Senate Bill No. 653
(By Senator Kessler)
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[Introduced March 20, 2009; referred to the Committee on the
Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §48-10-203 of the Code of West
Virginia, 1931, as amended; and to amend said code by adding
thereto a new section, designated §48-10-204, all relating to
creating visitation rights for certain great-grandparents; and
defining "grandchild".
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §48-10-203 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as
amended, be amended and reenacted; and that said code be amended by
adding thereto a new section, designated §48-10-204, all to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 10. GRANDPARENT VISITATION.
§48-10-203. Grandchild defined.
"Grandparent" means a biological grandparent, a person married
or previously married to a biological grandparent, or a person who
has previously been granted custody of the parent of a minor child
with whom visitation is sought.
"Grandchild" means a child that meets the relationship qualifications with a grandparent as defined under section two-
hundred four of this article.
§48-10-204. Grandparent defined.
"Grandparent" means a biological grandparent, a biological
great-grandparent, a person married or previously married to a
biological grandparent or great-grandparent, or a person who has
previously been granted custody of the parent of a minor child with
whom visitation is sought.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to allow great-grandparents
to be included as persons able to obtain visitation rights.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.
§48-10-204 is new; therefore, strike-throughs and underscoring
have been omitted.