Senate Bill No. 26
(By Senator Oliverio)
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[Introduced January 11, 1996; referred to the Committee
on the Judiciary.)
.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section twenty-two, article three,
chapter forty-eight of the code of West Virginia, one
thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to
liability of spouses for purchases by the other and services
rendered to the other or their children; creating liability
for hospital, dental and pharmaceutical services rendered;
and declaring the duty of the husband to support his family.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section twenty-two, article three, 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 3.RIGHTS OF MARRIED WOMEN; HUSBAND AND WIFE.
§48-3-22. Liability of husband and wife for purchases and
services.
All purchases hereafter made, or services contracted for, by
either husband or wife in his or her own name, shall be presumed,
in the absence of notice to the contrary, to be on his or her
private account and liability; but both are liable for the
reasonable and necessary services of a physician, rendered
hospital, physician, dentist, pharmacy or any other person or
institution rendering medical or dental services to the husband
or wife while residing together as husband and wife, or for such
services rendered to their minor child while residing in the
family of its parents, and for the rental of any tenement or
premises actually occupied by such husband and wife as a
residence and reasonably necessary to them for such purpose; and
both are also liable when any article purchased by either goes to
the support of the family, or for the joint benefit of both, or
for the reasonable apparel of the wife and their minor child
residing in the family, or for the reasonable support of such
wife and child while abandoned by the husband; and both are also
liable for the reasonable services of any domestic, laborer or other person from which the family or both husband and wife
benefit. It is the duty of the husband to support his family,
and his property when found shall be first applied to satisfy any
such joint liability, and the wife, for any property of her own
that is taken, or for any money that she is compelled to pay, for
the satisfaction of any such claim, shall be subrogated to the
rights of the creditor whose claim is thus satisfied.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to broaden the liability
of spouses for services rendered to the other or their children
to include with physicians services hospital, dental and
pharmaceutical services.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.