ENROLLED
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
Senate Bill No. 600
(Senator Plymale, original sponsor)
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[Passed March 11, 1999; in effect ninety days from passage.]
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AN ACT to amend and reenact section five, article one, chapter
forty-two of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to recognizing the
right of a child born out of wedlock to inherit from his or
her mother and father; means of establishing paternity; and
exempting situations where the child has been adopted by
another male or where the putative father has expressly
disinherited the child.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section five, article one, chapter forty-two of the
code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 1. DESCENT.
§42-1-5. From whom children born out of wedlock inherit.
(a) Bastards Children born out of wedlock shall be capable of
inheriting and transmitting inheritance on the part of their
mother
as if lawfully begotten and father.
(b) Prior to the death of the father, paternity shall be
established by:
(1) Acknowledgment that he is the child's father; or
(2) Adjudication on the merits pursuant to the provisions of
section four, article six, chapter forty-eight-a of this code.; or
(3)By order of a court of competent jurisdiction issued in
another state;.
(c) After the death of the father, paternity shall be
established if, after a hearing on the merits, the court shall
find, by clear and convincing evidence that the man is the father
of the child. The civil action shall be filed in the circuit
court of the county where the administration of the decedent's
estate has been filed or could be filed:
(1) Within six months of the date of the final order of the
county commission admitting the decedent's will to probate or
commencing intestate administration of the estate; or
(2) If none of the above apply, within six months from the
date of decedent's death.
(d) Any putative child who at the time of the decedent's
death is under the age of eighteen years, a convict or a mentally
incapacitated person may file such civil action within six months
after he or she becomes of age or the disability ceases.
(e)The provisions of this section do not apply where the
putative child has been lawfully adopted by another man and
stands to inherit property or assets through his adopted father.
(f)The provisions of this section do not apply where the
father or putative father has expressly disinherited the child in
a provision of his will."