N.H. Rev. Stat. § 458-C:2

Current through the 2024 Legislative Session

Section 458-C:2 - [Effective 1/1/2025] Definitions

In this chapter:

I. "Adjusted gross income" means gross income, less:

(a) Court-ordered or administratively ordered support actually paid to others, for adults or children.

(b) Fifty percent of actual self-employment tax paid.

(c) Mandatory, not discretionary, retirement contributions.

(d) Actual state income taxes paid.

(e) Amounts actually paid by the obligor for allowable child care expenses or the medical support obligation for the minor children to whom the child support order applies.

I-a. "Allowable child care expenses" means actual work-related child care expenses for the children to whom the order applies and includes necessary work-related education and training costs.

II. "Child support obligation" means the proportion of total support obligation which the obligor parent is ordered to pay in money to the obligee parent as child support.

III. "Court" means issuing authority, including the office of fair hearings, department of health and human services, having jurisdiction to issue a child support order.

III-a. "Eligible child care costs" are the costs for child care incurred by either parent, necessitated by the parent's employment, paid to a child care provider.

IV. "Gross income" means all income from any source, whether earned or unearned, including, but not limited to, wages, salary, commissions, tips, annuities, social security benefits, trust income, lottery or gambling winnings, interest, dividends, investment income, net rental income, self-employment income, alimony, business profits, pensions, bonuses, and payments from other government programs (except public assistance programs, including aid to families with dependent children, aid to the permanently and totally disabled, supplemental security income, food stamps, and general assistance received from a county or town), including, but not limited to, workers' compensation, veterans' benefits, unemployment benefits, and disability benefits; provided, however, that no income earned at an hourly rate for hours worked, on an occasional or seasonal basis, in excess of 40 hours in any week shall be considered as income for the purpose of determining gross income; and provided further that such hourly rate income is earned for actual overtime labor performed by an employee who earns wages at an hourly rate in a trade or industry which traditionally or commonly pays overtime wages, thus excluding professionals, business owners, business partners, self-employed individuals and others who may exercise sufficient control over their income so as to recharacterize payment to themselves to include overtime wages in addition to a salary. In addition, the following shall apply:

(a) The court, in its discretion, may consider as gross income the difference between the amount a parent is earning and the amount a parent has earned in cases where the parent voluntarily becomes unemployed or underemployed, unless the parent is physically or mentally incapacitated; provided that in no case shall incarceration be considered voluntary unemployment.

(b) The income of either parent's current spouse shall not be considered as gross income to the parent unless the parent resigns from or refuses employment or is voluntarily unemployed or underemployed, in which case the income of the spouse shall be imputed to the parent to the extent that the parent had earned income in his or her usual employment.

(c) The court, in its discretion, may order that child support based on one-time or irregular income be paid when the income is received, rather than be included in the weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly child support calculation. Such support shall be based on the applicable percentage of net income.

IV-a. "Medical support obligation" means the obligation of either or both parents to provide health care coverage for a dependent child, whether in the form of private health insurance or public health care, and/or to pay a monetary sum toward the cost of health care coverage provided by a public entity, parent, or other person.

V. "Minimum support order" means an order of support equal to $50 per month, unless the court determines that a lesser amount is appropriate under the particular circumstances of the case.

VI. "Net income" means the parents' combined adjusted gross income less standard deductions published on an annual basis by the department of health and human services and based on federal Internal Revenue Service withholding table amounts for federal income tax, F.I.C.A., and Medicare, which an employer withholds from the monthly income of a single person who has claimed a withholding allowance for 2 people.

(a) Federal income tax;

(b) F.I.C.A.

VI-a. "Reasonable medical support obligation" means the amount established under RSA 458-C:3, V.

VII. "Obligor" means the parent responsible for the payment of child support under the terms of a child support order.

VIII. "Obligee" means the parent or person who receives the payment of child support under the terms of the child support order.

VIII-a. "Parental support obligation" means the proportional amount of the total support obligation allocated to each parent under RSA 458-C:3, II(b) and (c).

VIII-b. "Parenting time" is a period of time when a parent has physical responsibility for their children.

VIII-c. "Parenting schedule" is a schedule agreed-to by the parents, or ordered by the court, which specifies the days of the week and hours of the day when each parent has parenting time with their children.

(a) An "approximately equal parenting schedule" is a parenting schedule where each parent has parenting time for greater than 40 percent of the annual parenting schedule.

(b) A "substantially shared parenting schedule" is a parenting schedule where each parent has parenting time for greater than 35 percent of the annual parenting schedule.

IX. "Percentage" means the numerical figure that is applied to net income to determine the amount of child support.

X. "Self-support reserve" means 130 percent of the federal poverty guideline for a single person living alone, as determined annually by the United States Department of Health and Human Services.

X-a. "Substantially similar incomes" are cases where the difference between the gross monthly incomes of the parents is not greater than 10 percent.

XI. "Total support obligation" means net income multiplied by the appropriate percentage derived from RSA 458-C:3.

RSA 458-C:2

Amended by 2024, 140:1, eff. 1/1/2025.

Amended by 2024, 140:4, eff. 1/1/2025.

Amended by 2024, 140:3, eff. 1/1/2025.

Amended by 2024, 140:2, eff. 1/1/2025.

Amended by 2024, 73:1, eff. 1/1/2025.

Amended by 2019 , 287: 12, eff. 7/19/2019.

Amended by 2013 , 81: §§1, 2eff. 6/19/2013.

1988, 253:1. 1989, 406:1. 1990, 224:1, 2, 5. 1995, 310:181. 1998, 242:1-3. 2004, 77 : 1 . 2006, 189 : 1 . 2007, 227 : 3 to 5. 2008, 245 : 1 . 2010, 26 : 1 ; 71:1; 166:4. 2013, 81 : 1 , 2, eff. June 19, 2013. 2019, 287 : 12 , eff. July 19, 2019.

This section is set out more than once due to postponed, multiple, or conflicting amendments.