Fiduciary Trust Company of New Hampshire is a state-chartered trust company regulated by the New Hampshire Banking Department, offering trust administration and investment management under one of the more trust-friendly legal frameworks in the country. It appears on the Banking Department’s roster of chartered institutions, with its main office listed in Cleveland, Ohio, an arrangement New Hampshire permits for trust companies that meet state chartering requirements.1New Hampshire Banking Department. NH State Chartered Institutions and Branch Locations If you’re considering it as trustee, custodian, or investment manager, what matters is less the company’s address than the New Hampshire rules that govern how it must treat you and your assets.
How It’s Regulated
New Hampshire trust companies operate under RSA 383-A, which covers organizational requirements for state-chartered banking institutions, and RSA 383-C, which addresses trust companies specifically. The older trust company statute, RSA 392, was repealed in 2015 when this updated framework took effect. The Banking Department’s Trust Division oversees these institutions through periodic examinations and offsite monitoring.2New Hampshire Banking Department. Trust Companies
Chartered trust companies must maintain minimum required capital of $500,000, and the commissioner can require more.3New Hampshire General Court. New Hampshire Code 383-C:5-502 – Required Capital The board must adopt a capital plan specifying the amount, quality, liquidity, and sources of capital to keep the company safe and sound.4New Hampshire General Court. New Hampshire Code 383-C:3-308 – Trust Company Capital Plan and Amendments to Capital Plan On top of state oversight, federal rules apply: the Bank Secrecy Act requires record-keeping of certain cash transactions, reports on transactions over $10,000, and suspicious activity reports.5FinCEN. The Bank Secrecy Act Customer identification rules under the USA PATRIOT Act require the company to verify your identity when establishing an account.6FFIEC BSA/AML InfoBase. FFIEC BSA/AML Risks Associated with Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing – Trust and Asset Management Services
Why People Choose New Hampshire for a Trust
Two features drive clients to New Hampshire trust companies from across the country.
The first is tax. New Hampshire’s Interest and Dividends Tax, which had historically reached certain trust income, was fully repealed effective January 1, 2025. For 2026 and beyond, there is no state-level tax on interest and dividend income, which puts New Hampshire among the few states with no broad-based income tax touching trust assets.7NH Department of Revenue Administration. Repeal of NH Interest and Dividends Tax Now in Effect Federal reporting still applies.
The second is the trust code itself. New Hampshire allows directed trusts, self-settled asset protection trusts, and considerable flexibility in how a trust is structured. It also lets a chartered trust company keep its main office outside the state, which is why Fiduciary Trust Company of New Hampshire operates from Cleveland while remaining a New Hampshire institution.1New Hampshire Banking Department. NH State Chartered Institutions and Branch Locations
What Services the New Hampshire Trust Code Allows
Trust services here are governed by the New Hampshire Trust Code, RSA 564-B, which sets how trusts are created, administered, and enforced. The company can act as trustee, custodian, or investment manager depending on what the trust document calls for.
Directed Trusts
Under RSA 564-B:7-711, a trust document can give one or more people the power to direct a trustee’s actions, veto proposed actions, or control specific parts of administration. The direction can cover investment decisions, distributions, or any other administrative area.8New Hampshire General Court. New Hampshire Code 564-B:7-711 – Divided Trusts and Directed Trusts Families and family offices use this structure to keep control over investment strategy or distribution calls while leaving custody and administration with a regulated trust company.
Asset Protection Trusts
RSA 564-D, the Qualified Dispositions in Trust Act, allows self-settled asset protection trusts. These are irrevocable trusts that can shield assets from creditors while letting the person who created the trust keep certain powers and even serve as trust advisor.9Justia. New Hampshire Code 564-D – Qualified Dispositions in Trust Act
The protection has real limits. Creditors whose claims arise after the trust is funded have four years to challenge the transfer. Pre-existing creditors must act within the period under New Hampshire’s Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act.10New Hampshire General Court. New Hampshire Code 564-D:10 – Extinguishment of Creditors Claim Certain claims can’t be blocked at all: child support orders, claims arising from prenuptial agreements, pre-transfer personal injury and property damage claims caused by the trust creator, and certain state and federal tax liens. Treat these carve-outs as part of the structure, not an afterthought.
Investment Management
Investment management follows the Uniform Prudent Investor Act, adopted as RSA 564-B:9-901. A trustee managing trust investments owes beneficiaries a duty to comply with the prudent investor rule.11New Hampshire General Court. New Hampshire Code 564-B:9-901 – Prudent Investor Rule In practice that means evaluating investments as part of the overall portfolio rather than in isolation, diversifying unless special circumstances justify concentration, and exercising reasonable care. The trust document can expand or restrict these defaults, so your own trust’s terms will dictate the specifics.
What the Trustee Legally Owes You
The duties below are enforceable, not aspirational. Breaching them can expose the trustee to personal liability.
Loyalty
A trustee must administer, invest, and manage the trust solely in the beneficiaries’ interests. Any transaction where the trustee has a personal financial interest, or that involves the trustee’s spouse, relatives, agents, or business affiliates, is presumed to be a conflict and can be voided by an affected beneficiary. Exceptions apply only where the trust terms authorize the transaction, a court approves it, or the beneficiary consents.12New Hampshire General Court. New Hampshire Code 564-B:8-802 – Duty of Loyalty
Reporting
Trustees of irrevocable trusts must keep qualified beneficiaries age 21 or older reasonably informed about administration and material facts they need to protect their interests. At minimum, the trustee sends an annual report, and a final report at termination, to current and permissible distributees unless the trust terms say otherwise. That report must include trust property and liabilities, receipts and disbursements, the trustee’s compensation, a listing of trust assets, and market values where feasible.13New Hampshire General Court. New Hampshire Code 564-B:8-813 – Duty to Inform and Report
Impartiality
When a trust has multiple beneficiaries, such as a current income beneficiary and a remainder beneficiary, the trustee must balance their interests fairly. Discretionary distributions make this harder, because the trustee has to exercise independent judgment while staying faithful to the trust document. Favoring one beneficiary at another’s expense, or tilting investment decisions systematically toward current income or long-term growth, can create liability.
Your Rights and Recourse as a Beneficiary
The annual reporting right above is one piece. Beyond that, beneficiaries can enforce the trust’s terms as written. If a trustee deviates from the trust document’s provisions on distributions, investments, or administration, any qualified beneficiary, along with settlors, other trustees, or anyone given enforcement power in the trust document, can petition the court. Under RSA 564-B:2-201 the court can compel the trustee to perform duties, issue instructions on proper administration, declare the parties’ rights, enjoin breaches, remove a trustee for misconduct, and order restitution.14New Hampshire General Court. New Hampshire Code 564-B:2-201 – Role of Court in Administration of Trust
Some protections cannot be stripped out, even by careful drafting. The trust document cannot eliminate the trustee’s duty to act in good faith, cannot cut off the court’s power to modify or terminate a trust, and cannot waive the beneficiaries’ protections against unreasonable trustee compensation.15New Hampshire General Court. New Hampshire Code 564-B:1-105 – Default and Mandatory Rules A trust can require arbitration or mediation for disputes, but those mandatory protections survive the arbitration clause.
Trusts aren’t locked permanently either. Under RSA 564-B:4-410, a trustee, beneficiary, trust advisor, or trust protector with the relevant powers can bring a court proceeding to approve or disapprove a proposed modification or termination. Trusts can also be combined or divided. The limitation is that any change cannot violate the trust’s material purposes.16New Hampshire General Court. New Hampshire Code 564-B:4-410 – Modification or Termination of Trust; Proceedings for Approval or Disapproval
Federal Tax Rules Still Apply
Repeal of the state’s Interest and Dividends Tax doesn’t touch federal obligations. A domestic trust must file IRS Form 1041 if it has gross income of $600 or more, has any taxable income, or has a beneficiary who is a nonresident alien.
For 2026, the federal estate and gift tax basic exclusion amount is $15,000,000 per person, under the One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act signed on July 4, 2025, which permanently replaced the prior exclusion that had been set to sunset at the end of 2025.17Internal Revenue Service. Whats New – Estate and Gift Tax The federal annual gift tax exclusion for 2026 is $19,000 per recipient, or $38,000 for married couples electing gift splitting. Gifts over the annual exclusion require the donor to file Form 709, even if no tax is owed; the excess reduces the lifetime exemption. Direct payments to educational institutions or medical providers for tuition or medical expenses don’t count against either the annual exclusion or the lifetime exemption.
What Engagement Looks Like
Setting up a trust with a New Hampshire trust company usually starts with conversations between you, your attorney, and the company’s officers to settle on the structure. The trust agreement has to comply with New Hampshire law and spell out roles, responsibilities, distribution terms, and investment guidelines.
Once the trust is established, the company runs due diligence to verify your identity and the legitimacy of asset transfers, consistent with the Bank Secrecy Act and USA PATRIOT Act requirements noted above. Expect to provide financial statements, legal instruments like deeds or account transfer forms, and tax documentation. Ongoing administration includes regular communication, periodic account reviews, and the annual beneficiary reporting required by statute. If circumstances change, the modification and termination path under RSA 564-B:4-410 is available, as long as the trust’s core purposes are respected.