Residency Requirements:
In order to file for divorce in New Hampshire, both spouses must have
been residents when filing, or the filing spouse must have been a
resident of New Hampshire for one year immediately before filing and
the other served process in the state, or the cause of divorce must
have arisen in New Hampshire and one spouse must be a resident in the
state when the petition is filed.
Legal Separation:
The grounds for legal separation are identical with the grounds
for divorce.
General Divorce Procedure:
There are no provisions for simplified divorce procedures.
Mediation or Counseling:
At any time during the divorce proceeding or before the divorce has
bee filed, the parties may agree to mediate their disputed issues at
any time. The parties may proceed in New Hampshire courts on an
uncontested basis if the parties are able to resolve all of the
disputed issues through mediation.
Where to file for divorce:
The petition is filed the county where either spouse resides.
Title of Divorce action:
Petition for Divorce.
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Grounds for New Hampshire Divorce:
No-fault:
Grounds for a no-fault divorce in New Hampshire are based on
irreconcilable differences that have caused the irremediable
breakdown of the marriage.
Fault-based:
Fault-based grounds include:
1) adultery;
2) impotence;
3) abandonment and no communication for two
years;
4) imprisonment and a sentence with more than
one year served;
5) cruel and inhuman treatment, habitual
drunkenness for two years;
6) living separate and apart without
cohabitation, physical abuse or reasonable fear of physical abuse,
desertion without support of spouse by husband for two years, mental
abuse, when either spouse has joined a religious society which
professes that the relationship of the husband and wife is unlawful
and refuses to cohabit with the other for six consecutive months,
when the wife of any citizen of New Hampshire leaves the state without
her husband’s consent and lives elsewhere for 10 consecutive years
without returning to claim her marriage rights, when the wife lives
in New Hampshire for two years and her husband becomes the citizen of
a foreign country without supporting the wife.
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