HB1474 (2010) Detail

(New Title) establishing a legislative committee to review the New Hampshire child support guidelines.


HB 1474 – AS AMENDED BY THE HOUSE

03Mar2010… 0655h

2010 SESSION

10-2268

05/03

HOUSE BILL 1474

AN ACT establishing a legislative committee to review the New Hampshire child support guidelines.

SPONSORS: Rep. Bickford, Straf 3

COMMITTEE: Children and Family Law

AMENDED ANALYSIS

This bill establishes a legislative committee to study the New Hampshire child support guidelines and child support models, including the income shares model and the Melson formula.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.

Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]

Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.

03Mar2010… 0655h

10-2268

05/03

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Ten

AN ACT establishing a legislative committee to review the New Hampshire child support guidelines.

Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:

1 Legislative Committee to Review the New Hampshire Child Support Guidelines.

I. There is hereby established a legislative committee to review the New Hampshire child support guidelines. The committee shall be composed of the following members:

(a) Two members of the house of representatives, children and family law committee, appointed by the speaker of the house of representatives.

(b) One member of the senate, appointed by the president of the senate.

II. Members of the committee shall receive mileage at the legislative rate when attending to the duties of the committee.

III. The committee shall review the current child support formula and evaluate the merits of both the income shares model and the Melson formula as potential theories upon which child support may be calculated. Specifically, the committee shall consider:

(a) The income shares model, which is based on the concept that the child should receive the same proportion of parental income that he or she would have received if the parents lived together.

(b) The Melson formula, developed by Delaware Family Court Judge Melson and more fully explained in Dalton v. Clanton, 559 A.2d 1197 (Del. 1989), which is designed to insure that each parent’s basic needs are met in addition to the children’s.

(c) The finding of the 2009 New Hampshire Child Support Guidelines Review and Recommendations, that the current New Hampshire guidelines should be revised to more accurately reflect recent estimates of child rearing expenditures, which show a lower fraction of total expenditures on children at higher income levels, and to produce results that are consistent with the income shares philosophy.

(d) The need to clarify and provide uniformity in the calculation of child support in cases of equal or nearly equal residential responsibility.

IV. The committee shall solicit information and testimony from those agencies and individuals that may be of assistance to the committee, including but not limited to the department of health and human services, the authors of the 2009 New Hampshire Child Support Guidelines Review and Recommendations, and members of the legal and judicial community with expertise in the child support guidelines.

V. On or before November 1, 2010, the committee shall report its findings and recommendations, including any proposed changes to the child support guidelines, to the speaker of the house of representatives, the senate president, the governor, and the state library.

2 Effective Date. This act shall take effect upon its passage.