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NOTICE: This opinion is subject to motions for rehearing under Rule 22 as well as formal revision before publication in the New Hampshire Reports. Readers are requested to notify the Reporter, Supreme Court of New Hampshire, One Charles Doe Drive, Concord, New Hampshire 03301, of any editorial errors in order that corrections may be made before the opinion goes to press. Errors may be reported by E-mail at the following address: reporter@courts.state.nh.us. Opinions are available on the Internet by 9:00 a.m. on the morning of their release. The direct address of the court's home page is: http://www.courts.state.nh.us/supreme. THE SUPREME COURT OF NEW HAMPSHIRE ___________________________

Derry Family Division No. 2010-290

ERIC LEE KNIGHT v. CHERYL ANN MAHER Submitted: March 10, 2011 Opinion Issued: April 14, 2011 Eric Lee Knight, by brief, pro se.

Cheryl Ann Maher, by brief, pro se. CONBOY, J. The defendant, Cheryl Ann Maher, appeals an order of the Derry Family Division (Moore, J.) granting a final domestic violence protective order to the plaintiff, Eric Lee Knight. See RSA 173-B:5, I(a) (Supp. 2010). We reverse. The relevant facts follow. The parties are former spouses who together have three children: twin sixteen-year-old daughters and a ten-year-old son. In October 2009, the parties entered into an agreement wherein the plaintiff assumed primary residential responsibility for the parties' children. The defendant maintains visitation with the children. On March 18, 2010, the plaintiff, who is a physician, filed a domestic violence petition seeking an order of protection from the defendant. In his

petition, the plaintiff asserted that the defendant sent numerous threatening and harassing emails and text messages to him, made false accusations against him in the local and national news with the intent to harm him personally and professionally, and filed false reports against him with police departments, the New Hampshire Board of Medicine (NHBM), and the New Hampshire Division for Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF). The plaintiff asserted that "[g]iven [the defendant's] mental state and the social circles she is in" he had "concerns for [the] safety of [his] person and property," as well as concerns about the financial impact the defendant's actions could have upon him. The trial court held a hearing on the plaintiff's petition on April 19, 2010, at which both parties were present. The plaintiff submitted a number of exhibits to the trial court, including emails and text messages that he received from the defendant, which he alleged to be threatening in nature. He also submitted news articles in which the defendant was quoted as stating that the plaintiff had been an abusive husband, that he arranged for "hush money" payments to her from a man she later accused of sexual assault, and that he had caused harm to their children. The plaintiff testified as follows: My concern about risk to property and person is not so much directly from Cheryl. It's because she's going around telling a lot of people all this stuff and, you know, making me out to be this monster with all these things that are absolutely untrue. And the crowd that she hangs out with are basically the ones over there at the Friendship Center. It includes a lot of people who have criminal records. And my concern has been, with all of these bizarre things that she's saying

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