THE STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

SUPREME COURT

In Case No. 2014-0415, In re Name Change of Alexandra Kimberly Chase, the court on January 13, 2015, issued the following order:

The petitioner, Brittany Trask White, moves for reconsideration of our December 9, 2014 order affirming the decision of the trial court to deny her petition to change the name of her child. In our order, we stated:

The trial court order indicates that a hearing was held at which the petitioner cited several reasons to support her petition. Alexandra’s father denied the allegations and asserted that the petitioner had filed her petition after he filed a parenting petition seeking contact with Alexandra. The trial court found that even if “all of the petitioner’s allegations were true, each of them should be dealt with as part of a separate filing with the court, not as part of a petition to change the child’s name.”

In her motion to reconsider, the petitioner states that upon the issuance of our order, the father dismissed his parenting petition.

It is unclear from the trial court's order whether its denial of the petition for name change was intended to be without prejudice in order to permit the name change issue to be addressed in the proceeding on the then-pending parenting petition, thereby, in essence, consolidating all matters into a single proceeding. In light of that uncertainty, and given that it appears that the parenting petition is no longer pending, we grant the motion to reconsider, vacate the order below, and remand to the trial court for reconsideration in light of the withdrawal of the father's parenting petition. If the trial court intended its order to be without prejudice, then it shall address the petition for name change on the merits, and may hold such further proceedings as it may deem necessary.

Reconsideration granted; vacated and remanded.

Dalianis, C.J., and Hicks, Conboy, Lynn, and Bassett, JJ., concurred.

Eileen Fox, Clerk