Section 458-A:2 Definitions. - New Hampshire Statutes

   In this chapter:
   I. ""Contestant'' means a person, including a parent, who claims a right to custody or visitation rights with respect to a child.
   II. ""Custody determination'' means a court decision and court orders and instructions providing for the temporary or permanent custody of a child, including the allocation of parental rights and responsibilities under RSA 461-A.
   III. ""Custody proceeding'' includes proceedings in which a custody determination is at issue or is one of several issues, including any action or proceeding brought to annul a marriage or to declare the nullity of a void marriage, or for a separation, or for a divorce, or for an allocation of parental rights and responsibilities, or relative to the guardianship of a minor, but not including proceedings for adoption, child protective proceedings or proceedings for permanent termination of parental custody, or proceedings involving the guardianship and custody of children found to be neglected or dependent pursuant to RSA 169-B, 169-C, or 169-D.
   IV. ""Decree'' or ""custody decree'' means a custody determination contained in a judicial decree or order made in a custody proceeding, and includes an initial decree and a modification decree.
   V. ""Home state'' means the state in which the child at the time of the commencement of the custody proceeding has resided with his parents, a parent, or a person acting as parent, for at least 6 consecutive months. In the case of a child less than 6 months old at the time of the commencement of the proceeding, ""home state'' means the state in which the child has resided with any of such persons for a majority of the time since birth.
   VI. ""Initial decree'' means the first custody decree concerning a particular child.
   VII. ""Modification decree'' means a custody decree which modifies or replaces a prior decree, whether made by the court which rendered the prior decree or by another court.
   VIII. ""Physical custody'' means actual possession and control of a child.
   IX. ""Person acting as parent'' means a person, other than a parent, who has physical custody of a child and who has either been awarded custody by a court or claims a right to custody.
   X. ""State'' means any state, territory or possession of the United States, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia.

Source. 1979, 345:1. 1999, 217:1, eff. Jan. 1, 2000. 2005, 273:7, eff. Oct. 1, 2005.