Updated August 14, 2026. Quick answer: New Hampshire fixes the petition filing fee at $260 by statute, and the periodic accounting is annual, anchored to the appointment anniversary (not the calendar year). Everything on this page is quoted from the jurisdiction’s own statute or an official court schedule, and where New Hampshire publishes no figure this page says so rather than printing an estimate. What drives the rest of the bill — lawyers, an investigation, a capacity evaluation — is on what guardianship costs.
What New Hampshire fixes by statute
| Item | What the text says | Where it says it |
|---|---|---|
| Petition filing fee | The Circuit Court Probate Division charges a single flat fee of $260.00 for ‘Petition Guardian of Incapacitated Person and/or Estate, Conservator,’ set under Probate Division Rule 169’s fee schedule (not a dollar figure fixed directly in RSA 464-A itself). The schedule document is dated effective 07/01/2025 and was still the live-linked fee document as of a February 2026 site capture. | N.H. Cir. Ct. — Probate Div. R. 169 fee schedule (eff. 07/01/2025), authorized generally under RSA 490-F (Circuit Court) |
| Bond | Upon appointment, a guardian of the person and/or estate ‘shall give bond to the probate court, with sufficient sureties, in such sum as the judge shall approve’ (RSA 464-A:21). The judge may waive sureties (bond ‘without sureties’) at his/her discretion if the ward’s gross estate is $10,000 or less, or if the guardianship is only of the person (not the estate) of an incapacitated person or minor — i.e., pure person-only guardianships and small estates get discretionary relief, but the chapter never makes bond fully waivable/optional the way Hawaii’s conservator bond is (‘may require’); for nh guardians of the estate above $10,000 it reads as presumptively required. The separate voluntary-conservator track also requires bond by cross-reference: ‘Such conservator shall give bond to the judge of probate, with sufficient sureties … and be subject to all provisions of law now in force as to guardians’ (RSA 464-A:15). On who pays the bond premium: RSA 464-A has no provision anywhere allocating the bond premium/cost to the ward’s estate, the guardian, or any other party — unlike Hawaii’s explicit 560:5-415 clause. The entire chapter — all 47 numbered sections of RSA 464-A, 89,752 characters — was searched for the word ‘premium’: no occurrence. The closest general clause is RSA 464-A:23 (Compensation), which lists ‘administrative expenses approved by the court, including but not limited to guardianship fees, legal fees, and appraisal costs’ as payable from the ward’s estate as a priority — bond cost/premium is not named in that non-exhaustive list, so treating bond premium as covered by 464-A:23 would be an inference, not a stated rule, and I am not asserting it as such. | N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. §§ 464-A:15, 464-A:21 |
| Guardian ad litem and attorney fees | RSA 464-A:41 lets a court ‘at any stage’ of a proceeding appoint a competent, disinterested guardian ad litem when a legally incapacitated person’s interests are not fully represented; the statute sets no fee amount, rate, or specified payer for the GAL — it only requires an oath and allows the court discretion to require a bond of the GAL. This is different from and should not be conflated with the ward’s right to appointed counsel under RSA 464-A:6, which is explicit and absolute: the court appoints counsel for any proposed ward who lacks one, the nh Judicial Council pays counsel’s cost (including investigative/expert services) out of RSA 604-A indigent-defense funds — unless the proposed ward is found not indigent by the probate court, in which case the ward is liable for the attorney fees, compensated ‘at a rate as determined by the New Hampshire supreme court.’ The actual dollar rate/fee structure for GALs (as opposed to appointed counsel) is delegated by RSA 490-C (Guardian ad Litem Board) to nh Supreme Court Rules 48 and 48-A — i.e., set by court rule, not fixed in statute. | N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. §§ 464-A:6, 464-A:41; 490-C:4, 490-C:5 |
| Periodic accounting or report | Two explicit annual duties, both anchored to the appointment anniversary (not calendar year): (1) Guardian of the person must ‘file an annual report with the court within 90 days after the anniversary date of the guardian’s appointment, or be in default’ (RSA 464-A:35). (2) Guardian of the estate must ‘file an annual account under oath with the court within 90 days after the anniversary date of the guardian’s appointment, or be in default,’ unless the court finds it unnecessary (RSA 464-A:36, cross-referencing 464-A:26,V). The Probate Division’s current fee schedule lists a flat $105.00 filing fee for ‘Accounting for Guardian, Conservator, Trustee’ (effective 07/01/2025). | N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. §§ 464-A:35, 464-A:36; N.H. Cir. Ct. — Probate Div. R. 169 fee schedule (eff. 07/01/2025) |
What the proceeding is called here. New Hampshire uses a single consolidated chapter, RSA 464-A ‘Guardians and Conservators,’ for incapacitated adults. A ‘guardian of the person’ and/or ‘guardian of the estate’ is the court-appointed protective role for an incapacitated adult (RSA 464-A:2, viii-ix; 464-A:4). RSA 464-A also has a narrow, separate ‘conservator’ track (RSA 464-A:13-19) that is not for incapacitated persons in the adult-guardianship sense — it is a voluntary arrangement for a person who ‘deems himself unfit’ and voluntarily applies and voluntarily nominates his own conservator (464-A:13), plus a distinct ‘absentee conservator’ track for missing/absent persons (464-A:17-20). The Probate Division’s own current filing-fee schedule bundles both into one line item: ‘Petition Guardian of Incapacitated Person and/or Estate, Conservator.’
The filing fee
The Circuit Court Probate Division charges a single flat fee of $260.00 for ‘Petition Guardian of Incapacitated Person and/or Estate, Conservator,’ set under Probate Division Rule 169’s fee schedule (not a dollar figure fixed directly in RSA 464-A itself). The schedule document is dated effective 07/01/2025 and was still the live-linked fee document as of a February 2026 site capture.
Petition Guardian of Incapacitated Person and/or Estate, Conservator …………. $260.00
Read at official source on 2026-08-12: N.H. Cir. Ct. — Probate Div. R. 169 fee schedule (eff. 07/01/2025), authorized generally under RSA 490-F (Circuit Court).
The bond
Upon appointment, a guardian of the person and/or estate ‘shall give bond to the probate court, with sufficient sureties, in such sum as the judge shall approve’ (RSA 464-A:21). The judge may waive sureties (bond ‘without sureties’) at his/her discretion if the ward’s gross estate is $10,000 or less, or if the guardianship is only of the person (not the estate) of an incapacitated person or minor — i.e., pure person-only guardianships and small estates get discretionary relief, but the chapter never makes bond fully waivable/optional the way Hawaii’s conservator bond is (‘may require’); for nh guardians of the estate above $10,000 it reads as presumptively required. The separate voluntary-conservator track also requires bond by cross-reference: ‘Such conservator shall give bond to the judge of probate, with sufficient sureties … and be subject to all provisions of law now in force as to guardians’ (RSA 464-A:15). On who pays the bond premium: RSA 464-A has no provision anywhere allocating the bond premium/cost to the ward’s estate, the guardian, or any other party — unlike Hawaii’s explicit 560:5-415 clause. The entire chapter — all 47 numbered sections of RSA 464-A, 89,752 characters — was searched for the word ‘premium’: no occurrence. The closest general clause is RSA 464-A:23 (Compensation), which lists ‘administrative expenses approved by the court, including but not limited to guardianship fees, legal fees, and appraisal costs’ as payable from the ward’s estate as a priority — bond cost/premium is not named in that non-exhaustive list, so treating bond premium as covered by 464-A:23 would be an inference, not a stated rule, and I am not asserting it as such.
Upon appointment, the guardian of the person and estate, or the person, or the estate, shall give bond to the probate court, with sufficient sureties, in such sum as the judge shall approve. In the discretion of the judge of probate, a bond without sureties may be given if the gross value of the ward’s estate does not exceed $10,000 or the guardianship is only of the person of an incapacitated person or a minor.
Such conservator shall give bond to the judge of probate, with sufficient sureties, give notice of his appointment as guardians are required to do and be subject to all provisions of law now in force as to guardians as far as they apply to estates of their wards.
Read at statute source on 2026-08-12: N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. §§ 464-A:15, 464-A:21.
Who pays the premium is not answered. A surety bond carries a recurring premium and it is usually the largest ongoing cost of a guardianship of the estate. New Hampshire states no express rule on who bears it in the chapter read for this page, and no figure for what one costs is published anywhere this project could verify. That is a gap in the law and in the published record, not a gap we have filled with a guess.
Guardian ad litem and attorney fees
RSA 464-A:41 lets a court ‘at any stage’ of a proceeding appoint a competent, disinterested guardian ad litem when a legally incapacitated person’s interests are not fully represented; the statute sets no fee amount, rate, or specified payer for the GAL — it only requires an oath and allows the court discretion to require a bond of the GAL. This is different from and should not be conflated with the ward’s right to appointed counsel under RSA 464-A:6, which is explicit and absolute: the court appoints counsel for any proposed ward who lacks one, the nh Judicial Council pays counsel’s cost (including investigative/expert services) out of RSA 604-A indigent-defense funds — unless the proposed ward is found not indigent by the probate court, in which case the ward is liable for the attorney fees, compensated ‘at a rate as determined by the New Hampshire supreme court.’ The actual dollar rate/fee structure for GALs (as opposed to appointed counsel) is delegated by RSA 490-C (Guardian ad Litem Board) to nh Supreme Court Rules 48 and 48-A — i.e., set by court rule, not fixed in statute.
When before or during the hearing on any proceeding in any court it appears to the court that the interest or rights of a legally incapacitated person by age or other cause or circumstance are not fully represented or upon the request of any interested person, the court may appoint a competent and disinterested person to act as guardian ad litem for such legally incapacitated person and to represent such person’s interest in the case. The guardian ad litem shall have none of the rights of the general guardian. The person appointed guardian ad litem shall make oath to perform such duty faithfully and impartially. A bond may be required of the guardian ad litem at the discretion of the court.
Appointed counsel shall inform the proposed ward that he or she shall be liable for attorney fees unless he or she is found indigent by the probate court. The appointed counsel for the proposed ward shall be compensated for his or her services at a rate as determined by the New Hampshire supreme court.
Read at statute source on 2026-08-12: N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. §§ 464-A:6, 464-A:41; 490-C:4, 490-C:5.
How often you have to account
Annual, anchored to the appointment anniversary (not the calendar year). Do not carry that assumption across a state line: the interval is set by each state separately, several are biennial or triennial, and your own appointing court can order more often than the statutory minimum. The document that governs you is your order.
Two explicit annual duties, both anchored to the appointment anniversary (not calendar year): (1) Guardian of the person must ‘file an annual report with the court within 90 days after the anniversary date of the guardian’s appointment, or be in default’ (RSA 464-A:35). (2) Guardian of the estate must ‘file an annual account under oath with the court within 90 days after the anniversary date of the guardian’s appointment, or be in default,’ unless the court finds it unnecessary (RSA 464-A:36, cross-referencing 464-A:26,V). The Probate Division’s current fee schedule lists a flat $105.00 filing fee for ‘Accounting for Guardian, Conservator, Trustee’ (effective 07/01/2025).
I. A guardian of the person shall file an annual report with the court within 90 days after the anniversary date of the guardian’s appointment, or be in default.
I. Subject to the provisions of RSA 464-A:26, V, a guardian of the estate shall file an annual account under oath with the court within 90 days after the anniversary date of the guardian’s appointment, or be in default.
Read at official source on 2026-08-12: N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. §§ 464-A:35, 464-A:36; N.H. Cir. Ct. — Probate Div. R. 169 fee schedule (eff. 07/01/2025).
What an accounting has to contain, and the duties that come with it, are on the guardian accounting duties page.
What this page does not tell you
All four items this page set out to establish were read at primary and are stated above with their cites. What is missing everywhere, in every state, is a price: what an attorney charges to bring an uncontested petition, what a court-ordered capacity evaluation or investigation costs, and what a surety charges for the bond. None of it is published by any authority, and this page does not estimate it. Currency note: petition filing fee, periodic accounting or report came from a source whose publisher does not certify it as the current official text. The text was read and quoted as found; check it against the current official edition before relying on it.
Where this fits
The filing fee is the smallest part of what a guardianship costs, and the national page sets out the costs that are larger and are not published anywhere. If nobody has been appointed yet, the comparison that actually matters is against the document that avoids this proceeding entirely — guardianship against a power of attorney.
Sources
| Item | Citation | Tier | Read |
|---|---|---|---|
| Petition filing fee | N.H. Cir. Ct. — Probate Div. R. 169 fee schedule (eff. 07/01/2025), authorized generally under RSA 490-F (Circuit Court) | official | 2026-08-12 |
| Bond | N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. §§ 464-A:15, 464-A:21 | statute | 2026-08-12 |
| Guardian ad litem and attorney fees | N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. §§ 464-A:6, 464-A:41; 490-C:4, 490-C:5 | statute | 2026-08-12 |
| Periodic accounting or report | N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. §§ 464-A:35, 464-A:36; N.H. Cir. Ct. — Probate Div. R. 169 fee schedule (eff. 07/01/2025) | official | 2026-08-12 |
General consumer information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Guardianship and conservatorship are governed by STATE law and differ materially between states; every figure here is quoted from the cited source as read on the date shown and changes without notice. Read as of August 14, 2026.