SB 583 Text

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Senate Bill No. 583
(By Senators Kessler, Dempsey, Foster, Hunter, Jenkins, Minard, Oliverio, White, Barnes, Caruth, Deem, Harrison, Lanham, McKenzie and Weeks )
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[Passed April 9, 2005; in effect ninety days from passage.]
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AN ACT to amend and reenact §51-2A-11, §51-2A-14 and §51-2A-16 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, all relating to appealing orders from the family court to the circuit court.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §51-2A-14 and §51-2A-16 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended and reenacted, all to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 2A. FAMILY COURTS.

§51-2A-14. Review by circuit court; record; standard of review; temporary order upon demand.

(a) The circuit court may refuse to consider the petition for appeal may affirm or reverse the order, may affirm or reverse the order in part or may remand the case with instructions for further hearing before the family court judge.
(b) In considering a petition for appeal, the circuit court may only consider the record as provided in subsection (d), section eight of this article.
(c) The circuit court shall review the findings of fact made by the family court judge under the clearly erroneous standard and shall review the application of law to the facts under an abuse of discretion standard.
(d) If the circuit court agrees to consider a petition for appeal, the court shall provide the parties an opportunity to appear for oral argument, upon the request of either party or in the discretion of the court. The provisions of this subsection are effective until the adoption of rules by the Supreme Court of Appeals governing the appellate procedures of family courts.
(e) If the proceeding is remanded to the family court, the circuit court must enter appropriate temporary orders for a parenting plan or other allocation of custodial responsibility or decision-making responsibility for a child, child support, spousal support or such other temporary relief as the circumstances of the
parties may require. If the circuit court remands the case to the family court, it must state the legal or factual issues to be considered by the family court on remand. If the family court determines that the consideration of those issues also requires consideration of collateral or interdependent issues, the family court may also consider those other collateral or interdependent issues.
(f) The circuit court must enter an order ruling on a petition for appeal within sixty days from the last day a reply to the petition for appeal could have been filed. If the circuit court does not enter the order within the sixty-day period or does not, within the sixty-day period, enter an order stating just cause why the order has not been timely entered, the circuit clerk shall send a written notice to the parties that unless the parties both file an objection within fourteen days of the date of the notice, the appeal will be transferred to the Supreme Court of Appeals as provided in section fifteen of this article due to the failure of the circuit court to timely enter an order. The appeal shall be transferred without the necessity of the filing of any petition or further document by the petitioner.

§51-2A-16. Expiration of appellate procedures; exceptions; report requirements.

(a) The provisions of sections eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen and fifteen of this article shall expire and be of no force and effect after the thirtieth day of June, two thousand ten, except as otherwise provided by subsection (b) of this section.
(b) Appeals that are pending before a circuit court or the Supreme Court of Appeals on the thirtieth day of June, two thousand ten, but not decided before the first day of July, two thousand ten, shall proceed to resolution in accordance with the provisions of sections eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen and fifteen of this article, notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (a) of this section that provide for the expiration of those sections. The Supreme Court of Appeals shall, by rule, provide procedures for those appeals that are remanded but not concluded prior to the first day of July, two thousand ten, in the event that the appeals process set forth in sections eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen and fifteen of this article is substantially altered as of the first day of July, two thousand ten.
(c) Prior to the two thousand eight regular session of the Legislature and annually thereafter, the Supreme Court of Appeals shall report to the Joint Committee on Government and Finance the number of appeals from final orders of the family court filed in the various circuit courts and in the Supreme Court of Appeals, the
number of pro se appeals filed, the subject matter of the appeals, the time periods in which appeals are concluded, the number of cases remanded upon appeal and such other detailed information so as to enable the Legislature to study the appellate procedures for family court matters and to consider the possible necessity and feasibility of creating an intermediate appellate court or other system of appellate procedure.