Child Support
Residency Requirements and Grounds for Divorce
To get a divorce in New Hampshire, you need to meet one of these residency requirements:
- Both you and your spouse must be New Hampshire residents
- The spouse filing for divorce is a resident, and the other spouse is served with the divorce papers in New Hampshire
- The spouse filing for divorce must have been a resident for a year before filing for divorce
A divorce case begins when one spouse files a petition for divorce with the superior court in the county where either spouse resides.
Grounds for divorce are:
- Irreconcilable differences (no-fault ground)
- Impotence
- Adultery
- Extreme cruelty
- Conviction of a crime punishable with imprisonment for more than one year and actual imprisonment
- Physical abuse or reasonable fear of physical abuse
- Desertion for two years
- Habitual drunkenness for two years
- Either spouse joins a religious society with the belief that marriage is unlawful and the spouse refuses to cohabit with the other spouse for six months
- Living separate and apart without cohabitation for two consecutive years
Dividing the Property
New Hampshire is an "equitable distribution" state, meaning the court divides marital property in a fair, but not necessarily equal way in a divorce. Each spouse keeps his or her separate property. Separate property includes:
- Assets you had before you married
- Income from separate property
- Property you inherit from your family during your marriage
The starting point for an equitable division is an equal division of property. The court looks at many factors in deciding whether the division is fair, including:
- Marriage length
- The age, health, social or economic status, income sources and earning capacity of each spouse
- Each spouse's needs
- Future chances for each spouse to acquire assets and income
- Whether the custodial parent can work while caring for the needs of minor children
- The need of the custodial parent to keep or live in the marital home and keep household items
- Actions of each spouse contributing to the gain or loss in value of property
- Nature of each spouse's efforts in acquiring marital property, including the value of homemaking
- Whether the spouses contributed to one another's educations or careers, including giving up opportunities for the benefit of the family
- Expected retirement or pension benefits
- The tax consequences of the property division
- The value of property that is allocated by a valid prenuptial contract
- Any marital fault in the breakdown of the marriage
- The value of separate property, or property exchanged for it
- The value of any gifts or inheritances
- Any other relevant factor
Be prepared with information on your property, including when you purchased it, an estimate of value, and details such as account numbers, serial numbers and so forth. You'll be ready to meet with a New Hampshire divorce lawyer and it can save you a lot of time and money.
Alimony
The court can order alimony to either spouse if he or she lacks sufficient income or property to be self-supporting. Sometimes alimony is granted because a spouse has custody of a child and it's not practical or appropriate to work outside the home.
Factors considered by the court in deciding spousal support issues include:
- Marriage length
- The age, health and social or economic status of the spouses
- Spouse's occupations
- The amount and sources of income of the spouses
- The property awarded
- The vocational skills, employability, estate, liabilities and needs of each spouse
- Future chances for acquiring assets and income
- Any marital fault if it caused the breakdown of the marriage and caused pain and suffering or economic loss
- Whether the spouses contributed to one another's educations or careers, including giving up opportunities for the benefit of the family
Alimony payments may be either temporary or permanent. The court may order alimony be paid in a lump sum, periodic payments or both. You may seek to modify an alimony award by filing a petition to modify.
Child Custody and Visitation
Joint legal custody, which is shared responsibility for all parental rights and decisions except physical custody, is presumed to be in the best interests of the child, except in cases of child abuse. Factors in deciding child custody issues include:
- Child's preference
- The education of the child
- Any findings or recommendations of a neutral mediator
- Any other relevant factors
Modification to a custody order is possible when:
- Parents agree to modification
- One parent repeatedly interferes with the other parent's custodial or visitation rights
- The current custody arrangement is detrimental to the child, and the benefit of a change outweighs any harm from disrupting the child's environment
- Parents with roughly equal joint physical custody agree the arrangement isn't practical, and a change is in the child's best interest
A court can give substantial weight to a child's wishes for custody if it finds the child is mature enough to make a sound judgment.
Child Support
The court may order reasonable provisions for a child's support and education. The amount of child support based on state guidelines is presumed correct. A court can order a different amount, if the guidelines amount is unjust or inappropriate. The factors that the court will consider for adjusting the amount up or down are:
- Extraordinary medical, dental or education expenses of the child
- A significantly higher or lower income of either parent
- The economic consequences of the presence of stepparents, stepchildren, natural children or adopted children
- Expenses incurred by a parent in exercising visitation or physical custodial rights
- The economic impact to either parent of the disposition of the marital home
- Any state or federal tax consequences
- Any split or shared custody arrangements
- Financial impact on either parent from paying postsecondary educational expenses of a child
- Any other significant factor
You may seek to modify a child support award by filing a petition to modify. Generally, the court's power to modify child support obligations is limited to orders regarding future payments.
Questions for Your Attorney