Terms Used In New Hampshire Revised Statutes > Chapter 550 - Citations and Notice

• Abandoned: means the child has been left by his parent, guardian or custodian, without provision for his care, supervision or financial support although financially able to provide such support. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 169-C:3
• Abused child: means any child who has been:
  (a) Sexually abused; or
  (b) Intentionally physically injured; or
  (c) Psychologically injured so that said child exhibits symptoms of emotional problems generally recognized to result from consistent mistreatment or neglect; or
  (d) Physically injured by other than accidental means; or
  (e) Subjected, by any person, to human trafficking as defined in N. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 169-C:3
• Adjudicatory hearing: means a hearing to determine the truth of the allegations in the petition filed under this chapter. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 169-C:3
• Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
• Allegation: something that someone says happened.
• Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
• Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
• Appellate: About appeals; an appellate court has the power to review the judgement of another lower court or tribunal.
• Armed forces: means the United States Army, Army Reserve, Navy, Naval Reserve, Marine Corps, Marine Corps Reserve, Air Force, Air Force Reserve, Space Force, Coast Guard, Coast Guard Reserve, Army National Guard, and the Air National Guard. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 21:50
• Arraignment: A proceeding in which an individual who is accused of committing a crime is brought into court, told of the charges, and asked to plead guilty or not guilty.
• Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. ^{Source: OCC}
• bylaw: when used in reference to legislative action taken by a city, town, county or village district shall have the same meaning as an ordinance and shall be subject to the same procedures for enactment. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 21:45
• Child: means any person who has not reached his eighteenth birthday. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 169-C:3
• Child placing agency: means the department, Catholic charities of New Hampshire, or child and family services of New Hampshire, or any successor organization. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 169-C:3
• children: means any individual who is under the age of 18 years. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 169-C:3
• Compelling reason: for assessing permanency at an early permanency hearing includes circumstances where:
  (a) Both parents, or only one parent if the other parent is deceased or not identified, have made no effort or only negligible efforts to comply with the dispositional orders. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 169-C:3
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Concurrent plan: means an alternate permanency plan in the event that a child cannot be safely reunified with his or her parents. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 169-C:3
• Consent order: means a written agreement entered into among or between the parties regarding the facts and the disposition in a neglect or abuse case, and approved by the court. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 169-C:3
• Continuance: Putting off of a hearing ot trial until a later time.
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• Court: means the district court, unless otherwise indicated. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 169-C:3
• Custodian: means an agency or person, other than a parent or guardian, licensed pursuant to N. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 169-C:3
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Decedent: A deceased person.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Department: means the department of health and human services. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 169-C:3
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• Dismissal: The dropping of a case by the judge without further consideration or hearing. ^Source:
• Dispositional hearing: means a hearing held after a finding of abuse or neglect to determine what dispositional order should be made on behalf of the child. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 169-C:3
• Docket: A log containing brief entries of court proceedings.
• Donor: The person who makes a gift.
• Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. ^{Source: U.S. Courts}
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• Executor: A male person named in a will to carry out the decedent
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
• following: when used by way of reference to any section of these laws, shall mean the section next preceding or following that in which such reference is made, unless some other is expressly designated. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 21:13
• Foster home: means a residential care facility licensed pursuant to N. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 169-C:3
• Founded report: means a report made pursuant to this chapter for which the department finds by a preponderance of the evidence that the child who is the subject of such report is abused or neglected. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 169-C:3
• Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
• Guardian: means a parent or person appointed by a court having jurisdiction with the duty and authority to make important decisions in matters having a permanent effect on the life and development of the child, and to be concerned about the general welfare of the child. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 169-C:3
• Hearsay: Statements by a witness who did not see or hear the incident in question but heard about it from someone else. Hearsay is usually not admissible as evidence in court.
• Household member: means any person living with the parent, guardian, or custodian of the child from time to time or on a regular basis, who is involved occasionally or regularly with the care of the child. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 169-C:3
• Imminent danger: means circumstances or surroundings causing immediate peril or risk to a child's health or life. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 169-C:3
• Indemnification: In general, a collateral contract or assurance under which one person agrees to secure another person against either anticipated financial losses or potential adverse legal consequences. ^{Source: FDIC}
• Intestate: Dying without leaving a will.
• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• justice: when applied to a magistrate, shall mean a justice of a municipal court, or a justice of the peace having jurisdiction over the subject-matter. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 21:12
• Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). ^{Source: OCC}
• Legacy: A gift of property made by will.
• Legal custody: means a status created by court order embodying the following rights and responsibilities unless otherwise modified by court order:
  (a) The right to determine where and with whom the child shall live;
  (b) The right to have the physical possession of the child;
  (c) The right and the duty to protect and constructively discipline the child; and
  (d) The responsibility to provide the child with food, clothing, shelter, education, emotional security and ordinary medical care provided that such rights and responsibilities shall be exercised subject to the power, rights, duties and responsibilities of the guardian of the child and subject to residual parental rights and responsibilities if these have not been terminated by judicial decree. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 169-C:3
• Legal supervision: means a legal status created by court order wherein the child is permitted to remain in his home under the supervision of a child placing agency subject to further court order. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 169-C:3
• Legatee: A beneficiary of a decedent
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Medication restraint: means the involuntary administration of any medication, including a psychotropic medication, for the purpose of immediate control of behavior. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 169-C:3
• month: shall mean a calendar month, and the word "year" a calendar year, unless otherwise expressed; and the word "year" shall be equivalent to the expression "year of our Lord. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 21:8
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• Neglected child: means a child:
  (a) Who has been abandoned by his or her parents, guardian, or custodian; or
  (b) Who is without proper parental care or control, subsistence, education as required by law, or other care or control necessary for the child's physical, mental, or emotional health, when it is established that the child's health has suffered or is likely to suffer serious impairment; and the deprivation is not due primarily to the lack of financial means of the parents, guardian, or custodian; or
  (c) Whose parents, guardian or custodian are unable to discharge their responsibilities to and for the child because of incarceration, hospitalization or other physical or mental incapacity;
  Provided, that no child who is, in good faith, under treatment solely by spiritual means through prayer in accordance with the tenets and practices of a recognized church or religious denomination by a duly accredited practitioner thereof shall, for that reason alone, be considered to be a neglected child under this chapter. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 169-C:3
• Notice: means communication given in person or in writing to the parent, guardian, custodian or other interested party not having custody or control of the child, of the time and place fixed for hearing; and it shall be given in all cases, unless it appears to the court that such notice will be ineffectual. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 169-C:3
• Oath: A promise to tell the truth.
• oath: shall include "affirmation" in all cases where by law an affirmation may be substituted for an oath; and, in like cases, the word "sworn" shall include the word "affirmed. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 21:24
• Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
• out-of-home care: includes child day care, and any other settings in which children are given care outside of their homes. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 169-C:3
• Out-of-home placement: means the placement of a child in substitute care with someone other than the child's biological parent or parents, adoptive parent or parents, or legal guardian. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 169-C:3
• Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
• Parent: means mother, father, adoptive parent, stepparent, but such term shall not include a parent as to whom the parent-child relationship has been terminated by judicial decree or voluntary relinquishment. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 169-C:3
• Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
• Party having an interest: means the child; the guardian ad litem of the child; the child's parent, guardian or custodian; the state; or any household member subject to court order. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 169-C:3
• Permanency hearing: means a court hearing for a child in an out-of-home placement to review, modify, and/or implement the permanency plan or to adopt the concurrent plan. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 169-C:3
• Permanency plan: means a plan for a child in an out-of-home placement that is adopted by the court and provides for timely reunification, adoption through termination of parental rights or parental surrender, guardianship with a fit and willing relative or another appropriate party, or another planned permanent living arrangement. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 169-C:3
• person: may extend and be applied to bodies corporate and politic as well as to individuals. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 21:9
• petition: when used in connection with the equity jurisdiction of the superior court, and referring to a document filed with the court, shall mean complaint, and "petitioner" shall mean plaintiff. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 21:51
• petitioner: shall mean plaintiff. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 21:51
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• Plea: In a criminal case, the defendant's statement pleading "guilty" or "not guilty" in answer to the charges, a declaration made in open court.
• Pleadings: Written statements of the parties in a civil case of their positions. In the federal courts, the principal pleadings are the complaint and the answer.
• Preliminary hearing: A hearing where the judge decides whether there is enough evidence to make the defendant have a trial.
• Probable cause: A reasonable ground for belief that the offender violated a specific law.
• Probable cause: means facts and circumstances based upon accurate and reliable information, including hearsay, that would justify a reasonable person to believe that a child subject to a report under this chapter is abused or neglected. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 169-C:3
• Probate: Proving a will
• Probation: A sentencing alternative to imprisonment in which the court releases convicted defendants under supervision as long as certain conditions are observed.
• Protective custody: means the status of a child who has been taken into physical custody by a police officer or juvenile probation and parole officer because the child was in such circumstances or surroundings which presented an imminent danger to the child's health or life and where there was not sufficient time to obtain a court order. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 169-C:3
• Protective supervision: means the status of a child who has been placed with a child placing agency pending the adjudicatory hearing. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 169-C:3
• Psychological maltreatment: means pervasive and emotionally abusive behavior, which shall include, but not be limited to, patterns of threatening, berating, or demeaning behavior. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 169-C:3
• Psychotropic medication: means a drug prescribed by a licensed medical practitioner, to treat illnesses that affect psychological functioning, perception, behavior, or mood. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 169-C:3
• Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
• real estate: shall include lands, tenements, and hereditaments, and all rights thereto and interests therein. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 21:21
• registered mail: when used in connection with the requirement for notice by mail shall mean either registered mail or certified mail. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 21:32-a
• Relative: means parent, grandparent, brother, sister, stepparent, stepbrother, stepsister, uncle, aunt, nieces, nephews or first and second cousins. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 169-C:3
• Remainder: An interest in property that takes effect in the future at a specified time or after the occurrence of some event, such as the death of a life tenant.
• Residual parental rights and responsibilities: means those rights and responsibilities remaining with the parent after the transfer of legal custody or guardianship except guardianship pursuant to termination of parental rights, including, but not limited to, right of visitation, consent to adoption, right to determine religious affiliation and responsibilities for support. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 169-C:3
• Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
• Screened-out report: means a report made pursuant to this chapter that the department has determined does not rise to the level of a credible report of abuse or neglect and is not referred for assessment. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 169-C:3
• seal: shall include an impression of the official seal made upon the paper alone, as well as an impression thereof made by means of wax, or a wafer, affixed thereto. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 21:11
• Serious impairment: means a substantial weakening or diminishment of a child's emotional, physical, or mental health or of a child's safety and general well-being. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 169-C:3
• Service of process: The service of writs or summonses to the appropriate party.
• Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
• Sexual abuse: means the employment, use, persuasion, inducement, enticement, or coercion of any child to engage in, or having a child assist any other person to engage in, any sexually explicit conduct or any simulation of such conduct for the purpose of producing any visual depiction of such conduct; or the rape, molestation, prostitution, or other form of sexual exploitation of children, or incest with children. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 169-C:3
• state: when applied to different parts of the United States, may extend to and include the District of Columbia and the several territories, so called; and the words "United States" shall include said district and territories. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 21:4
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Statute of limitations: A law that sets the time within which parties must take action to enforce their rights.
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
• sworn: when applied to public officers required by the constitution to take oaths therein prescribed, shall refer to those oaths; when applied to other officers it shall mean sworn to the faithful discharge of the duties of their offices before a justice of the peace, or other person authorized to administer official oaths in such cases. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 21:25
• Testify: Answer questions in court.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• unfounded but with reasonable concern: means a report made pursuant to this chapter for which the department determines that there is probable cause to believe the child was abused or neglected, but for which there is insufficient evidence to establish by a preponderance of the evidence that the child was abused or neglected. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 169-C:3
• Unfounded report: means a report made pursuant to this chapter for which the department determines that there is insufficient evidence to substantiate a finding that the child is abused or neglected. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 169-C:3
• United States: shall include said district and territories. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 21:4
• Victim Impact Statement: A written or spoken statement by the victim or his or her representative about the physical, emotional, and financial impact of a crime on the victim. The statement is given to the court before sentencing.