N.H. Rev. Stat. § 477:25-a — NH Code / Title XLVIII / Chapter 477 / Section 25-a
477:25-a Conveyances To or From Trusts Without Naming Trustees.
Status: in_force

I. In any conveyance of real property or any interest in real property in this state, if the grantee or one or more of the grantees is named as a trust, whether the trust is created under the laws of this state or of any other jurisdiction, and no trustee of that trust is named as a grantee in his or her or its capacity as trustee, then the conveyance is deemed to have been made to all of the trustees of the trust who have accepted the office of trustee in their capacity as trustees of the trust, as though they had been named as grantees. Notwithstanding the foregoing, a trustee who would be deemed by this paragraph to have accepted title to real property but who has not either expressly accepted title or participated in any transaction involving the property other than as allowed by RSA 564-B:7-701(c) may, to the extent not prohibited by the terms of the trust or otherwise, decline to accept such real property by recording an affidavit reciting such nonacceptance and nonparticipation and lack of prohibition and declining to accept title, in the registry in which the conveyance subject to this paragraph was recorded; and upon the recording of such an affidavit, such trustee shall be deemed never to have accepted or held title to the real property that is the subject of such conveyance; but such declination of title by one or more but not all of the trustees shall not prevent the vesting of title to the entire interest conveyed in the remaining trustees. Notwithstanding this right of trustees to decline title, the title of any bona fide purchaser whose title is derived by instrument recorded subsequent to the date of recording of the conveyance subject to this section shall not be adversely affected by the recording of a trustee's affidavit declining title. II. In any conveyance of real property or any interest in real property in this state, the conveyance is deemed to have been made by all of the persons who signed the instrument of conveyance in the expressly denoted capacity of trustees of the trust, as though they had been named as such in the granting clause as grantors instead of the trust, if: (a) The granting clause designates or includes as grantor a trust, whether the trust is created under the laws of this state or of any other jurisdiction, and the granting clause does not include as grantors one or more persons expressly described as trustees of the trust; (b) The signature block designates the trust as a signatory entity, followed by the signatures of one or more persons expressly described as trustees; or (c) Both subparagraphs (a) and (b) apply. III. Any person who claims title to any real property or any interest in real property in this state by virtue of the failure of an instrument of conveyance delivered before the effective date of this section to name as grantor or as grantee any trustee of a trust may preserve that claim by recording a notice, within 2 years from the effective date of this section, in the registry of deeds where the instrument of conveyance is recorded. In order for the notice to be effective, it shall contain the name and mailing address of the claimant, the names of the parties to the instrument of conveyance that is claimed to be defective, the names of the current owners of record, the book and page numbers where the instrument of conveyance is recorded, and a statement of the purported defect on which the claim is based. The notice described in this paragraph may be presented for recording by the claimant or by any other person acting on behalf of a claimant who is under a disability or is unable to assert a claim on the claimant's own behalf, but a disability or lack of knowledge of any kind shall not suspend or extend the period for the recording of the notice. IV. This section shall not apply to any trust that, as determined by the laws of its situs, is an entity capable of holding and conveying title in its own name. V. Nothing contained in this section shall be construed to recognize trusts created under the laws of this state as entities capable of holding or conveying title to real property in their own names. This section applies to conveyances made before, on, or after the effective date of this section, but nothing contained in this section shall be construed to suggest or require that any instrument delivered before the effective date of this section is invalid. Nothing contained in this section shall be construed to extend the period for the commencement of an action or for the performance of any other required act under any statute of limitations. VI. Other than as expressly stated, this section shall not be read to mean that a conveyance falling within the terms of paragraph I or II is any more or less valid or has any different effect with regard to the trustees or the trust than if the trustees had been expressly named as such in the granting clause.