Updated September 4, 2026. Quick answer: New Hampshire has no statute on point. Fees are governed instead by NH Circuit Court, Probate Division, Rule 88, which requires that fees and expenses of fiduciaries and attorneys be subject to the approval of the court and reasonable for the work, responsibility, and risk involved. The Circuit Court, Probate Division approves and reviews those fees.
The rule, and what it does not do
New Hampshire has no statute on point for executor compensation. Instead, NH Circuit Court, Probate Division, Rule 88 governs: fees and expenses of fiduciaries and attorneys are subject to the approval of the court, and in all cases must be reasonable for the work, responsibility, and risk. The rule names no percentage and no schedule, and unlike a statute passed by a legislature, this standard lives entirely in a court rule of the Circuit Court, Probate Division, a genuine difference in legal source, not just wording.
Who decides, and the no-fee track
The Circuit Court, Probate Division approves fees under Rule 88, weighing the work performed, the responsibility taken on, and the risk involved. New Hampshire also has a distinct track worth naming separately: under the state’s voluntary administration process for small estates, no fee at all is allowed. That is not a reduced fee, it is the absence of one, and it applies only within that simplified small-estate track rather than to administration generally.
What that means in practice
Look to Rule 88 of the Circuit Court, Probate Division, not to a statute, when researching what an executor can be paid in New Hampshire. Frame any fee request around the three factors the rule names: the work done, the responsibility carried, and the risk involved, and expect the court to approve it before it is taken. And check first whether the estate qualifies for voluntary administration, because if it does, no fee is allowed under that track at all.
What the whole process costs in this state: New Hampshire probate cost. Every state’s fee model side by side: probate cost by state.
Work out the number: the executor fee calculator. How the standard is applied where no schedule exists: reasonable-compensation states. Whether to take the fee at all: when the executor is also an heir, and how the fee is taxed.
Statutory text read at each state’s own legislature or official code publisher. General information, not legal advice; a court retains the final say on what compensation is allowed.
Related: whether New Hampshire requires the executor to post a bond.