New Hampshire HB 1762: relative to the calculation of child support.

Bill Text

HB 1762-FN - AS INTRODUCED

2026 SESSION

 26-3134

 05/08

HOUSE BILL 1762-FN

AN ACT relative to the calculation of child support.

SPONSORS: Rep. Sabourin dit Choiniere, Rock. 30; Rep. Bernardy, Rock. 36; Rep. Comtois, Belk. 7; Rep. DeRoy, Straf. 3; Rep. Perez, Rock. 16; Rep. Sirois, Hills. 32

COMMITTEE: Children and Family Law

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ANALYSIS

 This bill revises the definition of adjusted gross income, the calculation of parenting time, the self-support reserve amount, and the calculation of child support under the child support guidelines.

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 Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.

 26-3134

 05/08

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Twenty-Six

AN ACT relative to the calculation of child support.

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

 1 Child Support; Definition of Adjusted Gross Income. RSA 458-C:2, I is repealed and reenacted to read as follows: 

 I.(a) “Adjusted gross income” means gross income, less: 

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

 (2) Fifty percent of actual self-employed tax paid. 

 (3) Mandatory, not discretionary, retirement contributions. 

 (4) Actual state income tax paid. 

 (5) 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. 

 (b) If the adjusted gross income is a negative number, a value of zero shall be presumed.

 2 Child Support Guidelines; Definition of Parenting Time and Parenting Time Factor. RSA 458-C:2, VIII-b is repealed and reenacted to read as follows: 

 VIII-b.(a) “Parenting time” means the number of days or overnights, or portions thereof, that the child or children are in the care, custody and control of a parent as defined in the parenting schedule pursuant to RSA 461-A:4 or otherwise specified by the court, such that the combined number of days or overnights for both parents totals to 365. 

 (b) “Parenting time factor” (PTF) is the fraction of full residency costs incurred by a parent with parenting time, and is calculated to 3 decimal places of accuracy as 1.5 multiplied by the fraction of 365 days of parenting time by that parent with a maximum allowed value of 1.000. For example, for parenting time of 260 overnights, the parenting time fraction is 260/365=0.712. The PTF is 1.5 multiplied by 0.712 which equals 1.068 which exceeds one and is therefore capped at 1.000. 

 3 Child Support Formula. RSA 458-C:3, II is repealed and reenacted to read as follows: 

 II.(a) The total support obligation shall be determined by multiplying the parents’ total net income, as defined in RSA 458-C:2, VI, by the appropriate percentage derived from this section and the parenting time factor. 

 (b) The total child support obligation shall be divided between the parents in proportion to their respective incomes as adjusted by this section, except when there are incurred by the obligee child care expenses or for the actual amount paid as the medical support obligation, for the minor children to whom the child support order applies. 

 (c) For those cases involving allowable child care expenses or medical support obligation expenses incurred by the obligee, the same methodology described in subparagraphs (a) and (b) shall be used, except that as part of the determination of each parent’s share o the child support obligation, the obligee’s allowable child care expenses or medical support obligation expenses shall be deducted from the adjusted gross income of the obligee. 

 (d) Child costs for each parent are composed of: 

 (1) Total support obligation. 

 (2) Allowable childcare expenses. 

 (3) Medical support obligation for children. 

 (e) The parental support obligation for each parent shall be determined by multiplying the fraction of total adjusted gross income for that parent by the combined child costs for both parents and subtracting child costs for that parent. The parent with the positive value is the obligor; the parent with the corresponding negative value is the obligee such that the sum of both obligations shall always be zero. 

 (f) All child support obligations calculated pursuant to this chapter shall be rounded to the nearest whole dollar. 

 4 Self Support Reserve. RSA 458-C:3, IV is repealed and reenacted to read as follows: 

 IV. Self-support reserve and minimum child support obligation. 

 (a) If the obligor parent’s adjusted gross inco