The purpose of New Hampshire's child support guidelines is to establish a uniform system for family courts to use when determining how much child support should be ordered. The child support guidelines are applied in all child support cases, including temporary orders, and in any order modifying a support order.

New Hampshire's child support guidelines require the non-custodial parent (the parent who doesn't live with the child) to make monthly child support payments to the custodial parent (the parent who lives with the child). These support guidelines are enacted to comply with the federal law that requires:

• Both parents to share responsibility for the economic support of their children
• Children in the non-custodial parent's initial family to be entitled to a standard of living equal to that of the parent's subsequent families, and
• The percentage of net income paid for child support to vary according to the number of children and according to income level

There is a rebuttable presumption that the amount of a child support award calculated using the guidelines is the correct amount of child support. However, if the court finds that applying the guidelines would be unjust or inappropriate in a specific case, then the court will deviate from the guidelines. Situations where the court will deviate from the child support guidelines includes, but isn't limited to, the following:

• Ongoing extraordinary medical expenses incurred on behalf of the children involved
• Significantly high or low income of either parent
• The economic consequences of stepparents or step-children
• Reasonable expenses incurred by the non-custodial parent in exercising their parental rights
• The economic consequences of the disposition of a marital home made for the benefit of the child
• The opportunity to maximize both parents' after-tax income by taking into account the federal tax consequences of an order of support
• State tax obligations
• Parenting schedules
• The economic consequences of either parent paying for the postsecondary educational expenses of a child, and
• Other special circumstances found by the court to avoid an unreasonably low support order

Additional Resources

• New Hampshire – Online Child Support Calculator
• What Does Child Support Cover?
• Divorce Overview
• Enforcement and Collection of Back Child Support

State laws change frequently. For case specific information regarding New Hampshire's child support guidelines contact a local family law attorney.