2023 New Hampshire Revised Statutes › Title LVI - Probate Courts and Decedents' Estates › Chapter 564 - Trustees of Estates › Section 564:19 - Filing Account.

564:19 Filing Account. –
I. Except as otherwise provided in paragraph II, every trustee shall file in the probate court an annual account of administration, unless upon petition the trustee is excused by the judge of probate; but in no event shall the trustee be excused for a period longer than 3 years, except that in cases where such filing may be impractical and may work financial hardship to the trust estate the judge of probate upon written approval of the attorney general may extend said period not exceeding in the aggregate 5 years. Such annual account of administration provided for herein may be allowed by the judge of probate without publication unless he or she shall otherwise order. Before giving notice to settle a final account the trustee shall file it in the probate office and shall cause the fact of such filing to appear in the notice and shall at the same time file a statement of the names and residences of the beneficiaries in the trust estate.
II. The following trusts created under a will shall be exempt from the accounting requirements of paragraph I:
(a) A trust created under a will admitted to probate on or after January 1, 2012, shall be exempt from the accounting requirements of paragraph I if, under the terms of the will, the testator expressly waives the requirement for annual accountings.
(b) A trust created under any will shall be exempt from the accounting requirements of paragraph I if all of the interested persons agree to waive the trustee's filing of accounts, and the probate court finds that the waiver of filing of accounts does not violate a material purpose of the trust. The interested persons may agree to waive the trustee's filing of accounts by means of a nonjudicial settlement agreement within the meaning of RSA 564-B:1-111. For purposes of this subparagraph, the trustee's filing of accounts is not a material purpose of a trust created under a will unless, under the terms of the will, there is a clear and express manifestation of the testator's intent that the trust shall be subject to full judicial supervision, including a requirement that the trustee file accounts with the court.
(c) If the court grants a petition for the acceptance of jurisdiction over a trust with respect to which a court of another state has released its jurisdiction, and the court releasing jurisdiction did not require the trustee or trustees of the trust to file accounts with that court, or required that the trustee or trustees of the trust file accounts less frequently than annually, then the court accepting jurisdiction over such trust shall not require accountings whatsoever, or shall require accountings less frequently than annually, as the case may be, on the same basis as may have been required by the court releasing jurisdiction.
III. A trust created under a will described in paragraph II, with respect to which no judicial accountings will be required, shall in all respects be subject to the beneficiary reporting and information requirements of RSA 564-B, the New Hampshire Trust Code, and all other pertinent provisions of such code, except to the extent that a contrary provision appears in the will under which the trust was created, provided that such contrary provision does not violate any of the mandatory rules of RSA 564-B:1-105. For these purposes, the pertinent terms of the will shall have the same meaning as "terms of a trust" and the "will creating the trust" shall have the same meaning as "trust instrument," as defined in RSA 564-B:1-103(19) and (20), respectively.
IV. Nothing in this section shall be interpreted to modify or limit the jurisdiction or authority of the probate court to require any trustee of a trust created under a will to make a judicial accounting or to give bond, either upon a motion of an interested person, or on the probate court's own action.
V. For purposes of this section, an "interested person" means any person who has standing to petition the court to order the trustee to account, including the director of charitable trusts if, with respect to the trust, the director has the rights of a qualified beneficiary under RSA 564-B: 1-110(c).
VI. Nothing in this section shall limit the authority of the director of charitable trusts or the department of health and human services otherwise provided by common law or other statute.
Source.
1881, 59:1. PS 198:12. PL 309:18. RL 363:18. 1947, 264:4. 1949, 40:1, eff. Mar. 3, 1949. 2011, 243:5, eff. Sept. 11, 2011. 2015, 272:69, eff. Oct. 1, 2015.