estate personal bond, waiver, and later adjustment — https://gc.nh.gov/rsa/html/LVI/553/553-mrg.htm — accessed 2026-08-29.
- N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. §§ 553:32 and 553:33 — waiver and summary administration — https://gc.nh.gov/rsa/html/LVI/553/553-mrg.htm — accessed 2026-08-29.
- N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 550:12 and §§ 553:5, 553:25 to 553:28 — beneficially interested persons and nonresident-agent rules — official General Court text, accessed 2026-08-29.
- N.H. Circuit Court Probate Division Rules 22, 103, 103-A, and 103-B — surety and personal-bond procedure — https://www.courts.nh.gov/rules-circuit-court-state-new-hampshire-probate-division — accessed 2026-08-29.
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.
What does New Hampshire law mean for your facts?
You just read the general rule. Ask your own question and see which parts of current New Hampshire law apply to your situation, with citations you can check.
Opens in Ezel Pro.
- Starts from the statutes this survey is built on
- Cites every source it relies on, so you can verify it
- Chat, drafting and research in one workspace