WomensLaw serves and supports all survivors, no matter their sex or gender.

Legal Information: New Hampshire

Divorce

Laws current as of July 17, 2024

What are the grounds for divorce in New Hampshire?

Grounds are legally acceptable reasons for divorce. A judge can grant you a divorce if your spouse:

  • is impotent;
  • cheats on you (adultery);
  • treats you with extreme cruelty;
  • is convicted of a crime punishable with imprisonment for more than one year and actually serves part of that imprisonment;
  • causes serious injury to your health or endangers you;
  • is absent for at least two years and has not been heard from;
  • habitually abuses alcohol or drugs and has been doing so for two or more years together;
  • leaves you without your consent and refuses to cohabitate with you for at least two years;1 or
  • joins a religious sect that bans marriage, and s/he refuses to cohabitate with you for at least six months.2

1 N.H. Rev. Stat § 458:7
2 Dyer v. Dyer, 5 N.H. 271 (1830)

Legal Information

© 2008–2024 WomensLaw.org is a project of the National Network to End Domestic Violence, Inc. All rights reserved. This website is funded in part through a grant from the Office for Victims of Crime, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. Neither the U.S. Department of Justice nor any of its components operate, control, are responsible for, or necessarily endorse, this website (including, without limitation, its content, technical infrastructure, and policies, and any services or tools provided). NNEDV is a 501©(3) non-profit organization; EIN 52-1973408.