Senate Bill No. 51
(By Senators Wells, D. Facemire and Chafin)
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[Introduced January 13, 2010; referred to the Committee on
Military; and then to the Committee on the Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §48-9-205 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to requiring permanent parenting
plans to contain a provision concerning a possible deployment
or call to duty if either parent is a member of the National
Guard or military reserve.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §48-9-205 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 9. ALLOCATION OF CUSTODIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND DECISION-
MAKING RESPONSIBILITY OF CHILDREN.
§48-9-205. Permanent parenting plan.
(a) A party seeking a judicial allocation of custodial
responsibility or decision-making responsibility under this article
shall file a proposed parenting plan with the court. Parties may
file a joint plan. A proposed plan shall be verified and shall state, to the extent known or reasonably discoverable by the filing
party or parties:
(1) The name, address and length of residence of any adults
with whom the child has lived for one year or more, or in the case
of a child less than one year old, any adults with whom the child
has lived since the child's birth;
(2) The name and address of each of the child's parents and
any other individuals with standing to participate in the action
under section
9-103 one hundred three of this article;
(3) A description of the allocation of care taking and other
parenting responsibilities performed by each person named in
subdivisions (1) and (2) of this subsection during the twenty-four
months preceding the filing of an action under this article;
(4) A description of the work and child-care schedules of any
person seeking an allocation of custodial responsibility, and any
expected changes to these schedules in the near future;
(5) A description of the child's school and extracurricular
activities;
(6) A description of any of the limiting factors as described
in section
9-209 two hundred nine of this article that are present,
including any restraining orders against either parent to prevent
domestic or family violence, by case number and jurisdiction;
(7) Required financial information; and
(8) A description of the known areas of agreement and disagreement with any other parenting plan submitted in the case.
The court shall maintain the confidentiality of any
information required to be filed under this section when the person
giving that information has a reasonable fear of domestic abuse and
disclosure of the information would increase that fear.
(b) The court shall develop a process to identify cases in
which there is credible information that child abuse or neglect, as
defined in section
49-1-3 three, article one, chapter forty-nine of
this code, or domestic violence as defined in section
27-202 two
hundred two, article twenty-seven of this chapter has occurred.
The process shall include assistance for possible victims of
domestic abuse in complying with subdivision (6), subsection (a) of
this section, and referral to appropriate resources for safe
shelter, counseling, safety planning, information regarding the
potential impact of domestic abuse on children and information
regarding civil and criminal remedies for domestic abuse. The
process shall also include a system for ensuring that jointly
submitted parenting plans that are filed in cases in which there is
credible information that child abuse or domestic abuse has
occurred receive the court review that is mandated by subsection
9-
201(b) (b), section two hundred one of this article.
(c) Upon motion of a party and after consideration of the
evidence, the court shall order a parenting plan consistent with
the provisions of sections
9-206 through 9-209 two hundred six, two hundred seven, two hundred eight and two hundred nine of this
article, containing:
(1) A provision for the child's living arrangements and each
parent's custodial responsibility, which shall include either:
(A) A custodial schedule that designates in which parent's
home each minor child will reside on given days of the year; or
(B) A formula or method for determining such a schedule in
sufficient detail that, if necessary, the schedule can be enforced
in subsequent proceedings by the court;
(2) An allocation of decision-making responsibility as to
significant matters reasonably likely to arise with respect to the
child;
and
(3) A provision consistent with section
9-202 two hundred two
of this article for resolution of disputes that arise under the
plan, and remedies for violations of the plan;
and
(4) If either or both of the parents are members of the
National Guard of any state or a member of the military reserve, a
plan for the custody of the child in the event of a mobilization,
deployment or call to active duty, by either of the parents.
(d) A parenting plan may, at the court's discretion, contain
provisions that address matters that are expected to arise in the
event of a party's relocation, or provide for future modifications
in the parenting plan if specified contingencies occur.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to require permanent
parenting plans to contain a provision concerning a possible
deployment or call to duty if either parent is a member of the
National Guard or military reserves.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.
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