The Parental Rights and Responsibility Act (RSA 461-A) - NH

Relative to the previous post, I thought I would add some more info about RSA 461-A.

From the New Hampshire Bar Assoc site:

Effective October 1, New Hampshire divorce and custody law will undergo substantial change with the enactment of new statutory chapter, the "Parental Rights and Responsibility" act (RSA 461-A). This chapter includes a purpose clause that states: "Children do best when both parents have a stable and meaningful involvement in their lives." It says that the policy of the state is "to support frequent and continuing contact between each child and both parents" and to "encourage parents to share in the rights and responsibilities of raising their children."

The Task Force on Family Law’s two-year study led to the conclusion that "custody," "physical custody," "legal custody," and similar terms were divisive and encouraged litigation. RSA 461-A replaces the traditional terms with "parental rights and responsibilities," "residential responsibility," and "decision-making responsibility." The goal is to promote co-parenting with both parents actively involved in their child’s life.

A new way to treat children of divorce - NH

The Telegraph Online

Excerpts:

Divorcing couples with children will find a change of procedure in New Hampshire’s court system starting Oct. 1.

A new law aimed at making divorce less hostile allows judges to refer parents to mediation when they are unable to agree on how much time their children will spend with either mom or dad as part of broader custody issues.

The law, however, would not apply to cases where domestic violence has been an issue.

Lawyers who deal in divorces and other family issues hope the law will encourage parents to settle custody disputes themselves by setting up a plan for shared child-rearing responsibilities rather than having a judge impose a top-down solution.
It could be a less costly and quicker resolution of custody issues and a happier outcome for children who are the unhappy bystanders in a marital breakup.

The law, approved by the Legislature as part of a bill called the Parental Rights and Responsibilities Act, is the product of a task force that studied ways to reform divorce and other aspects of family law in the state.

Under the law, lawyers and others familiar with divorce proceedings hope parents, through mediation, will work cooperatively to set up visiting schedules, holiday participation, school attendance and living arrangements that best meet their kids’ needs rather than their own.

Child support commission: Split custody, costs - New Hampshire

The Union Leader and New Hampshire Sunday News - 02-May-05 - Child support commission: Split custody, costs

Excerpts:

They're getting help from a legislative commission that wants to cut court-ordered child support to the bone, making each parent responsible for only half the actual cost of their children's "basic needs" — food, shelter, clothing and medical care — regardless of each parent's income.

The commission also wants judges to presume custody will be shared, and that if it is, no money will change hands.

Under state child support guidelines, most non-custodial parents pay a flat percentage of their income in child support to parents with primary custody — 25 percent for one child, 33 percent for two children, 40 percent for three and 45 percent for four — although judges can make exceptions for hardship or special circumstances.

That leads to unfair results in some cases and promotes litigation, David Amico told a state Senate committee last week.

"We need to remove this prize of child support. If it were more equitable and fair, there would be more incentive for the parents to work together in the best interests of the children," he said.

"We need to do a major overhaul to our system," Bickford said.

Paying for anything more than half of a child's basic needs should be optional for divorced parents, just as it is for married ones, he said. Otherwise, deciding what extras must be covered becomes a "slippery slope."

However, a minority on the commission, which issued its recommendations late last year, supported a so-called "standard of living adjustment" based on parents' incomes. The minority also said judges should start with no presumptions about custody except what's in the children's best interests.

Everyone on the panel agreed the child support formula can be disastrous for low-income parents and unfair to high-income ones. They also agreed the Legislature should devise child support guidelines for cases of shared physical custody.

House Bill 529 would require judges to start with a presumption of shared physical custody, but it has been shelved in favor of House Bill 640, which requires judges to make the best interests of the children paramount.

Both would change the term "custody" to "parental rights and responsibilities," require parents to come up with parenting plans addressing their children's needs and allow courts to order parents into mediation.