West Virginia Divorce Law    Residency Requirements for Divorce in West Virginia
Residency Requirements for Divorce in West Virginia
One of the spouses must have been a resident of West Virginia for at least 1 year immediately prior to filing. However, if the marriage was performed in West Virginia and 1 spouse is a resident when filing, there is no durational time limit. The divorce should be filed for in the county:

1. in which the spouses last lived together
2. where the defendant lives if a resident; or
3. where the plaintiff lives, if the defendant is a non-resident

Legal Grounds for Divorce in West Virginia

1. No Fault Divorce:
1. Irreconcilable differences have arisen between the spouses or
2. living separate and apart without cohabitation and without interruption for 1 year
2. General Divorce:
1. Adultery
2. abandonment for 6 months
3. alcoholism or drug addiction
4. confinement for incurable insanity for 3 years

5. physical abuse or reasonable apprehension of physical abuse of a spouse or of a child
6. conviction of a felony
7. cruel and inhuman treatment, including false accusations of adultery or homosexuality
8. willful neglect of a spouse or a child
9. habitual intemperance (drunkenness)

Legal Separation in West Virginia
The grounds for legal separation (separate maintenance) are the same as for divorce. One of the spouses must have been a resident of West Virginia for at least 1 year prior to filing for legal separation.

Simplified/Special Divorce Procedures in West Virginia
If 1 spouse files a verified complaint for divorce on the grounds of "irreconcilable differences," the other spouse may file a verified "answer" admitting the "irreconcilable differences" and a divorce will be granted. Circuit clerks are required to have supplies of an official "petition" and an "answer" form on hand, free of charge. No witnesses will be necessary for any proof for a divorce on the grounds of "irreconcilable differences." In other cases, witnesses will be required. The court may approve or reject a marital settlement agreement of the spouses. Standard financial disclosure forms are required to be filed.

Divorce Mediation in West Virginia
If the divorce involves a minor child, the court will order the parents to attend a parent education class to educate parents about the effects of divorce and custody disputes on children and teach parents methods to help children minimize their trauma.

Divorce Property Distribution
West Virginia is an "equitable distribution" state. Each spouse may retain his or her separate property:

1. acquired prior to the marriage
2. acquired by gift or inheritance during the marriage
3. any increase in value of the separate property
4. any property acquired in exchange for any separate property

Marital property, consisting of all other property acquired during the marriage, is to be divided equally and without regard to any marital misconduct. However, this equal division may be altered based on consideration of the following factors:

1. the contribution of each spouse to the acquisition, preservation, maintenance, or increase in value of the marital property, including the contribution of each spouse as homemaker and in childcare
2. the value of each spouse's separate property
3. the amount and sources of income of the spouses
4. the conduct of the spouses during the marriage only as it relates to the disposition of their property
5. the value of the labor per-formed in a family business, in the actual maintenance or improvement of tangible or intangible marital pro-perty
6. the contribution of 1 spouse towards the education or training of the other that has increased the income-earning ability of the other spouse
7. the foregoing by either spouse of employment or other income-earning activity through an understanding of the spouses or at the insistence of the other spouse
8. any other factor necessary to do equity and justice between the spouses

The court may, if necessary, award a spouse's separate property to the other spouse.

Alimony and Spousal Support
Either spouse may be ordered to provide the other spouse with alimony. Factors to be considered are:

1. whether the spouse seeking alimony is the custodian of a child whose condition or circumstances make it appropriate for that spouse not to seek outside employment
2. time and ex-pense necessary to acquire sufficient education and training to enable the spouse to find appropriate employment and that spouse's future earning capacity
3. duration of the marriage
4. comparative financial resources of the spouses, including their comparative earning abilities in the labor market
5. amount of time the spouses actually lived together as wife and husband
6. tax consequences to each spouse
7. age of the spouses
8. physical and emotional conditions of the spouses
9. vocational skills and employability of the spouse seeking alimony
10. any custodial and child support responsibilities
11. educational level of each spouse at the time of marriage and at the time the action for divorce is commenced
12. cost of education of minor children and of health care for each spouse and the minor children
13. distribution of marital property
14. any legal obligations of the spouses to support themselves or others
15. present employment or other income of each spouse
16. whether either spouse has fore-gone or postponed economic, education, or career opportunities during the marriage
17. standard of living during the marriage
18. any financial or other contribution from 1 spouse to aid the education, training, vocational skills, career, or earning capacity of the other spouse
19. financial needs of each spouse
20. any other factor the court deems just and equitable

Marital misconduct of the spouses will be considered and compared. Alimony will not be awarded to any spouse who:

1. was adulterous
2. has been convicted of a felony during the marriage; or
3. deserted or abandoned his or her spouse for 6 months

The court may require health and/or hospitalization insurance coverage as alimony.

Spouse's Name After Divorce
Upon request, either spouse may resume the use of his or her former name.

Child Custody After Divorce
Either parent may be awarded custody. There is a presumption in favor of the parent who has been the primary caretaker of the child.The factors for consideration are:

1. the stability of the child
2. any parenting plans or other written agreement regarding child custody
3. the continuity of existing parent-child relationships
4. meaningful contact between the child and both parents
5. maintaining care by parents who love the child, know how to provide for the child's needs, and place a high priority on doing so
6. security from exposure to physical or emotional harm
7. predictable decision-making and avoidance of prolonged uncertainty regarding the child's care and control
8. fairness between the parents [as a secondary factor]

In addition, West Virginia provides specific guidelines for preparing Parenting Plans in the statute.

Child Support After Divorce
Either parent may be required to provide periodic child support payments, including health insurance coverage. These guidelines do not take into account the economic impact of the following factors that may be possible reasons for deviation:

1. special needs of the child or parent, including but not limited to, the special needs of a minor or adult child who is physically or mentally disabled
2. educational expenses for the child or the parent
3. families with more than 6 children
4. long-distance visitation costs
5. if the child resides with another person
6. needs of another child or children to whom the parent owes a duty of support
7. the extent to which the parent's income depends on nonrecurring or nonguaranteed income
8. whether the total of spousal support, child support, and childcare costs subtracted from a parent's income reduces that income to less than the federal poverty level

One of the parents may also be granted exclusive use of the family home and all the goods and furniture necessary to help in the rearing of the children. The court may require health and hospitalization insurance coverage as child support. Provisions for income withholding shall be included in every divorce decree to guarantee the support payments. Child support guidelines are available from the West Virginia Child Advocate Office and are in the statute. These guidelines are presumed to be correct, unless it is shown that the amount is unjust or inappropriate under the particular circumstances of a case.

Continue to Wisconsin Divorce Laws
 
Resource Article:
 
The Impact of Formative Experiences
By Gary Direnfeld, MSW, RSW

While these statements are true, we are none-the-less taught how to be a spouse and we are taught how to parent. The teaching is by way of example and it comes at the hands of our own parents or caregivers from the moment we are born and then raised. We refer to this as formative experiences.

Formative experience is the everyday life we lived growing up and the know-how we develop as a result. More often than not, the know-how develops beyond our awareness. We simply react or do the things we do, based on a familiarity, having seen or experienced something like it before.

Apart from harm to a child in the moment of abuse, there is a lasting harm in that the abusive experience sets the stage for the child to act similarly when faced with a similar situation as an adult. There is a sense of “doing what comes naturally” (or as familiar) even if what one is doing is recognized as harmful. In the absence of having been taught appropriate means of managing child behavior or resolving interpersonal conflict, some people fall back onto the strategies learned though formative experience. If you had proper, reasonable and decent formative experiences, that’s good. If not, there is an elevated risk of managing parenting or spousal relationships as you experienced from childhood. Everything that happens to a person as a child, can effect how they manage life as an adult.

Interestingly, even when looking at divorce, if one’s parents were divorced, whether low conflict or high conflict, there is an elevated risk that the child of those divorced parents will get divorced as an adult too.

The message here is powerful. From what children are exposed to, so shall they learn and so may they do. This is not to say all adults with untoward childhood experiences are doomed to repeat them, but it is to say that there is an elevated risk in much the same way as some people experience harm from second hand smoke while others do not.

Hence the rationale of eliminating child abuse and improving parental (spousal) relationships, is not just for the protection of children in the here and now, but as an investment in their future and other future generations.

The good news is that those folks whose formative experiences left them with questionable parenting or relationship skills can improve with help and support.

Adults who were abused or exposed to abusive behavior between their parents as children, where it appears to be affecting life through parenting skills or relationships, are advised to consider counseling, parenting courses, marital therapy or the like. The goal of these strategies is to challenge the formative experiences in favor of adopting new appropriate, directly learned strategies for managing parenting demands and getting along with others.

There is an old adage, “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks”, so thank goodness, we aren’t dogs! People can learn new tricks and can improve upon formative experiences of the past.

Adults with untoward formative experiences affecting adult life deserve better, their children deserve better and their children – the future grandchildren deserve better too.
 

Divorce Terms:

Request for Admissions. See Discovery; Pretrial Discovery

Request for Production of Documents. See Discovery; Pretrial Discovery

Restraining Order. A temporary court order prohibiting a party from certain activities. Issued in response to a motion, restraining orders often are issued to protect marital assets and to protect against domestic violence. In many states, violating a domestic restraining order is a criminal offense.

Retainer Agreement. See Fee Agreement

Rules; Rules of Civil Procedure; Rule of Domestic Relations Procedure. The statutory rules that govern court procedure. Courts must obey these rules.

In contrast to substantive matters covered by divorce statutes, court rules are limited to procedure. Such matters as notice requirements, service of process, time requirements for answers and counterclaims, and discovery are established by rules. Courts have some discretion to ignore some rules if their enforcement would cause injustice. See Equity; Courts of Equity.

Rules of Evidence. The statutory rules governing testimony, documents, and demonstrative materials.

In divorce, the two most encountered rules relate to hearsay (he said, she said), and the marital privilege (my husband told me...). Clients are often frustrated when important evidence is barred from trial. Lawyers spend considerable time figuring out how to get it in. Try not to get too angry at the system, there is a valid reason for each rule.

Disclaimer:
This website is not intended to give legal advice or service.
It is an informational website and should only be used as such.
For legal issues seek a competent legal counsel or advisor. A man that represents himself has a fool for a client.



Home