170-C:2 Definitions. –
When used in this chapter, unless the text otherwise requires:
I. "Court" means the probate court.
II. "Child" or "minor" means a person less than 18 years of age.
III. The singular includes the plural, the plural the singular, and the masculine the feminine, when consistent with the intent of the chapter.
IV. "Legal custody" means a status created by court order, embodying the following rights and responsibilities:
(a) The right to have the physical possession of the child;
(b) The right and the duty to protect, train and discipline the child; and
(c) The responsibility to provide the child with food, clothing, shelter, education and ordinary medical care, provided that such rights and responsibilities shall be exercised subject to the powers, rights, duties and responsibilities of the guardian of the person and subject to residual parental rights and responsibilities if these have not been terminated by judicial decree.
V. "Guardianship of the person" with respect to a minor means the duty and authority to make important decisions in matters having a permanent effect on the life and development of the minor, and to be concerned about the general welfare of the minor. It includes but is not necessarily limited either in number or kind to:
(a) The authority to consent to marriage, to enlistment in the armed forces of the United States, and to major medical, psychiatric and surgical treatment, to represent the minor in legal actions and to make other decisions concerning the child of substantial legal significance.
(b) The authority and duty of reasonable visitation, except to the extent that such right of visitation has been limited by court order.
(c) The rights and responsibilities of legal custody except where legal custody has been vested in another individual or in an authorized agency.
(d) When the parent-child relationship has been terminated by judicial decree with respect to the parents, or only living parent, or when there is no living parent, the authority to consent to the adoption of the child and to make any other decision concerning the child which the child's parents could make.
VI. "Guardian ad litem" means a person appointed by the court to protect the interest of a minor or an incompetent in a case before the court.
VII. "Authorized agency" means the New Hampshire department of health and human services or a licensed child-placing agency.
VIII. "Parent" means (a) the mother, (b) a father as to whom a child is legitimate, (c) a person as to whom a child is presumed to be a legitimate child, (d) an alleged father who is living with the mother and child or who has complied with the provisions of RSA 170-B:5, I(c), or (d) an adoptive parent. Such term does not include a parent as to whom the parent- child relationship has been terminated by judicial decree.
IX. "Residual parental rights and responsibilities" means those rights and responsibilities remaining with the parent (where there has not been termination of the parent-child relationship by judicial decree) after the transfer of legal custody and guardianship of the person, including but not necessarily limited to, the right to reasonable visitation, consent to adoption, the right to determine the child's religious affiliation, and the responsibility for support.
X. "Parties" includes the child, the petitioners, and the child's parents.