IN PLAIN ENGLISH
How custody works in New Hampshire
New Hampshire courts decide parental rights and responsibilities, not custody. [NH-P1] Instead of naming a primary parent, every parenting plan must include a detailed schedule of when your child is with each parent, and the law says the plan should not label either parent as having "custody" or as the "primary residential parent." [NH-P2]
Since January 1, 2025, it has been state policy to encourage approximately equal parenting time with both parents if that is in your child's best interest, unless it is shown that it is not. [NH-P3] If the judge decides roughly equal time is not best for your child, the judge must write down the reasons. [NH-P4] Separately, the law presumes that joint decision-making (both parents sharing the big decisions) is best, and a judge who refuses it when the parents agree or a parent asks for it must explain why; abuse changes that. [NH-P5] None of these rules sets particular days of the week. [NH-P2, NH-P6]
There is no statewide standard schedule. [NH-P6] Parents are expected to write their own parenting plan, and if they cannot, the court makes one. [NH-P2, NH-P3] The state court's Parenting Plan form walks you through the weekly schedule, holidays, vacations, exchanges and decision-making. [NH-P6] Parents in a divorce or parenting case must take a four-hour Child Impact Program, and mediation is available to help settle the plan. [NH-P7, NH-P8, NH-P9]
Words you’ll see in your papers
- Parental rights and responsibilities
- All the rights and duties parents have about their child. It is New Hampshire's replacement for the word custody. [NH-P1]
- Decision-making responsibility
- Who makes decisions for your child, on all issues or on specific ones like school or health care. It can be joint or given to one parent. [NH-P1, NH-P5]
- Residential responsibility
- A parent's responsibility to provide a home for the child, meaning the time your child lives with that parent. [NH-P1]
- Parenting schedule
- The days of the week and hours of the day when each parent has your child, agreed by the parents or ordered by the court. [NH-P1]
COMMON QUESTIONS
What parents in New Hampshire ask first
Does New Hampshire start from 50/50?
It comes close. [NH-P3, NH-P4] The law encourages approximately equal parenting time when it is in your child's best interest, and a judge who orders something else must explain why in writing. [NH-P3, NH-P4] It is not a guarantee of an exact 50/50 split, and the actual days are set in your own parenting plan. [NH-P2, NH-P6]
What does the judge look at?
Your child's best interests. [NH-P4] The law lists your child's relationship with each parent; each parent's ability to provide love, guidance, food, clothing, shelter, medical care and a safe home; your child's developmental needs; how your child is doing at school and in the community; whether each parent supports the child's relationship and contact with the other parent; how well the parents communicate and make decisions together; any abuse and its effect on the child; a parent's incarceration; and the state's equal-time policy. [NH-P4] The judge cannot favor a parent because of the child's sex, a parent's sex or a parent's money. [NH-P4]
Does my child get to choose?
No age gives your child the final say. [NH-P4] If the judge finds by clear and convincing evidence (a high level of proof) that your child is mature enough to make a sound judgment, the judge may give your child's preference substantial weight, and also looks at whether someone influenced it. [NH-P4]
Can I move away with my child?
Once a divorce or parenting case is filed, a parent may not move a child's residence without a court order, unless the move is needed to protect the parent's or child's safety. [NH-P11] This applies to a home where the child lives at least 150 days a year, but not to a move closer to the other parent or within the child's current school district. [NH-P11] You must give the other parent reasonable notice first, and 60 days is presumed reasonable. [NH-P11] The parent who wants to move must show a legitimate reason and that the new place is reasonable for that reason; then the other parent must show the move is not in the child's best interest. [NH-P11]
Can the order be changed later?
Yes, but the law lists when. [NH-P12] Examples include: both parents agree; a parent keeps interfering with the other parent's time; your child's current home is harming your child; parents with roughly equal time find the plan is not working; a mature child's preference; a small change to the time; a parent moving closer or farther away; a big change in a work schedule the plan was built around; or, at least 5 years after the last order, a schedule that was based on the child's young age. [NH-P12] The parent asking for the change has to prove it. [NH-P12]
We were never married. What happens first?
Unmarried parents file a parenting petition with the Family Division of the Circuit Court; if you both agree to start the case, you can file a joint petition and avoid the cost of formal service. [NH-P8, NH-P10] Legal fatherhood (paternity) may need to be established first or during the case. [NH-P10] After filing, you go to a First Appearance, where a judge or master explains the process, the Child Impact Program, parenting plans and mediation. [NH-P8]
What if I am not safe?
A domestic violence protective order can give you temporary custody of your children and set visitation with safety conditions, including supervised visits or no visits. [NH-P13] The court cannot order mediation in domestic violence cases under that law. [NH-P13] In a parenting case, abuse is a best-interest factor and evidence against joint decision-making; if the judge still orders joint decision-making despite abuse, the judge must explain why in writing. [NH-P4, NH-P5] A parent who acts lawfully and in good faith to protect a child from suspected abuse by the other parent cannot lose parenting time just for doing so. [NH-P4]
Free, official places to start
- NH Judicial Branch: How to File a Parenting Petition
The court's step-by-step list of forms to start and finish a parenting case, including the Parenting Plan.
- NH Judicial Branch: Parenting Plan form (NHJB-2064-F)
The statewide form where you write your schedule, holidays, vacations, exchanges and decision-making.
- NH Judicial Branch: Divorce/Parenting Mediation
How court mediation works, what it costs, what to bring and when it is not appropriate.
- WomensLaw.org: New Hampshire Custody
A nonprofit's plain-language walkthrough of New Hampshire parenting cases, with extra help for survivors of abuse.
THE DETAILED GUIDE · WHAT KIND OF SCHEDULE THE LAW PROVIDES
No fixed statewide schedule identified
Research overview
No fixed statewide possession calendar identified in the reviewed sources. There is a current approximately-equal-time policy and findings requirement, plus a separate joint decision-making presumption; none selects weekdays or holidays. [NH1a][NH4]
Legal force and applicability
Case-specific calendar; no fixed statewide calendar identified in reviewed sources. Any custody/allocation presumption is separate.
Authority and geographic scope
Statewide law; case-specific court order controls
Custody and parenting-time presumptions
RSA 461-A:2 encourages approximately equal parenting time when in the child’s best interests. RSA 461-A:6(I-a) requires findings when the court concludes approximate equality is not best. RSA 461-A:5 separately creates a joint decision-making presumption upon agreement or either parent’s application, subject to its abuse provisions and judicial discretion. These rules do not select a weekly or holiday calendar. [NH1a][NH4]
Schedule & conditions
Read these topics together with your actual order. A model, form, or presumption does not automatically supply an enforceable calendar.
Regular school-year schedule
NHJB-2064-F leaves routine residence periods for parties/court to specify. Statutory approximate equality does not dictate alternating weeks, 2-2-3, exchange day or start time. [NH1a][NH3]
Holidays and school breaks
Form offers no special holiday schedule, agreement as needed, or individualized checked holidays/birthdays with written terms. Its Thanksgiving example illustrates drafting; it is not a statewide default. [NH3]
Summer and vacation time
School and summer vacation choices are customizable; no fixed mandatory summer allotment found. [NH3]
Age and development
Developmental needs are factors. A sufficiently mature child’s preference can receive substantial weight on the statutory clear-and-convincing maturity finding. No fixed statewide infant or age 14 schedule identified in the reviewed sources. [NH1a]
Distance, travel, and relocation
No mileage-triggered schedule is prescribed in the reviewed chapter/form. RSA 461-A:12 applies after filing to relocation of a residence where the child lives at least 150 days a year; it does not apply to a move closer to the other parent or within the current school district. Where it applies, a court order is generally required, subject to the safety exception; 60 days’ notice is presumptively reasonable, with statutory shorter-notice/party-agreement qualifications. Relocation can prompt a case-specific schedule change. [NH1a][NH3]
Safety & exceptions
Abuse/harm, child’s safety and other best-interest factors affect residence and contact. Statute permits prohibiting contact after specified sexual-assault/abuse findings and protects lawful good-faith child-protection actions. [NH1a] Effective September 13 2026, RSA 461-A:6(I-b) bars treating a parent's specified conduct raising a child consistent with biological sex, including the listed terminology and medical/mental-health decisions, as an adverse best-interest factor; the provision preserves consideration of other legally relevant factors. This describes the posted statute, without a constitutional-validity or later-case-law opinion. [NH1a]