SB 228 Text

ENGROSSED

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 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 ofsuch support continue beyond the date when the child reaches the age 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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