Title I, The State and Its Government

I. The person who performs a marriage shall certify the fact of marriage and within 6 days return the record by mail or in person to the clerk of the town or city of license issuance. II. No person shall certify or sign the marriage certificate as the officiant at his or her own …

I. Forms and data fields maintained electronically shall include all facts contained on the national standard certificate forms developed by the National Center for Health Statistics, United States Department of Health and Human Services. As revisions to the National Center for H…

The clerk of the town or city shall refer to the state registrar all requests for a marriage license made by parties who are currently married but the validity of the marriage is questioned by the court, law enforcement agencies or the state registrars outside of New Hampshire. I…

I. A marriage certificate shall not be issued to parties who are already lawfully married to each other except as provided in RSA 5-C:50. This shall also include issuing a marriage certificate for the renewal of marriage vows for religious or anniversary purposes. II. In the case…

I. The registration of a marriage after 6 months from the actual date of the marriage shall be accomplished using a regular certificate of marriage, completed in accordance with RSA 5-C:42. II. Registration of marriage pursuant to paragraph I requires that an application for a de…

I. When the steps described in RSA 5-C:52 have been completed, the clerk of the town or city shall prepare a delayed certificate of marriage as provided in this section. II. If the actual date of marriage has been established but other entries for dates recorded on the marriage c…

I. The state registrar shall review each application certified by a clerk of a town or city to determine that the application meets the requirements of RSA 5-C:52 and the evidence submitted establishes the facts of the marriage. II. If the application complies with the requiremen…

I. If an individual believes a bigamous marriage has taken place and such individual wishes to challenge the validity of the marriage certificate, the individual making the accusation shall provide to the clerk of the town or city a notarized statement of the alleged facts; a cop…

I. Pursuant to RSA 458:1, a marriage certificate shall be voided if an individual accused of bigamy fails to respond to a certified letter or a founded claim of bigamy has been referred to the county attorney by the state registrar as provided in RSA 5-C:55. II. If the marriage c…

I. The following information shall be provided on an application for certified copy of marriage record, before a certified copy is issued: (a) The full name of both marriage applicants, including any prior surname if different from the current name. (b) The date of marriage. (c) …

I. The petitioner or his or her legal representative shall provide the following information, in writing, for both the husband and the wife in order to complete a petition of divorce, legal separation, or civil annulment: (a) Their full names and usual residences by city, town or…

I. Only one record of divorce, legal separation, or civil annulment shall be prepared by the clerk of the court and forwarded to the division for each marriage dissolved by the superior court. II. Queries to the division concerning any entry on the report of divorce, legal separa…

The registrar shall have an official seal which shall be like the seal of the state except that the device thereon shall be surrounded by the words "New Hampshire Department of State, Registrar of Vital Records" in the place of the words "Seal of the State of New Hampshire, 1776.…

I. An applicant for a copy of a divorce, legal separation, or civil annulment certificate shall provide the following information, in writing, to the division: (a) The husband's first and last name. (b) The wife's first and maiden name. (c) The date of decree. (d) The place of de…

I. Written application for a copy of a divorce, legal separation, or civil annulment record, shall be made to the division or to the New Hampshire court granting such divorce, legal separation, or civil annulment. II. The state registrar, upon receipt of a written application, sh…

I. For every death that occurs in the state of New Hampshire, a death record shall be filed electronically by a funeral director, certifying physician, APRN, physician associate, next of kin, designated agent, or clerk of the town or city with the division within 36 hours of deat…

I. When a death occurs in a hospital or health care facility and the death is not reported to the medical examiner pursuant to RSA 611-B:12, the person in charge of such facility, or his or her designated representative, shall provide the funeral director, next of kin, or designa…

I. Medical certification shall consist of the pronouncement of death and the medical certification of the cause of death. II. The medical certification on the death record shall be completed by the attending physician, APRN, or physician associate or certifying physician, APRN, o…

When a death is presumed to have occurred within the state of New Hampshire but the body cannot be located, a death record shall be prepared by the state registrar upon receipt of a certified copy of an order of a court of competent jurisdiction, indicating the finding of facts. …

I. When a funeral director, next of kin, or designated agent is requested to take custody of a body, he or she shall first ascertain whether a pronouncing physician, pronouncing registered nurse, APRN, physician associate, or a medical examiner has established the cause of death …

I. A clerk of a town or city or a funeral director shall provide the following information for a burial permit: (a) The full name of the deceased. (b) The date of death. (c) The city or town, county, and state of death. (d) The sex, date of birth, and age of the deceased. (e) The…

When a body is to be stored, the burial permit shall be completed by the cemetery sexton where the body is entombed and sent to the clerk of the town or city where the storage vault is located. When the body is to be moved from entombment for final disposition, the funeral direct…

The division shall issue emergency burial permits only when the death record is incomplete. The number of emergency burial permits shall be 2 per funeral home at one time, except that, if a New Hampshire funeral home has requested an emergency burial permit on behalf of an out-of…

Every certificate or other official paper executed by the registrar under seal, in pursuance of authority conferred by law, shall be received as evidence, and may be recorded in the proper recording offices in the same manner and with like effect as a legally acknowledged deed; a…

I. In those cases in which personal data concerning the deceased is not available or it is not possible to obtain the cause of death information within the 36 hours stipulated for obtaining the burial permit, the funeral director, next of kin, or designated agent shall request th…

I. When the body of a deceased person is to be disposed of by cremation, the crematory operator, the funeral director, next of kin, or designated agent in charge of the final disposition arrangements shall present a copy of the death certificate and the burial permit or emergency…

I. A permit for disinterment, transit, and reinterment shall be obtained from the division prior to disinterment of a dead body, except as exempted by RSA 290:5. An application for disinterment and reinterment shall not be processed by the division unless it includes the followin…

I. The division shall retain a copy of the disinterment and reinterment permit and return the original to the applicant. II. When the body is reinterred, the disinterment and reinterment permit shall be signed by the cemetery sexton or person in charge of the cemetery, or by the …

I. For every fetal death, as defined in RSA 5-C:1, XII, which occurs in the state of New Hampshire, a fetal death worksheet shall be prepared and a fetal death report filed within 5 days, pursuant to RSA 290:1-a and RSA 5-C:75. (a) When a fetal death occurs in a New Hampshire fac…

A completed fetal death report shall consist of the following: I. Information regarding the fetus and delivery: (a) The name of the fetus, if the parents choose to provide a name. (b) If the parents do not choose to provide a name, the first name shall be listed as "baby girl," "…

The director shall establish a certificate of stillbirth for a fetal death, as defined in RSA 5-C:1, XII, occurring in this state on the following form: New Hampshire Certificate of Stillbirth Name of Parents: _________________________ Date of Stillbirth: ________________________…

I. When the division of vital records administration releases information on a fetal death to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), it shall not include: (a) The names of the mother or father; (b) The birth month and day of the mother or father; (c) Their medical record numbers;…

The information and signature requirements for a fetal death paternity affidavit shall be as follows: I. Information regarding the fetus and delivery: (a) The name of the fetus as it appears on the report of fetal death. (b) The date and place of delivery of the fetus. II. Inform…

In the case of an unwed mother, a fetal death paternity affidavit, as described in RSA 5-C:76, shall be required to add the father's name and information to the report of fetal death. I. The hospital or institution's designated staff shall assist the parents in the preparation of…

Other than hospital dispositions, disposition information for fetal deaths reported as directed in RSA 5-C:71, I(a) shall be filed electronically by a licensed New Hampshire funeral director or town or city clerk. The burial permit for the disposition of fetal remains shall be ge…

Prior to disposition, the funeral director, next of kin, or designated agent, hospital administrator or his or her designated representative, or whomever assumes responsibility for the disposition shall request a written authorization from the parent regarding the manner of dispo…

The registrar shall cause the returns made to him or her under this chapter and the returns of divorces made by the clerks of court to be arranged, alphabetical indexes of all the names contained in such returns to be made, and the whole to be bound in convenient volumes and pres…

I. When a death has occurred in New Hampshire and has not been registered with the division within 6 months of the date of death or within 6 months of the presumed date of death, a delayed certificate of death shall be filed, subject to such evidentiary requirements as specified …

I. When the division receives the death record, it shall be examined for accuracy and completeness. II. Queries to obtain missing information or to clarify submitted information shall be made by the division to the attending or certifying physician, APRN, or physician associate c…

I. Written application for a certified copy of a death record shall be made by mail or in person at the division or at any clerk of a town or city's office. II. The applicant for a certified copy of death record shall provide: the full name of the deceased; the date and place of …

I. The state registrar or any clerk of a town or city shall, upon receipt of a written application, issue a certified copy of a death record or an abstract thereof to any applicant having a direct and tangible interest in the vital record. II. Each copy issued shall show the date…

I. To protect the integrity of vital records and to prevent the fraudulent use of the records of deceased persons, the state registrar and clerks of towns and cities shall, on a monthly basis, match birth and death records and post the facts of death to the appropriate birth reco…

Except for divorce records which are amended by the court, 2 forms shall be used to correct any vital record which contains inaccurate, erroneous, or missing information. I. The first form shall be used if corrections to a vital record are to be made within 6 months of the filing…

The division shall provide forms to amend birth records and shall require such information as the division deems appropriate given the year of birth.

I. Any change to a birth record shall be initiated with the clerk of the town or city of birth occurrence by a personal visit or letter from the requesting party. II. Within 6 months from the filing of the birth record, changes or corrections to the birth record may be made witho…

I. All amendments shall be made to the record by the clerk of the city or town where the birth occurred. II. The clerk of the town or city shall: replace the original record with the amended birth record; retain the originally assigned file number; retain the original record atta…