New Hampshire is not immune to the wave of foreclosures that is sweeping the country. As such, New Hampshire courts have had to deal with how a foreclosing entity can prove it is the actual owner of the property. In Wells Fargo Bank v. Schultz, the defendant, Scott Schultz obtained a mortgage to purchase a home in East Hampstead. After…
Being discriminated against in the work place does not give the employee the right to secretly audiotape her co-worker in order to get evidence of the discriminatory misconduct. On February 19, 2013, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in the case of Jewanta Desardouin v. City of Rochester, Vincent McIntyre addressed the issue of when an…
Under New Hampshire law, an order to pay child support is set forth in a document called a Uniform Support Order. The Uniform Support Order (“USO”) will state how much child support the obligor parent must pay, whether the support must be paid to the recipient parent or the State of New Hampshire, and most importantly when the child support…
In 2004, the New Hampshire Legislature passed a statute which barred a divorce court from making a new order obligating a divorced parent to pay for a child’s college expenses. Numerous cases heard by the Supreme Court have held that the statute is not retroactive. In other words, decrees prior to the date of the statute’s passage in February of…
Being without health insurance can leave people in very difficult financial situations. To address this issue, the New Hampshire legislature adopted a statute which requires all hospitals to bill self-pay patients an amount no greater than the amount generally billed and received by the hospitals for services rendered to patients covered by health insurance. This provides a measure of relief…
The New Hampshire Senate is considering a bill, SB 138, which would allow assisted living and nursing home facilities in the state to force family members of the nursing home resident receiving care to pay for the costs of the nursing home or assisted living facility. The bill applies to any father, mother, stepfather, stepmother, son, daughter, husband or wife…
When parties are divorced, the trial court must equitably divide the marital property. Property is broadly defined as all tangible and intangible assets, real or personal, belonging to either or both of the parties regardless of whether title to the property is held in an individual’s name of jointly. A question has existed as to whether a lump sum personal…
A guardianship proceeding is a probate court action in which one person, known as the guardian, is appointed to care for another person called the “ward.” A ward can be an adult or a child. The guardianship can be for the ward’s “person,” which enables the guardian to make such things as medical decisions, and/or for the ward’s “estate” which…
Social Security Statements are often valuable evidence in divorce cases. While these are no longer mailed to individuals on an annual basis, they are still available online. If you do not already have an online account with Social Security, it is very easy to set one up. Simply go to http://www.ssa.gov/myaccount/ and follow the steps at the bottom of the…
In a Final Divorce Decree, a family court may order the parties split a marital debt. For example, a family court may order that each party pay 50% of a joint tax debt. Such an order does not, however, prevent one party from seeking to discharge their obligations in bankruptcy. In the case of Mason and Mason, the wife attempted…