Breaking News: Updates in Child Support Laws

458-C:2, and 461-A:1 will become law starting January 1, 2025.

The law change, in and of itself, does not constitute a significant change in circumstances to warrant a modification in support. However, if you have approximately equal parenting time and are paying full guidelines support, and it has been 3 years since the support order, after January 1, 2025 would be a good time to file a modification.

Ever since In the Matter of Silva 171 N.H. 1 (N.H. 2018) many NH Family Court judges have issued draconian rulings on child support, mostly against men. Not long ago, a Judge admonished me for saying that if he ordered guidelines child support for my client it would be confiscatory, and make mom's gross income higher than dads. He scoffed at my concern. Now it looks like those kinds of nonsensical decisions will be nearly impossible. The following is an excerpt from the bill.

The law will change child support guidelines, specifically addressing the definitions related to child care costs and parenting schedules, and adjusting the self-support reserve. It adds a new definition for "eligible child care costs," which are costs incurred by a parent due to employment and paid to a child care provider. The bill also defines "parenting time" as the period a parent is physically responsible for their children and "parenting schedule" as the agreed-upon or court-ordered schedule detailing when each parent has parenting time. It further distinguishes between "approximately equal parenting schedule" (over 40% of the time for each parent) and "substantially shared parenting schedule" (over 35% of the time for each parent), as well as adding a definition for "substantially similar incomes" where the parents' gross monthly incomes differ by no more than 10%.

The bill increases the self-support reserve from 115% to 130% of the federal poverty guideline for a single person. It also revises the child support guidelines to account for special circumstances related to parenting schedules. For parents with substantially similar incomes and equal or shared parenting schedules, there is a presumption that a $0 child support obligation or a deviation from the guidelines is appropriate, respectively. However, this presumption can be rebutted if it is not in the best interest of the children. The bill also states that a child support order should not result in the obligee parent having a higher adjusted monthly income than the obligor parent, after taxes and social security/medicare expenses are considered. The bill repeals and reenacts the adjustment for special circumstances, taking into account various factors such as health issues, distance between residences, work schedules, or evidence of abuse. Lastly, it amends the definition of "parenting schedule" in the context of parental rights and responsibilities to align with the new definitions. The act is set to take effect on January 1, 2025.

Statutes affected: Introduced: 458-C:2, 461-A:1Version adopted by both bodies: 458-C:2, 461-A:1CHAPTERED FINAL VERSION: 458-C:2, 461-A:1