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Legal Information: New Hampshire

Divorce

Updated: 
August 10, 2023

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 NH ST § 458:7
2Dyer v. Dyer, 5 N.H. 271 (1830)

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