New Hampshire Divorce Steps

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A marriage is an institution that is said to be a union of two people. It is based on the values like commitment and support of the partner. But, some marriages do not work in the way they are expected to. There are many reasons for the stage in marriage where spouses want to end their union permanently. Such termination of marriage is known as divorce in legal terms.

As divorce is a legal process, there are various requirements that are needed to be taken care of during the divorce. The first important requirement is of mandatory residence in the particular state where a divorce case is filed. In the state of New Hampshire, such requirement is of one year minimum. New Hampshire family law requires both parties to be residents of the state before starting a procedure for divorce. Some other essentials are explained as below.

For initialization of a divorce process, the following documents are needed:

• Personal Data Sheet: This comprises of data regarding both the divorcing partners and their children
• Petition for Divorce: The Petitioner requests the court to award a divorce and solve topics like parental rights and responsibilities, support, debts, assets, etc

For finalization of the divorce, the following documents are required.

If the divorcing couple has children, the below mentioned three documents are essential:

• Certificate of Attendance for Parenting Class: This document specifies that the divorcing couple has remained present at the parenting class. These classes are taken as an assistance to parents to cope up with the divorce and changed situations
• Uniform Support Order: This document decides who has the responsibility of child support, spousal support as well as health care expenses like heath insurance
• Parenting Plan: This document outlines the parenting schedules and allocates residential responsibility and decision making to both divorcing partners. It also specifies the terms of child visitation

The following three documents are compulsory for all divorcing couples:

• Certificate of Divorce: This is a Federal Form that requests information about the divorcing couple for statistical reasons
• Financial Affidavit: This is a sworn document. The divorcing partners identify and allocate values to their expenses, income, liabilities and assets
• Decree of Divorce: This document grants the divorce and mentions the terms for the following:
  • Assignment of parental rights and responsibilities
  • Determination of child and spousal support
  • Division of assets and liabilities

New Hampshire Divorce Steps regarding Libel

• The first step in a divorce in this state is that the Plaintiff files a Libel for Divorce

• While filing the Libel, it should contain the following information:
  • Names and addresses of both parties
  • Whether the parties have any minor children?
  • The jurisdiction of the court to award the divorce
  • The assets and debts of the divorcing partners
  • The grounds on which the divorce is being requested
  • The specific relief that is being requested by the Plaintiff. This may be regarding issues like property, visitation, custody, child support, alimony, etc. It may be temporary or permanent

• The Plaintiff must file the Libel in the Superior Court of the county wherein either divorcing partner resides

• The Plaintiff must disburse the filing fee (In July 2004, this fee was 101 USD)

• The court dispatches the Libel to the lawyer of the Plaintiff with an intention that the lawyer would serve it to the Defendant

• If the Plaintiff has requested for temporary relief in the Libel, the court schedules a temporary hearing

• After the Defendant is served with the Libel, the Defendant must perform the following two actions:
  • The Defendant must consult with a lawyer regarding this document
  • The Defendant must carefully read the document:
    • It might contain the date of temporary hearing
    • It certainly contains the date before which the Defendant is expected to file an Answer. The Defendant might refuse or agree with the allegations in the Libel

After these initial steps, the divorce case is registered in the court for trails and hearing. Depending on the type of divorce, the number of trails and hearing may vary. If the partners submit a mutual agreement in the court concerning to the terms of divorce, the judge approves such document after analyzing it. And divorce is granted without actual contest in the court. But, if partners choose to be dependent on the court decision for issues related to divorce, such case may take a long time to arrive on a satisfactory conclusion.

This is the way in which New Hampshire divorce steps can be elaborated. Before taking a divorce, one must study these procedures in detail to avoid any serious mistakes.

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