Senate Bill No. 439
(By Senators Wiedebusch and Minard)
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[Introduced March 22, 1993; referred to the Committee
on the Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section one, article two-b, chapter
forty-eight of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to rights of
grandparents of minor children; and including a legal
guardian of a parent of a minor child within the term
grandparent for the purposes of visitation rights.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section one, article two-b, 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 2B. GRANDPARENT VISITATION.
§48-2B-1. Legislative findings; intent; including legal guardian
of parent within grandparent visitation rights provisions.
(a) The Legislature finds that circumstances may arise
where it is appropriate for circuit courts of this state to have
jurisdiction to grant to the grandparents and the legal guardian
of the parent of minor children a right of visitation to enhancethe best interests of the minor child or children as well as the
grandparent or legal guardian of the parent of the minor child.
The Legislature further finds that in such situations, as in all
situations involving children, the best interests of children
must be the paramount consideration. It is the express intent of
the Legislature that the provisions for grandparent and legal
guardian visitation set forth in this article shall be exclusive
and under all circumstances the interests of the child or
children involved shall be the court's first and paramount
consideration.
(b) The legal guardian of the parent of a minor child has
all the rights and interests regarding visitation of minor
children as are provided to and vested in grandparents under the
provisions of this article. For the purposes of this section a
legal guardian is the person who has previously been appointed
the legal guardian of a parent, who at the time of the
appointment was a minor, and who has acted as a grandparent, de
facto, to the children of the parent.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to give former and
current legal guardians of parents of minor children the same
rights to visit those minor children as grandparents have to
visit grandchildren.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.