Legislative Roundup

A NUMBER OF bills governing core aspects of guardianships and estate planning are on the table at the NH State House this year. One measure, HB 758-FN, aims to reduce the state's Medicaid obligations by limiting the assets that can be preserved by potential recipients. (A hearing on this proposal was scheduled to take place shortly after this issue of Bar News went to press.) Several of the bills also propose changes that would bring NH probate law into conformance with the Model Uniform Transfers to Minors Act or other model acts.

Although the Bar's Legislation Committee and the NHBA Board of Governors are tracking many of the bills, on only a few of them will the Bar take an advocacy position. As a unified bar, the NHBA is guided by the NH Supreme Court's Chapman decision in determining appropriate areas for legislative activity. (See Legislation Information under Publications for a list of bills being tracked by the NHBA, or visit www.state.nh.us to view the text of bills of interest.)

The following are some of the key proposed measures relative to estate planning or guardianship:

HB 123 - Relative to notice given to putative fathers in adoption proceedings;

HB 180 - Regarding termination of parental rights hearings;

HB 183 - Relative to distribution from a decedent's estate to a minor;

HB 184 - Regarding distributions upon intestacy;

HB 185 - Relative to pretermitted heirs;

HB 186 - Clarifies the effect of divorce or annulment on trusts;

HB 441 - Establishes a committee to study adoption of the Uniform Probate Code.

HB 620 - Provides a right to counsel for indigent parents in cases involving the guardianship of minors;

HB 626 - Provides requirements for notice to parents of child abuse and neglect proceedings, and for determining custody during and after such proceedings; also provides for court appointment of an attorney for an indigent non-custodial parent;

HB 672 - Requires notices of appointment of administrators or executors of all estates on the state's Web site; replaces the current requirement of notice through newspaper advertisements for estates of greater than $10,000;

HB 798 - Relative to gifts by fiduciaries, amending the statutes governing durable powers of attorney (DPOAs) and guardianships to provide greater probate court oversight and control;

HB 758-FN - Regarding criteria for Medicaid eligibility. Amends RSA 167:4 "to assure that otherwise ineligible individuals are prevented from artificially impoverishing themselves" and to "facilitate recovery of improperly obtained benefits," such as allowing the state to recover the value of a home from the surviving spouse of a Medicaid patient.

HB 831 - Establishes a New Hampshire end-of-life care study commission.

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