Email this page to a friendNew Hampshire Exemptions
In general, a debtor may claim exemption of homestead and certain personal property from attachment or execution or forced sale for the payment of debts.
New Hampshire permits homestead exemption up to a value of $30,000. The homestead right may include manufactured housing, which is owned and occupied as a dwelling by the debtor but does not include the land upon which the manufactured housing is situated if the land is not also owned by the owner the manufactured housing. (§ 480:1.)
Personal property and goods which may be exempted from attachment and execution may include wearing apparel necessary for the use of the debtor and his family; comfortable beds, bedsteads and bedding necessary for the debtor, his wife and children; household furniture to the value of $3,500; one cook stove, one heating stove and one refrigerator and necessary utensils belonging to the same; one sewing machine, kept for use by the debtor or his family; provisions and fuel to the value of $400; uniform, arms and equipment of every officer and private in the militia; bibles, school books and library of any debtor, used by him or his family, to the value of $800; tools of the debtor's occupation to the value of $5,000; one hog and one pig, and the pork of the same when slaughtered; Six sheep and the fleeces of the same; one cow; a yoke of oxen or a horse, when required for farming or teaming purposes or other actual use; and hay not exceeding 4 tons; domestic fowls not exceeding $300 in value; the debtor's interest in one pew in any meeting house in which he or his family usually worship; the debtor's interest in one lot or right of burial in any cemetery; one automobile to the value of $4,000; jewelry owned by the debtor or his family to the value of $500; the debtor's interest in any property, not to exceed $1,000 in value, plus up to $7,000 of any unused amount of the exemption provided under paragraphs III, VI, VIII, IX, XVI, and XVII of section 511:2.
Title XLIX. Homesteads
Chapter 480. The Homestead Right
480:1 Amount.Every person is entitled to $100,000 worth of his or her homestead, or of his or her interest therein, as a homestead. The homestead right created by this chapter shall exist in manufactured housing, as defined by RSA 674:31, which is owned and occupied as a dwelling by the same person but shall not exist in the land upon which the manufactured housing is situated if that land is not also owned by the owner of the manufactured housing.
480:2 Applicability.
[Repealed 1973, 212:2, eff. Aug. 11, 1973.]
480:3 Duration.
[Repealed 1961, 96:5, eff. June 19, 1961.]
480:3-a Duration.
The owner and the husband or wife of the owner are entitled to occupy the homestead right during the owner's lifetime. After the decease of the owner, the surviving wife or husband of the owner is entitled to the homestead right during the lifetime of such survivor.
480:4 Exemption.
The homestead right is exempt from attachment during its continuance from levy or sale on execution, and from liability to be encumbered or taken for the payment of debts, except in the following cases:
I. In the collection of taxes;
II. In the enforcement of liens of mechanics and others for debts created in the construction, repair or improvement of the homestead;
III. In the enforcement of mortgages which are made a charge thereon according to law;
IV. In the levy of executions as provided in this chapter.
480:5 Encumbering.
[Repealed 1961, 96:5, eff. June 19, 1961.]
480:5-a Encumbering.
No deed shall convey or encumber the homestead right, except a mortgage made at the time of purchase to secure payment of the purchase money, unless it is executed by the owner and wife or husband, if any, with the formalities required for the conveyance of land.
480:6 Devise.
[Repealed 1961, 96:5, eff. June 19, 1961.]
480:6-a Devise.
No devise of the homestead shall affect the estate of the surviving wife or husband in the homestead right.
480:7 Levy, etc.
The officer required to levy an execution on the debtor's property in which a homestead right may exist may levy the execution and set off or sell said property in accordance with the provisions of RSA 529, subject to any such homestead right.
480:8 Establishing Right.
[Repealed 1961, 96:5, eff. June 19, 1961.]
480:8-a Establishing Right.
The superior court, upon petition of the owner of a homestead or the wife or husband surviving such owner, or upon petition of a judgment creditor and such notice as it may order, may appoint appraisers and cause the homestead right to be set off, and a record of the proceedings being made in the registry of deeds, the right shall be established as against all persons.
480:9 Homestead Rights.
A conveyance of real property by deed to one or more trustees of a revocable trust shall not result in the loss of homestead rights of any person executing the deed (unless the deed contains an express release of homestead rights by such person) provided that such retained homestead rights in any such property shall not be enforceable against any other person to the extent such other person acquired an interest in or lien on the property after its conveyance into the trust without having notice of the revocability of the trust. Such notice may be given by the inclusion of the word “revocable” in the name of the trust as recited in the deed, or by the recitation in the deed or a subsequently recorded document that at the time of the conveyance the trust was a revocable trust.
Title LII. Actions, Process, and Service of Process (Refs & Annos)
Chapter 511. Attachments (Refs & Annos)
Attachable Property and Exemptions (Refs & Annos)
511:1 Attachable Property.All property, real and personal, which is liable to be taken in execution, may be attached and held as security for the judgment the plaintiff may recover. Such property may be attached following the entry of judgment for the plaintiff.
511:2 Exemptions.
The following goods and property are exempted from attachment and execution:
I. The wearing apparel necessary for the use of the debtor and the debtor's family.
II. Comfortable beds, bedsteads and bedding necessary for the debtor, the debtor's spouse and children.
III. Household furniture to the value of $3,500.
IV. One cook stove, one heating stove and one refrigerator and necessary utensils belonging to the same.
V. One sewing machine, kept for use by the debtor or the debtor's family.
VI. Provisions and fuel to the value of $400.
VII. The uniform, arms and equipments of every officer and private in the militia.
VIII. The Bibles, school books and library of any debtor, used by the debtor or the debtor's family, to the value of $800.
IX. Tools of the debtor's occupation to the value of $5,000.
X. One hog and one pig, and the pork of the same when slaughtered.
XI. Six sheep and the fleeces of the same.
XII. One cow; a yoke of oxen or a horse, when required for farming or teaming purposes or other actual use; and hay not exceeding 4 tons.
XIII. Domestic fowls not exceeding $300 in value.
XIV. The debtor's interest in one pew in any meetinghouse in which the debtor or the debtor's family usually worship.
XV. The debtor's interest in one lot or right of burial in any cemetery.
XVI. One automobile to the value of $4,000.
XVII. Jewelry owned by the debtor or the debtor's family to the value of $500.
XVIII. The debtor's interest in any property, not to exceed $1,000 in value, plus up to $7,000 of any unused amount of the exemptions provided under paragraphs III, VI, VIII, IX, XVI, and XVII of this section.
XIX. Subject to the Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act, RSA 545-A, any interest in a retirement plan or arrangement qualified for tax exemption purposes under present or future acts of Congress; provided, any transfer or rollover contribution between retirement plans shall not be deemed a transfer which is fraudulent as to a creditor under the Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act. “Retirement plan or arrangement qualified for tax exemption purposes” shall include without limitation, trusts, custodial accounts, insurance, annuity contracts, and other properties and rights constituting a part thereof. By way of example and not by limitation, retirement plans or arrangements qualified for tax exemption purposes permitted under present acts of Congress include defined contribution plans and defined benefit plans as defined under the Internal Revenue Code (IRC), individual retirement accounts including Roth IRAs and education IRAs, individual retirement annuities, simplified employee pension plans, Keogh plans, IRC section 403(a) annuity plans, IRC section 403(b) annuities, and eligible state deferred compensation plans governed under IRC section 457. This paragraph shall be in addition to and not a limitation of any other provision of New Hampshire law which grants an exemption from attachment or execution and every other species of forced sale for the payment of debts. This paragraph shall be effective for retirement plans and arrangements in existence on, or created after January 1, 1999, but shall apply only to extensions of credit made, and debts arising, after January 1, 1999.
Title LII. Actions, Process, and Service of Process (Refs & Annos)
Chapter 512. Trustee Process (Refs & Annos)
Exemption from Trustee Process (Refs & Annos)
512:21 List of Exemptions.
The money, rights, and credits of the defendant shall be exempt from trustee process in the following instances, and the trustee shall not be chargeable therefor:
I. Wages for labor performed by the defendant after the service of the writ upon the trustee.
II. Except as otherwise provided in paragraph X of this section, wages of the defendant earned before the service of the writ upon the trustee shall be exempt except in actions founded upon a debt on a judgment issued by a New Hampshire court of competent jurisdiction. In such case, the wages of the defendant earned before the service of a writ upon the trustee founded upon a debt on a judgment to the amount of 50 times the minimum hourly wage as established by the Fair Labor Standards Act for each week shall be exempt. The employer shall pay said exempted amount to the employee on the usual payday unless other cause exists prohibiting such payment.
III. Wages for the personal services and earnings of the wife and minor children of the defendant.
IV. Any pension or bounty money of the defendant allowed by any law of the United States before it has come into his actual possession.
V. Funds held by the trustee in the capacity of clerk, cashier, or other employee of the defendant which were received in the ordinary course of such employment.
VI. Fees due to the defendant for attendance at court as a juror or witness.
VII. Damages recovered for the conversion of property exempt from attachment.
VIII. Money, rights, and credits of the defendant in the hands of any insurance company or its agents whenever the same is due on account of the loss of, or damage by fire to, any property which by the laws of this state was exempt from attachment or levy on execution; provided, that whenever a building or structure so damaged or destroyed was a part of the homestead, only so much of the amount due therefor shall be exempt as, together with the value of the part of the homestead remaining, if any, shall equal the sum of $5,000.
IX. Wages of the defendant earned before the service of the writ upon the trustee, to the amount of $50 for each week, shall be exempt in any action founded upon any loan contract subject to the provisions of RSA 399-A.
X. Wages of the defendant earned before service of the writ upon the trustee if the defendant is a married woman and the action is founded upon any loan contract subject to the provisions of RSA 399-A on which her husband is or was at any time an obligor, jointly or severally, contingently or otherwise.
XI. Money, rights, and credits of the defendant deposited in any account designated as a payroll account.
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