Senate Bill No. 475
(By Senators Plymale)
__________
[Introduced February 21, 1994;
referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.]
__________
A BILL to amend and reenact section twenty-seven, article two,
chapter forty-eight of the code of West Virginia, one
thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to
confidentiality of domestic relations court files.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section twenty-seven, 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.
§48-2-27. Confidentiality of domestic relations court files.
All orders in domestic relations cases entered in the civil
order books by circuit clerks are public records. For purposes
of this section, domestic relations cases shall include actions
for divorce, annulment, separate maintenance, paternity, child
support, custody, visitation, actions brought under the
provisions of the uniform reciprocal enforcement of support act
and petitions for writs of habeas corpus wherein the issue ischild custody.
Upon the filing of a domestic relations case, all pleadings,
exhibits or other documents contained in the court file shall be
considered confidential and not open for public inspection either
during the pendency of the case or after the case is closed.
When sensitive information has been disclosed in a hearing,
a circuit judge or family law master may, sua sponte or upon
motion of a party, order such information sealed in the court
file. Sealed documents or court files shall only be opened by
order of a circuit judge or family law master: Provided, That in
any case pending before a family law master, the master may open
and inspect the contents of the court file.
The parties or their designee, their attorney, or any person
who has standing to modify or enforce a support order, shall have
the right to examine and copy any document in a confidential
court file which has not been sealed by order of a circuit judge
or family law master.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to protect the
confidentiality of domestic relations court files.
This section has been substantially rewritten; therefore,
strike-throughs and underscoring have been omitted.