There are several ways to safeguard private information by blocking the broadcasting if responsible people deem it potentially harmful. In actuality, the massive secrecy of family court is hiding terrible injustice. Appeals are restricted to failure to follow procedure. Incorrect facts are not considered a basis for appeal. Horrible decisions cannot be challenged. Abolishing the enforced secrecy for almost all cases heard would do much to support reform. Families have been torn apart by bad decisions and the families currently have no way of showing what is happening in some courts. This is not a condemnation of all NH family courts. But there are several where bad practices go unchecked because they are hidden by the current rules. Children cannot even testify and they often are badly treated with no way for the public to observe the bad practices.
HB350
House · 2025 sessionRepublicanKilled in HouseRecording and broadcasting family court hearings
AIRequires family division proceedings to be audio and video recorded and broadcast live upon request of named parties or their representatives.
requiring that all family division hearings be video and audio recorded and broadcast live.
Status
Killed in the House — Inexpedient to Legislate · March 6, 2025- ✓Introduced
- ✕House
- Senate
- Governor
- Law
Division of testimony
22 submissionsI am in full support of HB350, which mandates the recording of all family division hearings. This measure is essential for promoting transparency in a system where decisions profoundly affect families and children. Recording proceedings will ensure an accurate record, deter misconduct, and provide a valuable resource for appeals or future legal considerations. It's imperative we modernize our judicial practices to uphold the integrity of family law proceedings. Please support this bill for the sake of justice and accountability.
The NH Office of the Child Advocate has concerns about HB350 requiring that all family division hearings be video and audio recorded and broadcast live, as currently written. This bill would significantly impact the privacy of minors, without any regard to the potential harm to children. Divorce and parenting proceedings can be extremely high conflict and traumatic to all involved, and permitting them to be live broadcast, for any reason, could cause an enormous amount of harm, trauma, and embarrassment, not just to the parties, but to the children. Although "confidential" cases, such as RSA 169-C cases, are carved out, many parents discuss all sorts of confidential and embarrassing matters during RSA 461-A proceedings, including their involvement with confidential abuse and neglect proceedings. This bill begs many questions, including: Broadcast how? To whom? Who has access to recordings? Why would someone request that such a personal proceeding be publicly broadcast - to what end? As a note, all Family Court hearings are already currently audio recorded, and a transcript can be requested by any party; adding video recording would be a substantial cost to the system, for little benefit.
I support HB350
The internet is forever & the children involved in these cases deserve privacy. This is simply to intimidate witnesses who would testify. Especially the kids. This is abuse proposed by abusers. This is just more of abusers trying to use the family law court system to further abuse their victims. We see you.
This is necessary for the protection of the citizens of New Hampshire and for transparency
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