By DAMIEN FISHER, InDepthNH.org
Family Court Judge Todd Prevett lied to the Judicial Conduct Committee about the evidence he used to deny a mother the chance to reunite with her child, according to the complaint filed by lawyer Eric Wilson.
Prevett is now facing several charges that he violated the conduct rules for judges when he ruled against the mother. Wilson’s report, which contains numerous redactions, also alleges Prevett displayed a clear and troubling bias against the mother.
The mother, who completed recovery programs after years of addiction, lost custody of the child approximately 10 years ago. The mother also has a criminal record and several past court cases in New Hampshire and Massachusetts. At the time, she had her parental rights terminated.
In December of 2024, the mother went before Prevett to request the opportunity to begin vitiation with the child. The child’s guardian, and the court-appointed Guardian Ad Litem both agreed with allowing the mother to have supervised visits with the child, according to the JCC complaint.
But Prevett ruled against any visitation, citing years-old criminal charges against the mother that were not part of the hearing, had not been introduced as evidence, and should not have been used as evidence under the law, according to the JCC complaint. Prevett also ignored evidence that could have credited the mother, like the fact she completed a recovery program that was acknowledged by the GAL.
Prevett’s Dec. 16, 2024 order further made character determinations about the mother, partly justified by misconstrued and incomplete facts, according to the JCC.
“[The mother’s] unabashed sense of entitlement in expecting to show up after a 10-year absence and ‘pick up where they left off’ with immediate in-person visits shows a gross lack of self-reflection and lack of accountability,” Prevett wrote.
The mother appealed the decision and Prevett’s was flagged as out of bounds by the New Hampshire Supreme Court when it weighed in last year.
“[A]n objective, disinterested observer, fully informed of the facts, would have significant doubt that justice would be done in this case,” the Supreme Court justices wrote.
The Supreme Court’s July, 2025 decision overturned Prevett’s order and assigned the mother’s case to a new judge. The Supreme Court reported Prevett’s conduct to Judge Ellen Christo, who is the Administrative judge for the district court system, and recommended that Prevett report himself to the JCC.
In his responses to Christo and the JCC, Prevett claimed that the mother’s criminal record was allowed by the evidence that went before him in the December, 2024 hearing. But the JCC’s complaint repeatedly alleges Prevett was not telling the truth in his statements about the evidence.
“Judge Prevett’s reliance in his answers to the Committee to support the discovery of the [criminal records] suggests a lack of candor with the Committee related to its investigation,” the JCC complaint states.
According to the JCC, Prevett conducted his own, private investigation into the mother’s history to find years-old criminal charges that were never introduced as evidence in the December, 2024 hearing.
This is Prevett’s second JCC investigation since he became a judge in 2021. The former attorney for the Division for Children, Youth and Families got in trouble for abusing his judicial office in a 2024 incident.
Prevett reportedly showed up at the Concord District Court at 8 a.m. on Jan. 3, 2024 to file documents in a case that he was personally involved in, but found the court was closed to the public until 10 a.m. Prevett told court security he is a judge, and needed a “favor.” The court’s clerk was soon at the door, and despite Prevett’s judicial status, the clerk told him to come back at 10 a.m.
Prevett acknowledged he violated the code of conduct for judges by undermining the confidence in the judiciary and attempting to abuse his position as a judge. He resolved the 2024 case by agreeing to a nine-month mentorship and having a reprimand placed on his record.