Clear Money Guide
What this state guide covers
A quick view of the questions, practical details and source notes below.
Updated August 20, 2026. Short answer for New Hampshire: New Hampshire publishes no percentage schedule, so anyone quoting you a firm probate figure is estimating. The question that is answerable here is the one that decides most cases: whether the estate can use the small-estate shortcut at all — and in New Hampshire, there is no dollar figure to qualify for. New Hampshire publishes no dollar-based small-estate threshold anywhere in its probate title; the route is waiver of administration under RSA 553:32, which turns on who inherits — a sole beneficiary or heir, or all of them acting together — rather than on what the estate is worth. A house is not excluded: the affidavit that closes the estate “shall list all real estate owned by the decedent at the time of death”.
Does your estate even face probate in New Hampshire?
A living trust earns its cost by keeping assets out of probate. So the first question is not what a trust costs — it is whether the estate would go through probate anyway. In New Hampshire the shortcut is: No dollar-based small-estate affidavit. Instead, waiver of full administration under RSA 553:32 (no inventory, bond, or accounting) when e.g. the surviving spouse is sole heir/beneficiary and serves as administrator (statute extends to certain sole-heir situations); completed by affidavit of administration filed 6-12 months after appointment.
The statute is not silent on real property, and there is no dollar gate to pass. RSA 553:32 removes the inventory, the bond and the accounting when the people who inherit are the people administering the estate, and the affidavit that closes it “shall list all real estate owned by the decedent at the time of death, including the location, book, and page”. What decides it in New Hampshire is who inherits, not how much. Full detail and citations: New Hampshire probate cost.
If a trust fits your situation in New Hampshire
New Hampshire decides the shortcut by who inherits rather than by a dollar figure, so the thing worth settling in advance is who will be administering the estate — not whether it clears a threshold. If a revocable living trust is the route you choose, LawDepot builds a state-specific one; funding it is what makes it work.
Build a living trust at LawDepot
LawDepot pays us a commission if you buy through this link — it costs you nothing extra. We are not a law firm and this is not legal advice. Affiliate Disclosure.
Why New Hampshire will not give you one number
New Hampshire uses a reasonableness standard rather than a percentage schedule. What the statute fixes is the standard, not the sum: No statutory percentage schedule; executor/administrator and attorney compensation is allowed by the Circuit Court Probate Division as just and reasonable (see RSA ch. 554 et seq. and probate court practice). Exact compensation section not pinned to primary source in this pass. Three things then decide the bill — how many billable hours administration takes, whether anyone contests, and whether the estate escapes through the small-estate route above. Court filing alone is Not verified from an official schedule this pass — NH Circuit Court Probate Division fee schedule applies (commonly cited around $150-$300 to open an estate; treat as unverified).
Because the fee is not computable, treat any published New Hampshire probate figure as an estimate — including ours. What is not an estimate is the small-estate gate, and that is usually the decisive fact.
What a living trust costs, and what it does not fix in New Hampshire
An attorney-drafted revocable living trust package runs a median of $2,700, with the middle half of firms charging $2,500–$3,500 — roughly $1,700 more than the $1,000 median for an attorney-drafted will package. Full breakdown: what a living trust costs.
A trust only avoids probate for assets actually retitled into it. An unfunded trust is the most expensive document in estate planning: you pay for it and the estate goes through probate anyway. Budget for the retitling, not just the drafting.
On the tax side there is nothing extra to solve here: New Hampshire levies neither a state estate tax nor an inheritance tax, so the trust question in New Hampshire is purely about probate cost, delay and privacy — not about death taxes.
Where this usually goes wrong
The two failures that cost the most in New Hampshire are not choosing the wrong document. They are buying a trust and never retitling the house into it, and assuming the trust solved a death-tax exposure it cannot touch. Both are decided years before an estate is settled, which is the only time either is cheap to fix. If the estate is large enough for the arithmetic above to matter, here is what to look for in an advisor who prices the whole estate picture.
Run your own numbers
The break-even depends on your estate, not the average one. The will-vs-trust break-even calculator computes it from the statutory schedules, and the probate cost calculator prices administration in New Hampshire against any other state.
Cite or share this guide: “Is a Living Trust Worth It in New Hampshire? (2026),” statute-cited; clearmoneyguide.com/is-a-living-trust-worth-it-in-new-hampshire/. Free to cite with attribution.
Before assuming a trust is necessary, first check whether probate is required in New Hampshire. The small-estate route may already answer it.
Related: how long creditors have to file a claim against an estate in New Hampshire.
Skipping probate also means skipping the court’s filing fee, see what New Hampshire charges to open probate.