HOW DOES NEW HAMPSHIRE CIVIL UNION AFFECT CHILDREN?

The most important action to take concerning children is establishing legal parenthood.  Consult an attorney for assistance with coparent adoption.

If both parties to a New Hampshire Civil Union were parents before the civil union (through joint or second-parent adoption in New Hampshire or another state), both parties remain parents.

If one party to a civil union was not a parent before the civil union, the civil union will not change that.  The sure way to become a legal parent in this situation is for the non-legal parent to adopt the child.  The Civil Union Law will help New Hampshire couples secure adoptions because allows stepparent adoptions, and this should apply equally to civil union spouses.

Couples who already have children contemplating civil union should consult an attorney about adopting before joining in civil union.  Adoption judgments based solely on state adoption laws, as opposed to civil union law, are the least vulnerable to question in other states.

With or without a civil union, it is important for couples to pursue adoption decrees from a court.  An adoption decree is a legal judgment that should be recognized broadly outside of New Hampshire and had legal significance independent of the civil union.

If two people joined in a New Hampshire Civil Union later have a child, both parties may be legally presumed to be the legal parents of a child born to either of them.  In New Hampshire, a child bon into a marriage is presumed to be the child of both the wife and husband.  The same presumption should extend to a child born into a civil union.  However, adoption is still prudent in this situation because a “presumption of parentage” does not have the same conclusive effect as a court judgment like adoption.

Beyond these considerations, entering into a civil union will provide your children with every protection and benefit that the New Hampshire state government (but not the federal government) extends to enhance the security and safety of children’s lives.

© Robert R. Howard, 2005.  All rights reserved.   Site development by Patricia Bevans.

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