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Committee hears bill to require death affidavits for transfer‑on‑death deeds
Summary
The House Municipal and County Government Committee held a public hearing on Senate Bill 42, which would add an affidavit-of-death notification to existing transfer‑on‑death deed procedures so registers of deeds and tax assessors are notified when property ownership changes by death.
CONCORD, N.H. — The House Municipal and County Government Committee on April 7 took testimony on Senate Bill 42, a bill from Sen. James Gray that would add a requirement for an affidavit of death when a transfer‑on‑death deed is used so registers of deeds and town tax assessors are notified of the death and the current owner.
Senator James Gray, the bill’s prime sponsor, told the committee the change was requested by municipal officials and is “a very minor technical change” intended to make it easier for registers and towns to identify the current owner and direct tax bills correctly. “When a person passes away … the heir that they have chosen would have to do a lot of different things,” Gray said, and the affidavit would give registers criteria “to make sure that that transfer on death deed is the deed that is current.”
The bill refers to existing transfer‑on‑death deed provisions currently cited in the transcript as “RSA 5 63 d.” Representative questions focused on how the new affidavit would interact with existing revocation rules for transfer‑on‑death deeds and who would be responsible for filing or notifying registers and assessors.
Kate Horgan, speaking for the New Hampshire Association of Counties and pinching for a county register, said the change is limited to notification: the register of deeds would notify the tax assessor when a transfer‑on‑death deed is filed and “it does not change anything else around that deed. That process is purely notification.” Horgan said county registers and assessors had worked on the bill over the summer.
Representative Gilman reported the public sign‑in counts: remote sign‑in showed three in support, one opposed and one neutral; two in‑person sign‑ins indicated support. The committee closed the public hearing on SB 42 with no committee action recorded during the session.
The bill drew only technical questions during the hearing; members asked for clarifications about revocability and the statute cited. No committee vote was taken at the hearing.
If advanced, the bill would direct registers and assessors to rely on the filed affidavit to help route tax bills and reduce the need for probate steps to establish ownership, according to testimony.
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