2001 SESSION

01-2051

01/10

HOUSE BILL 1127

COMMITTEE: Judiciary

ANALYSIS

This bill increases the time limit for filing an affidavit for the disposition of nursing home patient accounts upon death.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.

Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]

Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.

01-2051

01/10

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand One

Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:

1 Patient Accounts; Disposition Upon Death; Time Period Increased. Amend RSA 151-A:15, I to read as follows:

I. If [30] 120 days after the date of a testate or intestate patient's death in any nursing home no petition for probate has yet been filed under any section of RSA 553 and the gross value of the personal property remaining at the nursing home belonging to the deceased, including any amount left in a patient account, is no more than $2,500, the nursing home administrator may file in the probate court an affidavit for the purpose of disposing of such deceased patient's estate. In such cases, the nursing home administrator shall not be subject to the provisions of RSA 553:31. The form of the affidavit, and the rules governing proceedings under this section, shall be provided by the probate court pursuant to RSA 547:33 and RSA 548:8. The nursing home administrator shall not file a death certificate with the probate court, but shall attest to the death in the affidavit. If the nursing home patient died testate, the nursing home administrator shall file the will in the probate court. The probate court shall waive all filing fees.

2 Effective Date. This act shall take effect January 1, 2003.