RSA 463 Guardianship of a Minor in New Hampshire: Forms, Filing, and Process

RSA 463 Is the Only Path to Court-Ordered Guardianship

When informal consent documents hit their limits — a school won't accept your delegation letter, a doctor won't treat your grandchild without a court order — RSA 463 is where New Hampshire law sends you. It's the exclusive statutory framework for appointing a guardian over a minor's person, estate, or both.

Understanding which court hears your case, which forms to file, and what the process actually looks like can save weeks of confusion.

Which Court Division: Family or Probate

This trips up many petitioners. New Hampshire's Circuit Court has two divisions that handle minor guardianship, and filing in the wrong one creates delays:

• Family Division: Has jurisdiction over petitions for guardianship of a minor's person — meaning day-to-day custody, medical consent, and educational decisions
• Probate Division: Handles petitions involving the minor's estate (financial assets, inheritance), or combined petitions covering both person and estate

Most kinship caregivers who need school enrollment and medical authority are filing for guardianship of the person, which goes to Family Division.

The Core Forms

All forms are available at courts.nh.gov and through TurboCourt (the court's e-filing portal for self-represented litigants). The main ones:

• NHJB-2162-FPe — Petition for Guardian of Minor. This is the primary filing that starts the case.
• NHJB-2171-FP — DHHS Record Release Authorization for the abuse-and-neglect registry search. Proposed guardians must also file a separate Criminal Record Release Authorization for the State Police criminal-record check.
• NHJB-2170-FP — Report of the Guardian of the Person - Minor. Filed after appointment — the court requires reports at 6, 12, and 24 months, then annually.
• NHJB-3234-DFP — Motion to Reduce or Eliminate Fees. For petitioners who can't afford filing costs.
• NHJB-2952-FPe — Agreement form, used when all parties consent to the guardianship terms.
• NHJB-2025-FP — Motion to Terminate Guardianship, filed when circumstances change.

Filing Fees

The Judicial Branch fee schedule lists the current filing fee for a guardianship-of-minor petition, plus a per-person notice fee for each individual who must be served. Check the court's current schedule before filing — fees change, and online sources often list outdated amounts.

If you qualify as indigent, the Motion to Reduce or Eliminate Fees (NHJB-3234-DFP) can waive or reduce costs. Note that RSA 463:5, VII requires the court to provide a grandparent petitioner with a DHHS benefits brochure — that's a brochure requirement, not a fee waiver provision, though some online sources conflate the two.

Notice Requirements

The court must send notice to both parents before the hearing. If you can't locate a parent, you'll need to demonstrate diligent search efforts — checking last known addresses, contacting family members, searching public records. The court may allow alternative service methods if standard service fails.

If a parent is incarcerated, service by certified mail to the correctional facility is typically sufficient.

The Hearing

At the hearing, the court considers the best interests of the child. The judge will want to know:

• Why the child needs a guardian (parental unfitness, absence, incapacity)
• Your relationship to the child and your ability to provide care
• Where the child is currently living and how the arrangement is working
• Whether either parent consents or objects
• The child's own preference, if they're old enough to express one

For cases involving parental drug abuse or dependency, HB 629 (effective January 1, 2018) creates a statutory preference for appointing a grandparent as guardian. HB 1348 (2020) proposed including great-grandparents and great-great-grandparents in the term "grandparent," but current RSA 463 does not include that proposed definition.

What Guardianship Gives You

Once appointed under RSA 463:12, a guardian has the rights and responsibilities of a parent regarding the child's support, care, and education, subject to statutory and court-order limits. That means:

• Authority to give necessary consent for medical or other professional care, subject to statutory limits and any limits in the court order
• School residence generally follows the guardian's district under RSA 193:12, II(a)(3), subject to other statutory residency rules
• Access to educational and medical records
• Authority to apply for benefits, sign for a driver's permit, and manage daily decisions
• Participation in a passport application under federal consent rules; for a child under 16, both parents or guardians generally must appear or provide consent, unless the applicant has sole authority

Out-of-State Transfers

If you have a guardianship order from another state, NHJB-2862-FP (Petition to Transfer Guardianship of Minor to NH) allows you to register it under RSA 463:32-b rather than starting over from scratch.

For the full filing walkthrough — including how filing the petition alone triggers immediate school enrollment under RSA 193:12 — the School and Medical Consent Guide for New Hampshire covers every step from petition to appointment.

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