Senate Bill No. 582
(By Senators
Kessler, Dempsey, Foster, Hunter, Jenkins, Minard,
Oliverio, White, Barnes, Caruth, Deem, Harrison, Lanham, McKenzie
and Weeks
)
____________
[Originating in the Committee on the Judiciary;
reported March 17, 2005.]
_____________
A BILL to amend and reenact §51-2A-2 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to granting concurrent jurisdiction
to the family court and the circuit court to set support
obligations in abuse and neglect cases.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §51-2A-2 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2A. FAMILY COURTS.
§51-2A-2. Family court jurisdiction; exceptions; limitations.
(a) The family court shall exercise jurisdiction over the
following matters:
(1) All actions for divorce, annulment or separate maintenance
brought under the provisions of article three, four or five,
chapter forty-eight of this code except as provided in subsections
(b) and (c) of this section;
(2) All actions to obtain orders of child support brought
under the provisions of articles eleven, twelve and fourteen,
chapter forty-eight of this code;
(3) All actions to establish paternity brought under the
provisions of article twenty-four, chapter forty-eight of this code
and any dependent claims related to such actions regarding child
support, parenting plans or other allocation of custodial
responsibility or decision-making responsibility for a child;
(4) All actions for grandparent visitation brought under the
provisions of article ten, chapter forty-eight of this code;
(5) All actions for the interstate enforcement of family
support brought under article sixteen, chapter forty-eight of this
code and for the interstate enforcement of child custody brought
under the provisions of article twenty of said chapter;
(6) All actions for the establishment of a parenting plan or
other allocation of custodial responsibility or decision-making
responsibility for a child, including actions brought under the
uniform child custody jurisdiction and enforcement act, as provided
in article twenty, chapter forty-eight of this code;
(7) All petitions for writs of habeas corpus wherein the issue
contested is custodial responsibility for a child;
(8) All motions for temporary relief affecting parenting plans
or other allocation of custodial responsibility or decision-making
responsibility for a child, child support, spousal support or domestic violence;
(9) All motions for modification of an order providing for a
parenting plan or other allocation of custodial responsibility or
decision-making responsibility for a child or for child support or
spousal support;
(10) All actions brought, including
civil contempt
proceedings, to enforce an order of spousal or child support or to
enforce an order for a parenting plan or other allocation of
custodial responsibility or decision-making responsibility for a
child;
(11) All actions brought by an obligor to contest the
enforcement of an order of support through the withholding from
income of amounts payable as support or to contest an affidavit of
accrued support, filed with the circuit clerk, which seeks to
collect an arrearage;
(12) All final hearings in domestic violence proceedings;
(13) Petitions for a change of name, exercising concurrent
jurisdiction with the circuit court;
(14) All proceedings for payment of attorney fees if the
family court judge has jurisdiction of the underlying action;
(15) All proceedings for property distribution brought under
article seven, chapter forty-eight of this code;
(16) All proceedings to obtain spousal support brought under
article eight, chapter forty-eight of this code;
and
(17) All proceedings relating to the appointment of guardians
or curators of minor children brought pursuant to sections three,
four and six, article ten, chapter forty-four of this code,
exercising concurrent jurisdiction with the circuit court;
and
(18) The family court is granted concurrent jurisdiction with
the circuit court to set support obligations in cases arising under
the provisions of articles five, six and seven, chapter forty-nine
of this code.
(b) If an action for divorce, annulment or separate
maintenance does not require the establishment of a parenting plan
or other allocation of custodial responsibility or decision-making
responsibility for a child and does not require an award or any
payment of child support, the circuit court has concurrent
jurisdiction with the family court over the action if, at the time
of the filing of the action, the parties also file a written
property settlement agreement executed by both parties.
(c) If an action for divorce, annulment or separate
maintenance is pending and a petition is filed pursuant to the
provisions of article six, chapter forty-nine of this code alleging
abuse or neglect of a child by either of the parties to the
divorce, annulment or separate maintenance action, the orders of
the circuit court in which the abuse or neglect petition is filed
shall supercede and take precedence over an order of the family
court respecting the allocation of custodial and decision-making responsibility for the child between the parents. If no order for
the allocation of custodial and decision-making responsibility for
the child between the parents has been entered by the family court
in the pending action for divorce, annulment or separate
maintenance, the family court shall stay any further proceedings
concerning the allocation of custodial and decision-making
responsibility for the child between the parents and defer to the
orders of the circuit court in the abuse or neglect proceedings.
(d) A family court is a court of limited jurisdiction. A
family court is a court of record only for the purpose of
exercising jurisdiction in the matters for which the jurisdiction
of the family court is specifically authorized in this section and
in chapter forty-eight of this code. A family court may not
exercise the powers given courts of record in section one, article
five of this chapter or exercise any other powers provided for
courts of record in this code unless specifically authorized by the
Legislature. A family court judge is not a "judge of any court of
record" or a "judge of a court of record" as the terms are defined
and used in article nine of this chapter.
__________
(NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to grant concurrent
jurisdiction to both the family court and the circuit court to set
support obligations in abuse and neglect proceedings.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.)