Under the Full Faith and Credit Clause of the U. S. Constitution, states must give full faith and credit to the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of other states. The purpose of the Full Faith and Credit Clause is to avoid conflicts between states in adjudicating the same matters. A state is not required, however, to afford full faith and credit to a judgment rendered by a court that did not have jurisdiction over the subject matter or the relevant parties.

Analyzing whether the one state must afford full faith and credit to a judgment made by another state thus requires a two-tiered analysis:

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  first, we must consider whether the original court had jurisdiction, thus entitling the judgment to full faith and credit; and

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  second, we must determine how much credit the judgment is entitled to receive.

We give “full faith and credit” to a State court judgment or order that establishes a parent-child relationship for intestacy purposes in the NH’s State of domicile if it appears to be valid under the law of the State that issued the order.

When determining a child’s relationship under State law, where the evidence includes a State court decision on the issue, we are not necessarily bound by the court decision. State court determinations on domestic relations matters bind the agency when they meet these criteria in SSR 83-37c:

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  when a State court of competent jurisdiction previously determined an issue in a claim for Social Security benefits;

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  when parties with opposing interests genuinely contested the issue before the State court;

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  when the issue falls within the general category of domestic relations law; and

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  when the resolution by the State trial court is consistent with the law enunciated by the highest court in the State.