This tool provides general cost estimates for informational purposes only. It is NOT legal advice. Costs vary significantly based on individual circumstances. Consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction for specific guidance.
2026 cost estimates for estate planning / probate in New Hampshire, including attorney fees, court costs, and other expenses.
As of June 29, 2026, a estate planning / probate in New Hampshire costs on average $2,550, typically $1,300-$3,900 for a moderate-complexity case, based on sourced attorney-fee and court-cost data. Typical attorney rates run $205 to $410 per hour. A moderate-complexity case typically takes 2-6 weeks to resolve. Common related costs include notarization fees ($10-$25) and trust registration fee ($50-$200).
Data verified: June 29, 2026
| Complexity | Low | Median | High | Typical Duration |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simple | $350 | $750 | $1,200 | 1-2 weeks |
| Moderate | $1,300 | $2,550 | $3,900 | 2-6 weeks |
| Complex | $3,800 | $7,550 | $12,600 | 1-3 months |
Last verified: June 2026
$205 – $410/ hour
Median: $320/hr
2-6 weeks
For moderate complexity cases
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</script>Estate planning and probate cost formation depends on which side of death the work happens on. Planning documents drafted while someone is alive — a will, a revocable living trust, powers of attorney — are usually flat-fee, priced by document complexity and whether a trust (which avoids probate but requires more drafting) is involved rather than a simple will alone. Probate, which happens after death when an estate moves through court, is billed differently: often hourly or as a percentage of the estate's value, and its cost tracks estate size and how many beneficiaries or disputes are involved.
The biggest cost driver in probate specifically is whether the estate is contested. An estate with a clear will, cooperative beneficiaries, and no significant debts moves through simple probate with predictable court filing fees, executor fees, and appraisal costs. A contested estate — disputed will validity, disagreements among heirs, or complex assets like a business — adds litigation-style hourly billing on top of the base probate costs, which is why complex-case figures on this page run substantially above the simple-case median.
Take a moderate-complexity estate planning / probate matter in New Hampshire. The recorded median total is $2,550, with reported quotes clustering between $1,300 and $3,900. Each statutory line below is sized against that median.
Added together the itemised lines come to $310–$925, which leaves roughly $1,625–$2,240 of the New Hampshire median as professional time — the part that differs between quotes.
At $2,550, the median estate planning / probate cost in New Hampshire runs 31% above the $1,954 national average across all 50 states and DC.
New Hampshire carries 3 rows — simple, $350–$1,200 at $175–$320/hr over 1-2 weeks; moderate, $1,300–$3,900 at $205–$410/hr over 2-6 weeks; complex, $3,800–$12,600 at $290–$555/hr over 1-3 months — on 4 shared citations. Those figures put it in the top quarter of the table.
$2,550 is a median, not the middle of the band — $1,250 above the $1,300 floor, $1,350 under the $3,900 ceiling. Every rank below is out of 46.
New Hampshire ranks 2nd of 46 tracked states for a estate planning / probate, inside the highest-cost quarter of the table. The gap to the $2,075 midpoint is $475 — 23% — and only 1 states record a higher median.
In the estate planning / probate table New Hampshire falls between Alaska at $2,450 and Hawaii at $2,600, $100 above the first and $50 below the second.
Only one other tracked state, Hawaii, records a median within three percent of New Hampshire's $2,550 — a pairing rather than a cluster.
On hourly rate alone New Hampshire is 7th of 46 at $320 an hour, 5 places behind its 2nd position on total cost.
| Rank | State | Median | Against New Hampshire |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hawaii | $2,600 | +$50 |
| 2 | New Hampshire | $2,550 | — |
| 3 | Alaska | $2,450 | −$100 |
| 4 | District of Columbia | $2,400 | −$150 |
| 5 | Vermont | $2,400 | −$150 |
| 6 | Massachusetts | $2,350 | −$200 |
| 7 | Connecticut | $2,300 | −$250 |
| 8 | New Jersey | $2,300 | −$250 |
The rows within ten percent are lopsided: 7 below New Hampshire against 1 above. $50 up or $100 down moves New Hampshire a row, so a downward revision would cost the state far more places than an equivalent upward one would gain — the 2nd position is propped up by a thin estate planning / probate field above it and a crowded one beneath.
Climbing five places would mean passing Hawaii and adding $50 to the $2,550 recorded here.
Five places down means passing under Alaska, District of Columbia, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut: $250.
$50 short of Hawaii ($2,600), $1,200 clear of Alabama ($1,350).
The $2,550 median covers only about 8 hours at the $320 median rate, which is short enough that flat-fee and limited-scope arrangements, rather than an hourly meter, tend to describe how the work is actually billed. The peer median is 7 hours, so 1 more hours of work sit behind the New Hampshire figure than behind the typical state's.
Moving from a simple to a complex estate planning / probate multiplies the New Hampshire total by 10.1, and almost all of that is hours rather than price: 3 hours at $235 becomes 18 hours at $410, so the workload grows 6x while the rate grows only 1.74x. Complexity here buys attorney time, not a premium hourly rate.
In dollars the New Hampshire moderate band is wide: $1,300 to $3,900, a $2,600 range, $550 wider than the peer-median band of $2,050. End to end that is 8 hours at $320.
By implied hours New Hampshire falls to 3rd of 46 at 8 hours, 1 places below its 2nd on cost — the estate planning / probate total arriving on less recorded work.
30% up the $1,300–$3,900 band sits the $2,075 table midpoint, buying 6 hours at $320 against the 8 the local estate planning / probate median implies — 2 hours apart.
| Measure | New Hampshire | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Moderate median | $2,550 | 2nd |
| Hourly median | $320 | 7th |
| Implied hours | 8 | 3rd |
| Simple median | $750 | 6th |
| Complex median | $7,550 | 2nd |
$320 an hour puts New Hampshire between Connecticut ($320) and Rhode Island ($320) — not the estate planning / probate cost pairing.
California, Connecticut, Rhode Island record the same $320: rate cannot separate them, totals do.
$2,550 buys 11 hours at $235, 8 at $320, 6 at $410.
| Rank | State | Median rate |
|---|---|---|
| 5 | California | $320 |
| 6 | Connecticut | $320 |
| 7 | New Hampshire | $320 |
| 8 | Rhode Island | $320 |
| 9 | District of Columbia | $315 |
New Hampshire moves up the table as complexity rises: 6th at the simple tier, 2nd at moderate, 2nd at complex, a 4-place climb. The state's position on the headline moderate figure understates where it sits once a matter is contested.
$750 is 6th of 46 on a straightforward estate planning / probate, under Massachusetts ($750) and over District of Columbia ($700), $125 over the $625 tier midpoint.
$7,550 is 2nd of 46 once contested, between Hawaii ($7,750) and California ($7,400), $1,650 off the $5,900 tier midpoint.
$100 separates the simple ceiling of $1,200 from the moderate floor of $1,300, so the first escalation is a clean break, while the moderate and complex bands overlap from $3,800 upward. The expensive end of a routine estate planning / probate and the cheap end of a contested one are the same money in New Hampshire.
| Tier | New Hampshire | Rank | Tier midpoint | Implied hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| simple | $750 | 6th | $625 | 3 |
| moderate | $2,550 | 2nd | $2,075 | 8 |
| complex | $7,550 | 2nd | $5,900 | 18 |
$750 drops New Hampshire to 6th of 46 on straightforward matters, 4 below its moderate position and $125 (20%) over the $625 tier midpoint.
3 implied hours at $235: 38% of the moderate tier's 8, over 1-2 weeks.
Massachusetts ($750) and District of Columbia ($700) bracket it — a $50 window.
4 states record a simple-tier median within three percent of $750, denser than the 1 around the moderate row.
$7,550 keeps New Hampshire at 2nd on contested matters, the same place it holds on the headline figure, $1,650 (28%) over the $5,900 tier midpoint.
18 implied hours at $410: 225% of the moderate tier's 8, over 1-3 months.
Hawaii ($7,750) and California ($7,400) bracket it — a $350 window.
4 states record a complex-tier median within three percent of $7,550, denser than the 1 around the moderate row.
| Rank | State | Median |
|---|---|---|
| 4 | Hawaii | $750 |
| 5 | Massachusetts | $750 |
| 6 | New Hampshire | $750 |
| 7 | District of Columbia | $700 |
| 8 | New Jersey | $700 |
| Rank | State | Median |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hawaii | $7,750 |
| 2 | New Hampshire | $7,550 |
| 3 | California | $7,400 |
| 4 | Maryland | $7,400 |
In New Hampshire a estate planning / probate is 7th of 8 at $2,550, between Bankruptcy and Real Estate Closing. At 20% of Criminal Defense ($12,450).
Across practice areas New Hampshire ranges from 2nd of 46 for Estate Planning / Probate to 12th for Bankruptcy — a 10-place spread, with its 2nd on estate planning / probate inside it.
New Hampshire is not equally priced in every practice area. Measured against each matter's own midpoint, Immigration runs 29% above its own midpoint while Real Estate Closing runs 12% above its own midpoint — a 17-point spread between the extremes.
The largest tracked median in New Hampshire is 5x the smallest, effectively the 5.1x that the typical state records: the internal spread is ordinary even where the levels are not.
Every one of the 8 matter types tracked for New Hampshire places it in the upper third of its table, which is why the 2nd on estate planning / probate is not an outlier.
That places the estate planning / probate figure in the 98th percentile of the 46 states tracked here.
| Matter | Simple | Moderate | Complex | Hours | Rank | vs mid | Above |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Criminal Defense | $3,900 | $12,450 | $32,250 | 36 | 3rd | +22% | Rhode Island |
| Divorce | $3,800 | $10,350 | $27,400 | 30 | 10th | +21% | Colorado |
| DUI / DWI | $4,200 | $8,600 | $19,550 | 27 | 11th | +15% | District of Columbia |
| Immigration | $2,300 | $6,150 | $13,300 | 19 | 6th | +29% | Washington |
| Personal Injury | $1,850 | $5,900 | $17,650 | — | 4th | +13% | Illinois |
| Bankruptcy | $1,600 | $4,050 | $5,550 | 14 | 12th | +13% | Minnesota |
| Estate Planning / Probate | $750 | $2,550 | $7,550 | 8 | 2nd | +23% | Hawaii |
| Real Estate Closing | $1,150 | $2,500 | $5,750 | 9 | 10th | +12% | District of Columbia |
Simple tier. $750 ÷ $235 = about 3 hours — 5 fewer than the moderate tier's 8, and $1,800 less.
Work against price. $2,550 to $7,550 is a $5,000 step, mostly work: 10 more hours at $320 is $3,200, while moving to $410 across 18 hours adds $1,620. Work carries 66%.
Borrowing the wrong row. Alaska ($2,450) is $100 light, Hawaii ($2,600) is $50 heavy — but the $2,075 table midpoint is out by $475, 5x the neighbour error.
Contested against simple. At New Hampshire's own recorded figures, $7,550 buys 10.1 matters at the $750 simple median — or, counted in time, 18 implied hours against 3, a factor of 6 — the two ratios differing because the rate rises with the tier.
Verified June 2026. Filing fees change on the New Hampshirecourt's own schedule; billing models are covered in the legal fees guide.
This tool provides general cost estimates for informational purposes only. It is NOT legal advice. Costs vary significantly based on individual circumstances. Consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction for specific guidance.