H. B. 2926
(By Delegates Brown, Hatfield, Mahan, Guthrie,
Staggers, Fleischauer and Marshall)
[Introduced February 8, 2007; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend and reenact §48-27-401 of the Code of West
Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to providing that parties
to a domestic violence action as well as law-enforcement
officers receive notice concerning the extension of the force
and effect of a protective order as the result of the filing
or reopening of a separate and distinct civil action between
the parties; and, providing that a party's right to a domestic
violence order is not affected by the entry of a procedural
order in a separate domestic relations action between the
parties.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §48-27-401 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as
amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 27. PREVENTION AND TREATMENT OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE.
§48-27-401. Interaction between domestic proceedings.
(a) During the pendency of a divorce action, a person may
file for and be granted relief provided by this article until an
order other than a procedural order is entered in the divorce
action pursuant to Part 5-501, et seq.
(b) If a person who has been granted relief under this article
should subsequently become a party to an action for divorce,
separate maintenance or annulment, such person shall remain
entitled to the relief provided under this article including the
right to file for and obtain any further relief, so long as no
temporary order other than a procedural order has been entered in
the action for divorce, annulment and separate maintenance,
pursuant to Part 5-501, et seq.
(c) Except as provided in section 5-509 of this chapter and
section 27-402 of this article for a petition and a temporary
emergency protective order, no person who is a party to a pending
action for divorce, separate maintenance or annulment in which an
order other than a procedural order has been entered pursuant to
Part 5-501, et seq. of this chapter, shall be entitled to file for
or obtain relief against another party to that action under this
article until after the entry of a final order which grants or
dismisses the action for divorce, annulment or separate
maintenance.
(d) Notwithstanding the provisions set forth in section
27-505, when an action seeking a divorce, an annulment or separate maintenance, the allocation of custodial responsibility or a habeas
corpus action to establish custody, the establishment of paternity,
the establishment or enforcement of child support, or other relief
under the provisions of this chapter is filed or is reopened by
petition, motion or otherwise, then any order issued pursuant to
this article which is in effect on the day the action is filed or
reopened shall remain in full force and effect by operation of this
statute until: (1) A temporary order other than a procedural order
or a final order is entered pursuant to the provisions of Part
5-501, et seq. or Part 6-601 et seq., of this chapter; or (2) an
order is entered modifying such order issued pursuant to this
article; or (3) the entry of a final order granting or dismissing
the action. The Supreme Court of Appeals shall provide by rule for
notice of the extension to be provided to the parties and to law
enforcement by the clerk of the court, or clerks of the courts, in
which the action or actions are filed.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide that parties and
law enforcement will receive a notice that a domestic violence
protective order has been extended by the filing or reopening of a
different civil action between the parties as provided in
subsection (d) of the subject statutory provision.
The bill also provides that a party's right to a domestic
violence protective order is not affected by the entry of a
procedural order in another domestic relations action between the
parties.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.