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New Hampshire Family Court: Custody and Parenting-Time Guide

Plain-language New Hampshire information for a custody or parenting-time route, including filing, official forms, free help, fee waivers, and legal-cost context.

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This page provides general legal information, not legal advice. State law, court rules, forms, and local procedures can change. Confirm current requirements with the court handling the case.

State laws, court rules, and forms can change. Automated link checks will run every week once the monitoring job is deployed. Please check each cited source before relying on it. Report a broken link or changed law.

Find the right family court

The custody or parenting-time route described in this guide is handled through the New Hampshire Circuit Court Family Division. Other family-law matters can follow a different court or procedure.

Find the court for your area.

  • New Hampshire's parental-rights statute refers to proceedings in the circuit court and applies to parents living apart.Sources:New Hampshire RSA 461-A:3

How New Hampshire courts decide custody

New Hampshire law directs the court to determine parental rights and responsibilities according to the child's best interests and identifies statutory best-interest factors.Sources:New Hampshire RSA 461-A:6

  • The statute requires consideration of the child's relationship with parents, adjustment to home and community, the parents' ability to provide guidance and nurture, and abuse, neglect, or domestic-violence evidence as applicable.Sources:New Hampshire RSA 461-A:6

Key legal sources

Parenting time

In a parenting-time proceeding, parents must develop and file a parenting plan for the decree unless the court develops one, with the child's best interests and party safety guiding the plan.Sources:New Hampshire RSA 461-A:4

  • The statute requires a detailed parenting schedule and describes plan subjects including decision-making, residential responsibility, exchanges, dispute resolution, and safety.Sources:New Hampshire RSA 461-A:4

Key legal sources

How to file

This limited draft concerns an original parental-rights-and-responsibilities petition by a parent living apart from the other parent in New Hampshire Circuit Court, excluding divorce, legal separation, modification, enforcement, emergency or protection-order, adoption, guardianship, third-party, interstate, tribal, and unresolved-parentage matters.Sources:New Hampshire RSA 461-A:3

  1. Confirm the Family Division location and current packet

    The official court-hosted materials show a Parenting Petition (NHJB-2061-F) and Parenting Plan (NHJB-2064-F); the statute requires a parenting plan. This verifier did not obtain an official route-complete checklist, service directions, or support-form inventory, so confirm remaining forms and local requirements with the handling Family Division.Sources:New Hampshire RSA 461-A:3, New Hampshire RSA 461-A:4, Parenting Petition (NHJB-2061-F), Parenting Plan (NHJB-2064-F)

Official forms

Open the official forms portal.

Free court self-help

Find court self-help near you.

  • 603 Legal Aid

    Provides New Hampshire civil-legal information, advice, representation, and referral resources for people who qualify; availability depends on the program and resources.Sources:603 Legal Aid

  • 603 Legal Aid

    Area served: New Hampshire.

    Provides free civil legal advice and information, representation, and referral resources for qualifying New Hampshire residents.Sources:603 Legal Aid

    Eligibility: Eligibility and availability depend on the program, income, assets, issue, and capacity.

  • New Hampshire Legal Assistance

    Area served: New Hampshire.

    Serves New Hampshire from five offices and directs people seeking legal help to apply through 603 Legal Aid.Sources:Contact NHLA

    Eligibility: Confirm current program eligibility and availability through the provider or 603 Legal Aid intake.

Fee waivers

New Hampshire law permits a person, because of poverty, to request relief from court, clerk, or sheriff fees by an application filed without a fee; the court may waive fees in its discretion.Sources:New Hampshire RSA 499:18-b

Who may qualify

  • The statute does not provide a statewide income threshold in this researcher record; confirm the handling court's current application and requirements.Sources:New Hampshire RSA 499:18-b

What to do

  1. Ask the handling court for current fee-waiver forms

    The statute permits an application, but this researcher record did not obtain a current official Family Division fee-waiver form or instructions for the selected route.Sources:New Hampshire RSA 499:18-b

Key statute or rule

Attorney cost benchmark

Lawyer fees vary by county, experience, services, and the facts of a case. This state benchmark is context for planning, not a quote.

State and local details to confirm

  • The parental-rights statute limits jurisdiction where another state has jurisdiction under the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act, so interstate matters are excluded from this draft.Sources:New Hampshire RSA 461-A:3

Part of Family Law in Your State.