Senate Bill No. 356
(By Senators Wiedebusch, Minard, Chernenko, Sharpe,
Bailey and Wooton)
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[Introduced February 16, 1994; referred to the Committee
on the Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section one, article two-b, chapter
forty-eight of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to rights of
grandparents of minor children; and including a legal
guardian of a parent of a minor child within the term
grandparent for the purposes of visitation rights.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section one, article two-b, 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 2B. GRANDPARENT VISITATION.
§48-2B-1. Legislative findings; intent; definitions.
(a) The Legislature finds that circumstances may arise where
it is appropriate for circuit courts of this state to have
jurisdiction to grant to the grandparents of minor children a
right of visitation to enhance the best interests of the minorchild or children as well as the grandparent. The Legislature
further finds that in such situations, as in all situations
involving children, the best interests of children must be the
paramount consideration. It is the express intent of the
Legislature that the provisions for grandparent
and legal
guardian visitation set forth in this article shall be exclusive
and under all circumstances the interests of the child or
children involved shall be the court's first and paramount
consideration.
(b) For purposes of this article, "grandparent" means a
biological grandparent or other person who has previously been
granted custody of the parent of a minor child with whom
visitation is sought by a court of competent jurisdiction.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to extend grandparent
visitation rights to persons who have previously been granted
custody of the parent of a minor child and to define the meaning
of "grandparent".
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.