New Hampshire Divorce Laws

New Hampshire Divorce Laws
The New Hampshire laws make filing for divorce a difficult process in some respects, and easy in others. For instance, the residency requirements that must be met before you can file for divorce in New Hampshire require a longer residency period prior to filing than many other states. But on the other side of the coin, there are more possible grounds for divorce covered by New Hampshire divorce laws, so the law covers a greater range of the various circumstances that can lead to a breakdown of the marriage.

The residency requirements under New Hampshire divorce laws are a little more complex than many other states, which only require you to be resident for six months before filing. In New Hampshire, there are two variations on the proper residency requirements. The first of these is the situation in which both spouses are residents of New Hampshire, in which cause the spouse filing for divorce needs to have been a resident for at least 12 months prior to filing. If your spouse no longer lives in the state, you can still file for divorce in New Hampshire if you have lived there for 12 months prior to filing and the grounds on which you are filing occurred in the state.

New Hampshire Grounds for Divorce
Under New Hampshire divorce laws, as in most other states, you can file for divorce under the grounds of irreconcilable differences. This simply means there is a breakdown in the marriage at a fundamental level, based on the personalities of each spouse, which can’t be repaired by counselling.

Beyond that, there are also nine grounds for divorce based on the fault one a spouse in carrying out marital duty. We will list them here and explain what they mean as we go.

The first grounds for divorce covered by New Hampshire laws, which is left out in many other states, is impotency. This can be in either spouse. The next grounds for divorce is adultery, or sexual relations outside of the marriage, which is considered to be a fundamental violation of the marital bond.

Another grounds for divorce is extreme cruelty, which can cover both physical and mental abuse. A related grounds covers acts carried out by one spouse that seriously endanger the health of the other.

Another of the bases on which a divorce claim can be made is the conviction and incarceration for a crime where the sentence is 12 months or more in prison.

There are also provisions under New Hampshire divorce laws for intentional abandonment. If one spouse leaves the other for two continuous years without making any contact, this can be grounds for divorce in New Hampshire.

Another grounds for divorce in New Hampshire is habitual drunkenness. The law stipulates that this habit must have existed for two continuous years prior to the filing of the divorce.

There’s also a grounds for divorce is one party has abandoned the other for two years or more, refusing to live in the same residence.

The last grounds for divorce we will mention here for New Hampshire is somewhat different from many of the other state laws in the U.S. It states that if one spouse becomes a member of a religious sect that refuses to acknowledge the legitimacy of the marriage, and when that spouse has refused to live with the other for six months or more, this can be a reason to file for divorce.

Child Custody and Visitation
The court will also use a number of guiding factors to determine who will win custody of the children, and whether partial custody or visitation rights will be granted to the other spouse. Factors include the probability of having to change school and the impact this could have on the child, any potentially harmful situations that could arise from one parent having access or custody, and other factors related to the grounds for divorce, like the incarceration of one spouse.

Property Distribution
Following the divorce proceedings, the marital property will be split between the two spouses according to what the court deems to be fair. This idea of fairness is based on a number of factors. Some of these include the opportunities of each spouse for future investments, how child custody will affect each spouse’s earning potential, and the overall situation of each spouse including factors such as age and future income.

Alimony and Child Support
Child support payments, if required, are calculated as a percentage of the income of the parent who does not have custody. Alimony or spousal support may also be required and is determined by such factors as the health and age of each spouse and the length of the marriage, as well as the relative economic position of the spouses.

SBI!