The rest of what we have written about New Hampshire. Every figure is quoted from New Hampshire’s own statute or its courts’ own published schedule, and carries the date we last checked it.
Guardians ad litem and child representation in New Hampshire: who they are, what they owe your child, and who pays
If custody is contested in New Hampshire, the court can appoint someone to look into your family and report to the judge. This page is what New Hampshire’s own statutes and court rules say about who that person is, what duty they owe, and — the part almost nobody asks in time — who pays for them.
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Everything below is traced to New Hampshire’s own statute or court rule, quoted where the wording matters. Where we could not verify something from a primary source, the page says so in plain terms rather than filling the space. This is information, not legal advice. Corrections go up at thecusp.app/corrections.
The short version8 points · tap one to jump to it
- What the role is called here — A guardian ad litem generally argues for what they judge is best for your child and is not your child’s lawyer.
- How an appointment happens
- What duty they owe your child
- Who can be appointed — RSA 461-A:16 does not state whether the guardian ad litem must be an attorney; no cross-referenced qualification statute could be located with the tools available.
- Who pays — We looked for an official New Hampshire fee schedule for privately appointed guardians ad litem and custody evaluators, and did not find one.
- Custody evaluations — New Hampshire governs court-ordered custody evaluations and investigations separately from the appointment of a guardian ad litem.
- The thing worth knowing about New Hampshire
- What we could not verify
In this subject 10
What the role is called here
The short version8 points · tap one to jump to it
- What the role is called here — A guardian ad litem generally argues for what they judge is best for your child and is not your child’s lawyer.
- How an appointment happens
- What duty they owe your child
- Who can be appointed — RSA 461-A:16 does not state whether the guardian ad litem must be an attorney; no cross-referenced qualification statute could be located with the tools available.
- Who pays — We looked for an official New Hampshire fee schedule for privately appointed guardians ad litem and custody evaluators, and did not find one.
- Custody evaluations — New Hampshire governs court-ordered custody evaluations and investigations separately from the appointment of a guardian ad litem.
- The thing worth knowing about New Hampshire
- What we could not verify
In this subject 10
Names matter more than they look. A guardian ad litem generally argues for what they judge is best for your child and is not your child’s lawyer. An attorney for the child argues for what your child actually wants. Those are opposite duties. The four roles, explained in full.
How an appointment happens
In contested proceedings under RSA 461-A, the court may appoint a guardian ad litem for a minor child when the court has reason for special concern regarding the welfare of the child.
Source: N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 461-A:16 · source
What duty they owe your child
best interests
The role of the guardian ad litem shall be to gather information to assist the court in determining the best interests of the child.
Source: N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 461-A:16 · source
Who can be appointed
RSA 461-A:16 does not state whether the guardian ad litem must be an attorney; no cross-referenced qualification statute could be located with the tools available.
Who pays
When a guardian ad litem is appointed pursuant to this section, the court shall establish a maximum fee for the appointment…When appointing a guardian ad litem to be paid directly by the parties, the hourly rate and maximum fee…shall be established by written agreement between the guardian ad litem and the parties.
Source: N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 461-A:16, IV · source
RSA 461-A:16, IV(a) allows a GAL to be paid from a state fund, with a court-set hourly rate/maximum fee not exceeding the abuse-and-neglect rate, but provides: ‘No funding from a state fund for guardian ad litem fees shall be available to a party whose income is 200 percent or more of the federal poverty level.’
We looked for an official New Hampshire fee schedule for privately appointed guardians ad litem and custody evaluators, and did not find one. That is true of most states — only a handful publish figures at all, among them Arkansas, Massachusetts and Minnesota, and those are subsidized program rates rather than market ones.
The numbers circulating online come from law-firm marketing pages. We will not repeat those as though they were sourced. Call your county family court clerk and ask what appointees there actually charge. It is local, current, and free.
Custody evaluations
New Hampshire governs court-ordered custody evaluations and investigations separately from the appointment of a guardian ad litem. An evaluator is a witness, not an advocate — and their recommendation is a recommendation, not a ruling a judge is bound by.
Source: N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 461-A:16 (the GAL’s own investigation and report function; no separate custody-evaluation statute was found) · source
Before an evaluation begins, it is worth asking which psychological instruments will be used. The peer-reviewed literature is openly critical of several still in circulation — one has interrater reliability reported as ranging from 50% to 100%. The evidence, in full.
The thing worth knowing about New Hampshire
New Hampshire runs two explicit GAL fee tracks side by side in the same statute: a state-fund track capped at income under 200% of the federal poverty level, and a privately-paid track where the hourly rate ‘shall be not more than twice the rate for state fund cases and shall not exceed 23 hours, unless the parties agree otherwise’ (RSA 461-A:16, IV(b)) — meaning privately retained GALs can lawfully bill up to double the state rate.
What we could not verify
For New Hampshire we could not confirm the following from a primary source, and we would rather say so than guess:
- whether the appointee must be a lawyer
If you practice in New Hampshire and can point us at the right provision, tell us. Corrections are published with the date, what changed, and how long the error was live.
Other states
Related
- Guardians ad litem, child’s attorneys and custody evaluators — the four roles, the science, and what to ask
- New Hampshire child custody — how custody is decided here
- Getting your finances in order — including who pays the lawyers
- Co-parenting — after the order is made