COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
Senate Bill No. 228
(By Senators Boley, Schoonover, Whitlow, Wagner, Tomblin,
Burdette, Mr. President, Dalton, Bailey, Anderson and Yoder)
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[Originating in the Committee on the Judiciary;
reported February 16, 1994.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section fifteen-d, article two,
chapter forty-eight of the code of West Virginia, one
thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to
eliminating language that provides for child support in
college; and providing for child support for certain
secondary and vocational students and insolvent handicapped
children past the age of eighteen.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section fifteen-d, article two, chapter forty-eight of
the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one,
as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2. DIVORCE, ANNULMENT AND SEPARATE MAINTENANCE.
§48-2-15d. Child support beyond age eighteen; educational
expenses.
An order for child support entered pursuant to sections
thirteen and fifteen of this article may provide that payments of
such support continue beyond the date when the child reaches theage of eighteen, so long as the child is unmarried or otherwise
unemancipated and:
(1) The child is enrolled as a full-time student in a
secondary educational program and he or she is making substantial
progress towards a diploma: Provided, That in circumstances
where a child has been determined to be an exceptional child and
an individualized educational plan requires his or her full-time
attendance in a secondary educational program, child support may
be ordered until the child attains the age of twenty-one. Absent
a child being determined to be an exceptional child and the
existence of an individualized educational plan requiring
education until the child attains the age of twenty-one,
continued full-time enrollment with substantial progress towards
a diploma in a secondary educational program shall not constitute
a basis for awarding child support past the age of twenty:
Provided, however, That in making a determination as to the
appropriateness of ordering child support to continue past a
child's eighteenth birthday due to the child's continuing
substantial progress towards a diploma, the family law master or
circuit court shall consider the totality of the parties' and the
child's circumstances including, but not limited to, the child's
ability to contribute to his or her own support and the facts
underlying the need for the child to remain in a secondary
educational program past the age of eighteen; or
(2) The child is insolvent and due to a profound mental or
physical impairment, the child is handicapped to the degree that
he or she is unable to support himself or herself.
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(NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to eliminate language
that provides for educational expenses up to age 23 for students
in an accredited college program and substituting therefor
language allowing for extended child support to age 20 where the
child is unmarried and unemancipated and enrolled full-time
student making substantial progress towards a diploma.)