CHAPTER 248
HB 597 – FINAL VERSION
01/18/12 0133s
6June2012… 2412CofC
2012 SESSION
05/04
HOUSE BILL 597
AN ACT revising the child support guidelines based on an income shares model of calculating child support.
SPONSORS: Rep. Moran, Hills 18; Rep. Gile, Merr 10; Sen. Carson, Dist 14
COMMITTEE: Children and Family Law
This bill revises the child support guidelines and child support formula based on the parents’ net income level and the corresponding percentage of net income devoted to child support.
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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Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
01/18/12 0133s
6June2012… 2412CofC
11-0757
05/04
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Twelve
AN ACT revising the child support guidelines based on an income shares model of calculating child support.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
248:1 Statement of Intent. The general court finds that child support policy in New Hampshire is based on the principle that both parents should share responsibility for the economic support of their children. The general court further finds that the income shares model, which presumes that a child should receive the same proportion of parental income that the child would have received if the parents lived together, is a more appropriate model on which to base the state’s child support formula and guidelines. This legislation is intended to implement the recommendations of the 2009 New Hampshire Child Support Guidelines Review and Recommendations that the state child support guidelines and child support formula be revised to reflect recent estimates of expenditures on child-rearing and to produce results consistent with the income shares philosophy for calculating child support.
248:2 Child Support Guidelines; Purpose. Amend RSA 458-C:1, III to read as follows:
III. The percentage of net income paid for child support should vary according to the number of children and[, with limited exemptions, not] according to income level.
248:3 Child Support Guidelines; Calculation of Child Support. RSA 458-C:3, I is repealed and reenacted to read as follows:
I.(a) The child support guidelines shall be based on the following:
Percent of Combined Net Income Devoted to Child Support
Net income 1 Child 2 Children 3 Children 4 or more Children
$15,000 or less 25.6 percent 35.5 percent 42.5 percent 45 percent
$25,000 25 35 42 44.5
$35,000 24 33.5 40.5 43
$50,000 23 31.5 38 40.5
$60,000 22 30.5 36.5 39
$70,000 21.5 30 36 38.5
$80,000 21 29 35 37.5
$90,000 21 28.5 34.5 37
$100,000 20 27.5 33 35.5
$125,000 or more 19 26 31 33.5
(b) The department of health and human services shall calculate and publish a schedule of child support amounts using the table in subparagraph (a). The schedule shall provide child support amounts in $1,000 increments of combined net income, with a directly proportional change in the percentage of combined net income devoted to child support based on income level and number of children. The department shall determine the fractional percentage between each income level by interpolating between the percentages within each column of the table under subparagraph (a). Nothing in this paragraph shall preclude the department from publishing child support guidelines in increments of less than $1,000, based on the schedule and formula provided in this section.
248:4 Child Support Formula. Amend RSA 458-C:3, III to read as follows:
III. The number of children in the same household for which child support is paid is [the] a determining factor in the percentage applied against net income.
248:5 Applicability. RSA 458-C:3, I as amended by this act shall apply to any child support order issued on or after July 1, 2013. RSA 458-C:3, I as amended by this act shall not apply to a valid child support order in effect on the effective date of this act until the next scheduled review hearing under RSA 458-C:7 or as otherwise agreed by the parties. This act shall not constitute a substantial change in circumstances for purposes of RSA 458-C:7.
248:6 Effective Date. This act shall take effect July 1, 2013.
Approved: June 18, 2012
Effective Date: July 1, 2013