RSA 170-B:6 · Notice to Person Claiming Paternity and Hearing to Determine Right to Surrender

170-B:6 Notice to Person Claiming Paternity and Hearing to Determine Right to Surrender. –

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I.

In an intrastate or interstate adoption, but not an international adoption, the following persons shall be given notice by the court and shall have the right to request a hearing to prove paternity:

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(a)

A person named by the birth mother in an affidavit:

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(1)

Filed with the court; and

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(2)

Given prior to or at the time of the surrender of parental rights pursuant to RSA 170-B:9, or her parental rights being involuntarily terminated.

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(b)

The birth or legal father, if his identity is known by the court, the department or licensed child placing agency which is legal guardian of the child, or the proposed adoptive parents or their attorney, prior to the birth mother surrendering her parental rights pursuant to RSA 170-B:9 or her parental rights being involuntarily terminated.

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(c)

A person who claims to be the father and who has registered his claim of paternity with the office of child support services in what shall be known as the New Hampshire putative father registry or in the putative father registry of the state where the child was born. The registration form filed with the appropriate putative father registry may be filed prior to the birth of the child but shall be filed prior to the birth mother's parental rights being surrendered pursuant to RSA 170-B:9 or involuntarily terminated. Failure to register with the appropriate putative father registry prior to this time shall bar the alleged father from thereafter bringing an action to establish his paternity of the child, and shall constitute an abandonment of said child and a waiver of any right to a notice of hearing in any adoption proceeding concerning the child.

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(1)

In an interstate adoption, the petition shall provide the court with the name, address, and telephone number of the putative father registry in the state where the child was born.

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(2)

In New Hampshire, the registration form shall be supplied by the office of child support services. The form shall require the claimant to affirmatively express his intent to support the child to the best of his ability.

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(d)

A person who is openly living with the child or the child's birth mother or providing financial support to her or the child at the time any action under this chapter is initiated and who is holding himself out to be the child's father prior to the mother surrendering her parental rights pursuant to RSA 170-B:9 or the mother's parental rights being involuntarily terminated.

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II.

Any person entitled to notice from the court under paragraph I shall be provided 30 days from the date of the court's notice to request a hearing at which he shall have the burden of proving by a preponderance of the evidence that he is the legal or birth father of the child. The failure to request such hearing within 30 days from the date of the court's notice shall result in a forfeiture of all parental rights and any right to notice by the court of any adoption proceedings concerning the child.

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III.

This section shall be construed broadly in favor of providing an alleged father with notice by the court pursuant to paragraph I. Source. 2004, 255:1. 2006, 200:2, 3, eff. July 30, 2006.

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