New Hampshire Asset Exemptions From Creditors
Holding a New Hampshire judgment is only half the battle. The other half is knowing what the law actually lets you reach — because the state shields a long list of property from attachment and execution, and on January first, two thousand twenty-six the homestead protection jumped dramatically. This guide walks a judgment creditor through what is exempt and what is fair game under New Hampshire RSA chapters four hundred eighty, five hundred eleven, and five hundred twelve, then shows where a lawful asset search fits. General legal information, not legal advice.
The Short Version
New Hampshire protects a great deal of a debtor’s property from a judgment creditor. The homestead exemption under RSA 480:1 now shields $400,000 of equity in a primary residence per owner — raised from $120,000 effective January first, two thousand twenty-six — with a combined ceiling of $550,000 when more than one person owns the home. RSA 511:2 exempts a motor vehicle worth up to $10,000, $3,500 of household furniture, $5,000 of tools of the trade, plus a quaint itemized list that still names one cow, six sheep, and a hog. Wages are protected up to fifty times the federal minimum wage each week under RSA 512:21. What a creditor can usually reach is non-exempt equity above those caps, a second vehicle, bank balances beyond protected deposits, and investment or business property. Finding those non-exempt assets — lawfully and with a permissible purpose — is where a public-records research firm comes in. We are not a law firm, not a collection agency, and not a credit reporting agency; we locate, you and your attorney enforce.
Watch: What a Judgment Can Reach in New Hampshire
Exempt versus collectible, in plain terms.
Watch Overview
Why Exemptions Decide Your Collection Strategy
The judgment is the easy part. The exemption map is what determines recovery.
A New Hampshire money judgment is a powerful thing on paper: it lasts twenty years under RSA 508:5 – measured from when the cause of action accrued, not from the day judgment was entered – and it lets you attach property, levy on real estate, and use trustee process against a debtor’s wages and bank accounts. But none of those tools reach property the legislature has placed off-limits. New Hampshire’s exemption statutes — the homestead right in RSA chapter 480, the personal-property list in RSA 511:2, and the trustee-process exemptions in RSA 512:21 — carve out a substantial slice of a typical household before a creditor can touch a dime. Trying to enforce without first mapping those exemptions is how creditors burn money on writs that come back empty.
That is why experienced collection counsel work the exemption schedule before they file anything. The question is never simply “does the debtor own a house or a car?” It is “how much equity sits above the homestead cap, is there a second vehicle beyond the one protected automobile, and are there bank balances, investment accounts, business interests, or rental property that the exemption list does not cover?” Answering that question is part legal analysis and part fact-finding — and the fact-finding half is exactly what a lawful asset search supplies. New Hampshire also has no general state income tax and no sales tax, which shapes the financial picture: debtors here often hold value in real estate, vehicles, and bank deposits rather than in the kind of state-tax paper trail you see elsewhere.
One caution before the figures: every number below traces to a primary New Hampshire statute, and the homestead amount in particular changed at the start of two thousand twenty-six. Older articles, debtor-side guides, and even some attorney pages still quote the prior one-hundred-twenty-thousand-dollar homestead. They are out of date. Exemption amounts are also adjusted by the legislature from time to time, so confirm the current figure in the statute or with a New Hampshire attorney before acting on it. This page is general legal information, not legal advice.
The New Hampshire Exemption Schedule
What a judgment creditor cannot reach — and what falls outside the shield.
The table below maps the property a New Hampshire judgment creditor generally cannot reach against the property that usually can be reached, by asset class. Exempt figures are stated per the cited statute; amounts are spelled out to match the source language. “Reachable” means the asset, or the value above the exemption cap, is generally available to satisfy a valid judgment through attachment, levy, or trustee process, subject to procedure and to any other applicable exemption.
| Asset class | Exempt from a judgment | Reachable by a creditor | Statute |
|---|---|---|---|
| Primary home (homestead) | Up to $400,000 of equity per owner; up to $550,000 combined for co-owners | Equity above the cap; also property taxes, purchase-money mortgages, HOA/condo liens, mechanics’ liens, and pre-purchase debts | RSA 480:1; 480:4 |
| Motor vehicle | One automobile worth up to $10,000 | A second vehicle; value above $10,000 on the one protected car | RSA 511:2, XVI |
| Household furniture | $3,500 of furniture | Value above the cap; luxury or collectible furnishings beyond it | RSA 511:2, III |
| Tools of the trade | $5,000 of tools used in the debtor’s occupation | Business equipment and inventory above the cap | RSA 511:2, IX |
| Wages (earned) | Fifty times the federal minimum wage per week, for a judgment debt | Disposable wages above the protected floor, to the date the writ is served | RSA 512:21, II |
| Wildcard | $1,000 in any property, plus unused amounts from listed categories (up to $7,000 total) | Any property value the debtor cannot or does not cover with the wildcard | RSA 511:2, XVIII |
| Retirement accounts | Tax-qualified retirement plans, IRAs, and public pensions are broadly protected | Generally not reachable; non-qualified investment accounts are | RSA 511:2, XIX |
| Bank deposits | Protected federal benefits (Social Security, VA) in the account | General balances above protected deposits, by trustee process | RSA 512; 42 U.S.C. 407 |
| Investment / rental property | No general exemption | Non-homestead real estate, brokerage accounts, business interests | RSA 511; 512 |
The pattern is consistent: New Hampshire shields the basics of a household generously — a home, a car, the tools you work with, a furnished house, and a wage floor — but it does not shield wealth held in second properties, surplus equity, non-retirement investments, or business assets. That gap between what is protected and what is held is precisely the territory a judgment creditor needs mapped.
The Homestead Exemption and the 2026 Jump
RSA 480:1 — the single biggest shield, and the one most often quoted wrong.
The homestead right is the centerpiece of New Hampshire asset protection, and it is the figure a creditor must get right. Under RSA 480:1, every person is entitled to $400,000 worth of homestead in their primary residence, with a combined cap of $550,000 when more than one person holds an interest in the same home. This is a major change. For years the homestead was set at $120,000 per person; the legislature raised it, and the higher amount took effect on January first, two thousand twenty-six. Any article still citing $120,000 is describing the old law.
The protection is automatic. Unlike some states, New Hampshire does not require a homeowner to record a homestead declaration to claim it — the right attaches to a primary residence by operation of law. The exemption covers equity, not market value, so the analysis is always value minus liens. A home worth $600,000 with a four-hundred-thousand-dollar mortgage holds only $200,000 of equity, all of which would sit inside a single owner’s homestead and be untouchable. The same home owned outright, however, holds $600,000 of equity; a single owner’s four-hundred-thousand-dollar homestead leaves $200,000 of exposed equity that a creditor could pursue through a levy on real estate.
The homestead is not absolute. RSA 480:4 lists the debts it does not stop, and these are the openings a creditor should check: unpaid property taxes; a purchase-money mortgage on the home; mechanics’ liens for construction, repair, or improvement; homeowner or condominium association liens for unpaid assessments; debts that pre-existed the purchase of the homestead; and executions as otherwise provided in the chapter. A creditor whose claim falls into one of those categories is in a very different — and far stronger — position than an ordinary unsecured judgment holder. Everyone else confronts a four-hundred-thousand-dollar wall and must look to the equity above it.
Two finer points round out the homestead picture, and both cut against the creditor. First, the statute carves out an even larger protection in one narrow situation: where a debt arises directly from a terminal or catastrophic injury or illness — think a crushing medical bill — a debtor may claim the full market value of the home as homestead, not merely the four-hundred-thousand-dollar amount. A medical creditor in New Hampshire should not assume the ordinary cap applies. Second, the updated law ties the homestead to genuine residence: the home generally must have served as the debtor’s primary residence for the preceding twelve months. A creditor evaluating a recently acquired or recently occupied property should look closely at whether the residency requirement is actually met, because a homestead claim that does not satisfy it may be vulnerable.
The homestead also interacts with how title is held. New Hampshire recognizes joint ownership and, in limited respects, tenancy by the entirety between spouses, but unlike a handful of states it does not treat entireties property as broadly immune from the debts of one spouse. A creditor here should not assume a marital home is automatically beyond reach simply because both spouses are on the deed; the homestead caps and the equity math still drive the analysis, and the precise effect of how title is held is a question for a New Hampshire attorney on the specific facts.
The RSA 511:2 Personal-Property List
New Hampshire’s distinctive, item-by-item catalog of protected goods.
New Hampshire’s personal-property exemptions live in a single, unusually specific statute: RSA 511:2. Where many states use round categories, New Hampshire still itemizes, and the list reads like a portrait of an older agrarian economy sitting alongside modern dollar caps. A judgment creditor should read it closely, because anything not on the list — or value above a listed cap — is fair game.
The dollar-capped items
The figures that matter most to a typical case are the capped categories. RSA 511:2, paragraph XVI exempts one automobile worth up to $10,000 — a generous vehicle exemption by national standards, and high enough to protect most ordinary cars outright. Paragraph III protects $3,500 of household furniture; paragraph IX shields $5,000 of tools used in the debtor’s occupation, which can matter a great deal for a tradesperson or a sole proprietor; paragraph XVII covers $500 of jewelry; paragraph VI exempts $400 of provisions and fuel to heat the home; paragraph VIII protects $800 of bibles, schoolbooks, and library materials; and paragraph XIII covers domestic fowls up to $300.
The uncapped, item-specific protections
Then comes the part that makes New Hampshire’s statute distinctive. RSA 511:2 still exempts, by category and without a dollar figure: necessary wearing apparel for the debtor and family (paragraph I); comfortable beds, bedsteads, and bedding (paragraph II); one cook stove, one heating stove, one refrigerator, and necessary cooking utensils (paragraph IV); one sewing machine (paragraph V); the uniform, arms, and equipment of a militia officer or private (paragraph VII); one hog and one pig, and the pork when slaughtered (paragraph X); six sheep and their fleeces (paragraph XI); one cow, a yoke of oxen or a horse used for farming or teaming, and hay not exceeding four tons (paragraph XII); an interest in one pew in a place of worship (paragraph XIV); an interest in one burial lot or cemetery right (paragraph XV); and — a nod to the present day — one computer (paragraph XX). The livestock provisions are not a museum piece; they remain enforceable text, and they are a clean illustration of why exemption analysis must be done state by state rather than from a generic national checklist.
The wildcard and the unused-exemption stacker
Finally, paragraph XVIII is New Hampshire’s wildcard — and it is more flexible than most. It exempts an interest, up to $1,000, in any property the debtor chooses, and then layers on a second feature unique enough to catch creditors off guard: the debtor may add to that wildcard any unused portion of the furniture, provisions-and-fuel, books, tools-of-trade, automobile, and jewelry exemptions, up to a combined total of $7,000. In practice that means a debtor who owns little furniture or no qualifying car can roll the unused room into protecting a bank balance or another asset a creditor was counting on reaching. It is a meaningful planning tool on the debtor side and a trap for the creditor who assumes an unused exemption simply evaporates.
Wages, Bank Accounts and Trustee Process
Why wage garnishment is technically possible but practically rare in New Hampshire.
New Hampshire’s wage protection is among the stronger ones in the country, and it lives in the trustee-process chapter, RSA 512:21. Wages earned after a writ is served on the trustee (the employer) are fully exempt under paragraph I. For wages already earned before service, when the underlying debt is a New Hampshire court judgment, paragraph II protects an amount equal to fifty times the federal minimum hourly wage for each week. With the federal minimum wage at $7 and twenty-five cents an hour, that floor works out to roughly $362 and fifty cents of weekly earnings shielded from a judgment creditor. New Hampshire applies the federal Fair Labor Standards Act figure rather than a state minimum, because the state uses the federal rate. The state floor sits on top of the federal garnishment ceiling in 15 U.S.C. 1673, which independently caps any single garnishment at the lesser of twenty-five percent of disposable earnings or the amount above thirty times the federal minimum wage.
Just as important as the formula is the mechanics. New Hampshire wage attachment is not a continuous garnishment. The writ reaches only wages earned up to the date it is served on the employer; there is no standing order that keeps capturing future paychecks. To reach the next pay period a creditor must, in effect, start the process again. That, combined with the cost, the procedural hurdles, and the fact that judges have discretion and often disfavor wage attachment, is why practitioners report that ongoing wage garnishment is seldom the workhorse of New Hampshire collection. Court-supervised payment plans under RSA 524, enforced through the court’s contempt power, frequently do more of the actual recovery.
Bank accounts are reached through the same trustee-process chapter, RSA 512, by serving the bank as trustee. Here the key limits are federal as much as state: directly deposited Social Security, VA, and certain other federal benefits remain protected in the account under 42 U.S.C. 407 and the federal account-review rules, and a debtor can also point to the RSA 511:2 wildcard to shield a slice of an ordinary balance. General deposits above those protections, though, are a classic trustee-process target — which is one reason a creditor benefits from knowing where a debtor banks before serving anyone.
Where Judgments Actually Get Paid
The non-exempt pockets that survive New Hampshire’s generous shield.
Equity Above the Homestead
A paid-off or high-equity home can hold value well above the four-hundred-thousand-dollar cap, exposed to a real-estate levy under RSA chapter 529.
A Second Vehicle
Only one automobile is protected, and only to $10,000. A second car, boat, or RV is collectible.
Non-Retirement Investments
Brokerage and non-qualified investment accounts have no general exemption and are reachable by trustee process.
Business Interests
Ownership stakes, receivables, and inventory above the tools cap can be levied or charged.
Bank Balances
General deposits above protected federal benefits and the wildcard are a standard trustee-process target.
Rental & Second Real Estate
Only the primary residence carries the homestead. Investment and vacation property is fully exposed.
If the Debtor Files Bankruptcy
New Hampshire is an opt-in state — and that changes the exemption math.
A judgment creditor’s collection effort can be interrupted if the debtor files for bankruptcy, and New Hampshire’s status here is worth knowing because it is one of the states that lets a debtor choose. Under 11 U.S.C. 522(b), New Hampshire has not opted out of the federal bankruptcy exemptions, so a debtor in bankruptcy may elect either the New Hampshire state exemptions described on this page or the separate federal exemption set — whichever protects more of their particular property. That choice is strategic: a debtor with substantial home equity will usually keep the state homestead, while a debtor who rents but holds other assets may prefer the federal scheme with its own homestead, vehicle, and wildcard figures. The two systems cannot be mixed; it is one or the other.
For a creditor, the practical takeaway is that the exemption you are planning around outside bankruptcy may not be the one that applies if the debtor files. That is a reason to move deliberately and to understand the full asset picture early, while ordinary judgment-enforcement tools are still available. The interplay between a New Hampshire judgment, the available exemptions, and a possible bankruptcy is precisely the kind of question to put to a New Hampshire attorney; our role is limited to the factual side — finding and documenting the assets. This page covers the judgment-creditor angle on exemptions and deliberately does not duplicate a dedicated bankruptcy-exemptions treatment, which addresses the debtor-in-bankruptcy perspective and the federal versus state election in its own right.
Transfers, Procedure and the Judgment Clock
What happens when assets move — and how long you have to act.
A common creditor frustration is the debtor who suddenly has nothing — the house signed over to a spouse, the car retitled to an adult child, the bank account drained into a relative’s name just before or after judgment. New Hampshire addresses this through the Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act, RSA chapter 545-A. A transfer made with intent to hinder, delay, or defraud creditors, or made without receiving reasonably equivalent value while insolvent, can be set aside as voidable. The action generally must be brought within four years of the transfer, or within one year after it reasonably could have been discovered, whichever is later. Unwinding a transfer is litigation, not a research task — but it almost always starts with discovering that the transfer happened, which is where an asset and public-records search earns its place. Our overview of how to find hidden assets walks through the records that surface a quietly moved car, retitled property, or a newly opened account.
On procedure, New Hampshire gives a judgment creditor several tools: attachment and real-estate levy under RSA chapters 511 and 529, trustee process against wages and bank accounts under RSA 512, and post-judgment examination of the debtor to compel disclosure of assets. The judgment itself is durable — RSA 508:5 keeps a money judgment enforceable for twenty years from accrual — so a creditor who cannot collect today is not necessarily out of options tomorrow. Time, paired with periodic asset checks as a debtor’s circumstances change, is a legitimate long-game strategy. None of this is a substitute for advice from a New Hampshire attorney, who can match the right tool to the specific judgment and the specific exemptions in play.
It is also worth understanding how New Hampshire’s collection culture differs from the wage-garnishment-heavy systems of other states. Because non-continuous wage attachment is cumbersome and often disfavored, New Hampshire leans on the RSA 524 court-supervised payment plan, in which the court sets an installment amount keyed to the debtor’s income and expenses and enforces it through its contempt power rather than by seizing a paycheck. For a creditor, that means recovery here frequently looks less like a one-time levy and more like a structured, court-monitored stream — and an accurate picture of the debtor’s actual non-exempt assets and income makes any payment-plan request far more credible to the court.
Where a Lawful Asset Search Fits
We locate the non-exempt assets; you and your attorney enforce.
Confirm the Permissible Purpose
A valid New Hampshire judgment with a lawful, permissible purpose under FCRA, GLBA, and DPPA is the gate. We do not run searches without it. That gate does not make us a consumer reporting agency, which we are not: the exemption workup is not a consumer report and no employment, tenancy, credit, or insurance decision may rest on it.
Map the Likely Non-Exempt Assets
Real property beyond the homestead, additional vehicles, business filings, and banking signals are identified from public records and licensed sources.
Verify and Document
Candidate assets are confirmed and dated so your attorney can act on solid facts, not guesses, when drafting writs or trustee-process papers.
Hand Off for Enforcement
You receive a clear report. Your counsel decides which RSA tool to use; we do not give legal advice, file process, or collect.
People Locator Skip Tracing is a public-records research firm. For a creditor holding a valid judgment with a permissible purpose, we perform a lawful asset search to locate the property an exemption analysis suggests may be reachable — non-homestead real estate, a second vehicle, business interests, and banking relationships — and we deliver it in a documented form your attorney can use. For a typical request, a verified asset locate comes back within 24 hours. We are not a law firm, not a collection agency, and not a credit reporting agency, and we do not act as licensed private investigators; our work is research, conducted lawfully and only for a permissible purpose. Our skip tracing services hub explains the broader process, and if your task is locating the person rather than the assets, our guide to finding someone in New Hampshire is the better starting point. Because exemption rules are state-specific, creditors working judgments across borders may also want our companion guides to West Virginia asset exemptions and New Mexico asset exemptions, each built on that state’s own statutes.
Who We Help
Creditors and counsel working New Hampshire judgments.
Judgment Creditors
Locate reachable assets
Collection Attorneys
Facts before filing writs
Banks & Lenders
Post-judgment recovery
Landlords
Enforce damages judgments
Small Businesses
Unpaid invoice judgments
Family-Law Counsel
Support and equalization
Our Commitment
For a creditor with a valid New Hampshire judgment and a permissible purpose, we deliver a documented, lawful asset search — the non-exempt property your exemption analysis points to — typically within 24 hours. Research only, for legitimate purposes, since 2004.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the New Hampshire homestead exemption in 2026?
Under RSA 480:1, each owner is entitled to $400,000 of homestead protection in a primary residence, with a combined cap of $550,000 when more than one person owns the home. The higher amount took effect January first, two thousand twenty-six, replacing the prior one-hundred-twenty-thousand-dollar figure. It protects equity, not market value, and is automatic without a recorded declaration. This is general information, not legal advice.
Can a creditor garnish wages in New Hampshire?
Wage attachment is technically available through trustee process under RSA 512, but it is limited and uncommon. Wages up to fifty times the federal minimum wage per week are exempt for a judgment debt under RSA 512:21, and the attachment reaches only wages earned to the date the writ is served — there is no continuous garnishment. Judges also have discretion and often disfavor it, so court-supervised payment plans frequently do more of the collecting.
What car value is protected from creditors in New Hampshire?
RSA 511:2, paragraph XVI exempts one automobile worth up to $10,000 — a relatively generous vehicle exemption. Value above that figure on the protected car, and any second vehicle, is generally reachable by a judgment creditor. A debtor may also stretch protection using the wildcard if exemption room is unused elsewhere.
What is the New Hampshire wildcard exemption?
RSA 511:2, paragraph XVIII protects $1,000 of interest in any property the debtor chooses, plus any unused portion of the furniture, provisions, books, tools-of-trade, automobile, and jewelry exemptions, up to a combined total of $7,000. The unused-exemption feature lets a debtor shield assets a creditor might otherwise expect to reach, which is why it surprises creditors who assume unused exemptions simply lapse.
Are retirement accounts safe from creditors in New Hampshire?
Largely, yes. Tax-qualified retirement plans and IRAs are broadly protected under RSA 511:2, paragraph XIX, ERISA plans are shielded by federal law, and public pensions have their own statutory protection. Non-qualified brokerage and investment accounts, by contrast, have no general exemption and are reachable. Confirm the treatment of a specific account with a New Hampshire attorney.
Does the homestead exemption stop every creditor?
No. RSA 480:4 lists debts the homestead does not block: property taxes, a purchase-money mortgage, mechanics’ liens, homeowner or condominium association assessments, debts that pre-existed buying the home, and executions as otherwise provided. A creditor whose claim falls in those categories may reach the home despite the homestead; an ordinary unsecured judgment holder confronts the full four-hundred-thousand-dollar wall.
Can a New Hampshire creditor undo assets transferred to family?
Potentially. Under the Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act, RSA chapter 545-A, a transfer made to hinder, delay, or defraud creditors — or made without reasonably equivalent value while insolvent — can be set aside as voidable, generally within four years of the transfer or one year of discovery. Unwinding a transfer is litigation handled by an attorney; discovering it is where an asset and public-records search helps.
How does People Locator Skip Tracing help a judgment creditor?
For a creditor with a valid judgment and a permissible purpose, we perform a lawful asset search to locate likely non-exempt property — non-homestead real estate, a second vehicle, business interests, and banking relationships — and deliver it documented, typically within 24 hours. We are a public-records research firm, not a law firm, collection agency, or credit reporting agency, and we do not give legal advice or collect debts. Your attorney handles enforcement.
Hold a New Hampshire Judgment You Can’t Collect?
We locate the non-exempt assets a New Hampshire judgment can actually reach — documented, lawful, and built for a permissible purpose — typically within 24 hours. Contact us to get started, or learn more about our research process.
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