ENGROSSED
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
H. B. 2794
(By Delegates Johnson, Capito, Hines,
Mahan, Pino, Webb and Wills)
(Originating in the Committee on Finance)
[March 3, 1999]
A BILL to amend and reenact section one, article two, chapter
forty-four-a of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended; to amend and reenact section
twenty-four, article one, chapter forty-eight of said code;
to amend chapter fifty-one of said code by adding thereto a
new article, designated article two-a; and to amend and
reenact sections eleven and twenty-eight-a, article one,
chapter fifty-nine of said code, all relating generally to
creating a division in the circuit court of each county of
this state to be designated as the family court division;
increasing the fee for filing a petition for the appointment
of a guardian or conservator; providing for an additional
fee to be collected for each marriage license issued;
establishing a family court division within each circuit
court; requiring the circuit judges of each family court
region to appoint commissioners who are designated as family
law masters; circumstances when commissioners may be designated as family court judges; describing the
administrative and judicial functions of family court
judges; ineligibility of family court judges to participate
in judges retirement system; number of family court judges;
establishing the criteria for apportioning the state into
family court regions; establishing family court screening
panels; providing for the appointment of family court
judges; setting forth the qualifications of family court
judges; providing for the term of office of a family court
judge; appointment to fill vacancies; providing that the
terms of family law masters currently in office will be
continued; providing for the removal of a family court
judge; establishing the compensation and expenses is a
family court judges and their staffs; describing the rules
of practice and procedure, the applicability of rules of
evidence and the promulgation of local administrative rules;
describing the matters to be heard by a family court judge;
providing for the exercise of contempt powers by a family
court judge; increasing certain fees to be charged by the
clerk of circuit court for the filing of civil actions; and
providing for the disposition of filing fees paid in divorce
and other civil actions.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section one, article two, chapter forty-four-a of the
code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted; that section twenty-four, article one, chapter forty-eight of said code be amended and
reenacted; that chapter fifty-one of said code be amended by
adding thereto a new article, designated article two-a; and that
sections eleven and twenty-eight-a, article one, chapter fifty- nine of said code be amended and reenacted, all to read as
follows:
CHAPTER 44A. WEST VIRGINIA GUARDIANSHIP
AND CONSERVATORSHIP ACT.
ARTICLE 2. PROCEDURE FOR APPOINTMENT.
§44A-2-1. Filing of a petition; jurisdiction; fees.
(a) A petition for the appointment of a guardian or
conservator shall must be filed with the clerk of the circuit
court in the county in which the alleged protected person
resides, or, if an alleged protected person has been admitted to
a health care or correctional facility, in the county in which
that facility is located. A petition for the appointment of a
conservator for a missing person shall be is filed with the clerk
of the circuit court in the county in which the missing person
last resided.
(b) The circuit court in which the proceeding is first
commenced shall have has exclusive jurisdiction, unless that the
court determines that a transfer of venue would be in the best
interests of the person alleged to need protection.
(c) The fee for filing a petition shall be seventy is one
hundred twenty-five dollars,. payable upon filing to the circuit
clerk, all of which shall be retained by the circuit clerk. The person bringing the petition shall be petitioner is responsible
for fees for filings of required to file the petition and other
papers, for service of process, and for copies of court documents
and transcripts. In the event that a guardian and/or or
conservator is appointed by the court, such the fees shall will
be reimbursed to the individual who filed the petition, from the
protected person's estate, if funds are available. Any person
who is pecuniarily unable to pay such fees and costs as set forth
in article one, chapter fifty-nine of this code, and article two,
chapter fifty-one of this code, will not be required to pay said
the fees and costs.
CHAPTER 48. DOMESTIC RELATIONS.
ARTICLE 1. MARRIAGE.
§48-1-24. Additional fee to be collected for each marriage
license issued.
In addition to any fee heretofore established for the
issuance of a marriage license, the county clerk of the county
commission shall collect the following for each marriage license
issued:
(1) a An additional sum of fifteen dollars, for each
marriage license issued which additional sum shall to be paid
into a special revenue account of the state treasury to be and
dispersed to local family protection shelters as provided in
established by article two-c of this chapter.
(2) An additional sum of twenty-seven dollars, to be paid
into the family court fund in the state treasury, established pursuant to section twenty-three, article four, chapter
forty-eight-a of this code.
CHAPTER 51. COURTS AND THEIR OFFICERS.
ARTICLE 2A. CIRCUIT COURTS; FAMILY COURT DIVISION.
§51-2A-1. Family court division established in circuit court;
designation of division.
There is hereby created in the circuit court of each county
in this state, a division of the circuit court to be designated
as "The Family Court of County, West Virginia."
§51-2A-2. Appointment of commissioners to be designated as
family court judges; administrative and judicial
functions of family court judge.
(a) In each of the family court regions, apportioned by the
supreme court of appeals as required by this article, the circuit
judges whose courts are served by that region shall constitute
the "Circuit Court Family Law Panel." A majority of the judges
of the circuit court family law panel shall appoint a determined
number of commissioners to serve, as allocated to that region by
the supreme court of appeals.
(b) A commissioner appointed under subsection (a) of this
section may be designated by the name "Family Court Judge" by
administrative rule of the supreme court of appeals upon
notification from the secretary of the department of health and
human resources that the department has received adequate written
assurances from the appropriate federal authorities that the
state will not be denied or become ineligible for federal funds as the result of the designation of the commissioner by the name
"Family Court Judge." Until an administrative order is issued as
provided in this subsection, a commissioner appointed under
subsection (a) of this section shall be designated by the name
"Family Law Master", and the term "Family Court Judge" as used in
this article or any other provision of this coded enacted during
one thousand nineteen hundred ninety-nine shall mean "Family Law
Master."
(c) The family court judge will conduct hearings in family
court cases, take testimony, hear the parties, enter orders of a
temporary or interlocutory nature, make findings of fact and
conclusions of law on the record, formulate recommendations, and
report to the circuit court. The family court judge will
exercise any other power or authority provided for in this
article or article four, chapter forty-eight-a of this code.
(d) The family court judge, as a commissioner of the circuit
court, has both administrative and judicial functions to perform,
as described in subsections (e) and (f) of this section.
(e) The family court judge has responsibility for the
administration of the family court division of the circuit court.
The circuit court family law panel must monitor the
administration of the family court divisions within the region
and regulate those activities, including naming one or more
circuit judges to serve as administrative supervisor of the
family court judge, through appropriate administrative orders.
The administrative orders of the administrative supervisor regarding the family court division will be compiled and indexed
in the office of the circuit clerk and be available for public
inspection.
(f) In exercising the judicial function of the family court,
the family court judge, free of direct oversight by a circuit
judge, is responsible for the preparation or preliminary
consideration of issues requiring judicial decision, subject only
to a subsequent review by a circuit judge. A circuit judge shall
review findings of fact made by a family court judge only under
a "clearly erroneous" standard, and review the application of law
to the facts under an "abuse of discretion" standard.
(g) A family court judge shall not be eligible to
participate in the judges retirement system under the provisions
of article nine, chapter fifty-one of this code.
§51-2A-3. Assignment of family court judges by regions.
(a) A total of thirty-five commissioners will serve as
family court judges throughout the state.
(b) Before the appointment of family court judges as
provided for in section six of this article, the supreme court of
appeals shall apportion the state into geographical regions which
may be single-judge regions or multi-judge regions, or a
combination of both. County boundaries must be strictly observed
and no county may be divided among two or more regions.
(c) In making the apportionment, the supreme court of
appeals shall construct regions which provide, as nearly as is
practicable, for the caseload of each family court judge to be equal to that of other family court judges. Mathematical
exactness as to caseload is not required and deviations from an
absolute standard may be based upon concerns, other than
caseload, including, but not limited to, deviations dictated by
the following considerations:
(1) Judicial circuits;
(2) Geographical features which affect the time and expense
of travel;
(3) Traditional patterns of practice by members of the bar;
and
(4) Population variances between regions.
(d) The chief justice of the supreme court of appeals may
temporarily assign a family court judge from one geographical
region to another geographical region, as caseload,
disqualification, recusal, vacation or illness may dictate. In
each case of temporary assignment, the chief justice shall
appoint only those persons currently serving as family court
judges and appointed pursuant to section four of this article.
(e) The administrative director of the supreme court shall
promulgate any procedural rule necessary to delineate the duties
of the family court judges consistent with this article.
§51-2A-4. Family Court screening panels; appointment of family
court judges.
(a) The supreme court of appeals shall appoint not less than
three screening panels throughout the state whose function shall
be to evaluate and recommend persons for appointment as family court judges. The family court screening panel will have five
members and should be appointed from among the following persons
or persons of substantially similar backgrounds:
(1) A member of the West Virginia Bar who is actively
engaged in the practice of family law;
(2) A professional counselor, psychologist or psychiatrist
experienced in family therapy;
(3) A representative of local professional educators;
(4) A representative from the general public;
(5) A representative from a domestic violence coalition;
(6) A social worker or family mediator.
A screening panel shall not have more than two persons from
one of the listed categories, and shall not have more than three
persons at any one time belonging to the same political party.
(b) At the request of the administrative director of the
supreme court of appeals, a screening panel will evaluate
applicants for appointment as family court judges. If there are
a sufficient number of qualified applicants, the screening panel
must nominate two more persons than would be required to fill the
appointments. (For a single appointment, the screening panel
should nominate three applicants; if two appointments are to be
made, the panel should nominate four applicants; if three
appointments are to be made, the panel should nominate five
applicants, and so on.)
(c) Before the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred
ninety-nine, and on a like date in every fourth year thereafter, the screening panels shall nominate persons to be appointed as
family court judges to serve in regions as provided for under
section three of this article. The names of all applicants being
considered by a screening panel shall be listed, provided to the
offices of the appropriate circuit clerks for distribution to
interested persons not later than ten days before the date the
nominations are made by the screening panel.
(d) Before the first day of August, one thousand nine
hundred ninety-nine, and on a like date in every fourth year
thereafter, the circuit court family law panels of this state
shall, from the nominations made by the screening panels, appoint
family court judges to serve in regions as provided for under
section three of this article.
§51-2A-5. Qualifications of family court judges.
(a) An individual appointed to serve as a family court judge
must be a member in good standing of the West Virginia state bar,
and must have at least five years experience as a practicing
attorney.
(b) Before assuming his or her duties, a family court judge
shall first attend and complete a course of instruction in
principles of family law and procedure that is given in
accordance with the supervisory rules of the supreme court of
appeals. All family court judges shall attend all courses of
continuing educational instruction as may be required by
supervisory rule of the supreme court of appeals. Failure to
attend the required courses of continuing educational instruction without good cause constitutes neglect of duty. These courses
will be provided at least once every other year. Persons
attending such courses outside of the county of their residence
will be reimbursed by the supreme court of appeals for expenses
actually incurred in accordance with the supervisory rules of the
supreme court of appeals.
(c) A family court judge may not engage in any other
business, occupation or employment inconsistent with the
expeditious, proper and impartial performance of his or her
duties as a judicial officer. A family court judge is not
permitted to engage in the outside practice of law and shall
devote full time to his or her duties as a judicial officer.
§51-2A-6. Term of office of family court judge.
(a) The term of office of a family court judge is four
years. Terms of all family court judges will commence on the
first day of September, one thousand nine hundred ninety-nine,
and on a like date in every fourth year thereafter, and will end
on the thirty-first day of August, two thousand three, and on a
like date in every fourth year thereafter. An individual may be
reappointed to succeeding terms as a family court judge, to serve
in the same or a different region of the state.
(b) Upon the expiration of his or her term, a family court
judge will continue to perform the duties of the office until the
circuit court family law panel makes another appointment, or for
sixty days after the date of the expiration of the family court
judge's term, whichever is earlier.
§51-2A-7. Vacancy in the office of family court judge.
If a vacancy occurs in the office of family court judge, the
circuit court family law panel shall, within thirty days after
the vacancy occurs, fill the vacancy by appointment for the
unexpired term. If the circuit court family law panel fails to
act timely to fill a vacancy, the chief justice of the supreme
court of appeals may fill the vacancy.
§51-2A-7a. Terms of family law masters continued.
The family law masters holding office on the first day of
June, one thousand nine hundred ninety-nine, by virtue of
appointments made under the prior enactments of article four,
chapter forty-eight-a of this code are continued in their term of
office through the thirty-first day of August, one thousand nine
hundred ninety-nine.
§51-2A-8. Procedure for removal, suspension or discipline of
family court judge; appeal; grounds.
(a) A family court judge may be removed from office in the
manner provided in this section for official misconduct,
malfeasance in office, incompetence, neglect of duty, gross
immorality or inability to serve.
(b) Charges may be preferred by:
(1) A circuit judge of a county that constitutes all or a
part of the family court judge's region;
(2) By the administrative director of the supreme court of
appeals; or
(3) By any person as provided in rule two of the rules of judicial disciplinary procedure. If a formal charge is filed by
the judicial investigation commission, such charge may recommend
removal and the convening of a three judge court as provided for
in this section.
(c) The charges must be reduced to writing in the form of a
petition, duly verified by the charging party, and filed with the
supreme court of appeals. The petition must request the
impaneling or convening of a three-judge court consisting of
three circuit judges of the state. The chief justice of the
supreme court of appeals shall, without delay, designate and
appoint three circuit judges within the state, none of whom is
from the region in which the family court judge serves. In the
order of appointment, the chief justice shall designate the date,
time and place for the convening of the three-judge court. The
date and time of hearing on the petition must be more than twenty
days from the date of the filing of the petition.
The three-judge court shall, without a jury, hear the
charges and all evidence offered in support thereof or in
opposition thereto and upon satisfactory proof of the charges
shall remove the family court judge from office and place the
records, papers and property of his or her office in the
possession of some other officer or person for safekeeping or in
the possession of the person appointed as hereinafter provided to
fill the office temporarily. Final orders shall set out the
court's decision to dismiss the charges or to suspend or remove
the family court judge, with or without recommendations to refer the matter for investigation by the office of disciplinary
counsel under the rules of judicial disciplinary procedure, or to
provide other disposition appropriate to the case.
(d) An appeal from a final order of a three-judge court
removing or refusing to remove a family court judge from office
pursuant to this section may be taken to the supreme court of
appeals within thirty days from the date of entry of the order
from which the appeal is to be taken. The supreme court of
appeals shall consider and decide the appeal upon the original
papers and documents, without requiring the same to be printed
and shall enforce its findings by proper writ. From the date of
any order of the three-judge court removing an officer under this
section until the expiration of thirty days thereafter, and, if
an appeal be taken, until the date of suspension of such order,
if suspended by the three-judge court and if not suspended, until
the final adjudication of the matter by the supreme court of
appeals, the circuit court family law panel having power to fill
a vacancy in such office may fill the same by a temporary
appointment until a final decision of the matter, and if a final
decision is made by the supreme court of appeals affirming the
removal of the family court judge, shall fill the vacancy in the
manner provided by law for such office.
(e) For purposes of this section, "neglect of duty"
includes, but is not limited to, failure to make findings of fact
and conclusions of law either on the record or in writing to be
filed as part of the record.
§51-2A-9. Compensation and expenses of family court judges and
their staffs.
(a) Beginning the first day of September, one thousand nine
hundred ninety-nine, a family court judge is entitled to receive
as compensation for his or her services an annual salary of sixty
thousand dollars.
(b) The secretary-clerk of the family court judge is
appointed by the family court judge and serves at his or her will
and pleasure. The secretary-clerk of the family court judge is
entitled to receive an annual salary of twenty-two thousand three
hundred eight dollars. Further, the secretary-clerk will receive
such percentage or proportional salary increases as may be
provided for by general law for other public employees and is
entitled to receive the annual incremental salary increase as
provided for in article five, chapter five of this code.
(c) The family court judge may employ not more than one
family case coordinator who serves at his or her will and
pleasure when authorized by the administrative director of the
supreme court of appeals. The director shall appoint not more
than thirty-five family case coordinators to be employed in this
state. The annual salary of the family case coordinator of the
family court judge shall be established by the administrative
director of the supreme court of appeals. Further, the family
case coordinator will receive such percentage or proportional
salary increases as may be provided for by general law for other
public employees and is entitled to receive the annual incremental salary increase as provided for in article five,
chapter five of this code.
(d) The family court judge, with the approval of the chief
judge of the circuit, may enter into agreements with other
courts, a county commission, a sheriff and other public and
private agencies for the assignment of personnel from these other
entities to the family court division of the circuit court.
(e) A special commissioner of the court appointed pursuant
to subdivision (4), subsection (a) section eleven of this article
is entitled to be compensated by the supreme court of appeals at
an hourly rate not to exceed the hourly rate paid to panel
attorneys for performing work in court pursuant to the provisions
of section thirteen-a, article twenty-one, chapter twenty-nine of
this code.
(f) Disbursement of salaries for family court judges and
members of their staffs are made by or pursuant to the order of
the director of the administrative office of the supreme court of
appeals.
(g) Family court judges, members of their staffs and special
commissioners of the court are allowed their actual and necessary
expenses incurred in the performance of their duties. The
expenses and compensation will be determined and paid by the
director of the administrative office of the supreme court of
appeals under such guidelines as he or she may prescribe, as
approved by the supreme court of appeals.
§51-2A-10. Rules of practice and procedure; applicability of rules of evidence; local administrative rules.
(a) Pleading, practice and procedure in matters before a
family court judge are governed by rules of practice and
procedure for family law promulgated by the supreme court of
appeals pursuant to section four, article one of this chapter.
(b) The West Virginia rules of evidence apply to proceedings
before a family court judge.
(c) The chief judge of a circuit court may promulgate local
administrative rules governing the conduct and administration of
family courts serving the circuit court. Local administrative
rules are subordinate and subject to the rules of the supreme
court of appeals or the orders of the chief justice. Rules
promulgated by the chief judge of a circuit court are made by
order entered upon the order book of the circuit court, and are
effective when filed with the clerk of the supreme court of
appeals.
§51-2A-11. Matters to be heard by a family court judge.
(a) A chief judge of a circuit court shall refer to the
family court judge the following matters for hearing:
(1) Actions to obtain orders of support brought under the
provisions of section one, article five, chapter forty-eight-a of
this code;
(2) All actions to establish paternity brought under the
provisions of article six of chapter forty-eight-a of this code,
and any dependent claims related to such action regarding child
support, custody and visitation;
(3) All petitions for writs of habeas corpus wherein the
issue contested is child custody;
(4) All motions for temporary relief affecting child
custody, visitation, child support, spousal support or domestic
or family violence, wherein either party has requested such
referral or the court on its own motion in individual cases or by
general order has referred such motions to the family court
judge: Provided, That if the family court judge determines, in
his or her discretion, that the pleadings raise substantial
issues concerning the identification of separate property or the
division of marital property which may have a bearing on an award
of support, the family court judge shall notify the court of this
fact and the circuit court may refer the case to a special
commissioner of the court designated by the chief justice of the
supreme court;
(5) All petitions for modification of an order involving
child custody, child visitation, child support or spousal
support;
(6) All actions for divorce, annulment or separate
maintenance brought pursuant to article two, chapter forty-eight
of this code: Provided, That an action for divorce, annulment or
separate maintenance which does not involve child custody or
child support shall be heard by a circuit judge if, at the time
of the filing of the action, the parties file a written property
settlement agreement which has been signed by both parties;
(7) All actions wherein an obligor is contesting the enforcement of an order of support through the withholding from
income of amounts payable as support or is contesting an
affidavit of accrued support, filed with a circuit clerk, which
seeks to collect arrearages;
(8) All actions commenced under chapter forty-eight-b of
this code or the interstate family support act of another state;
(9) Proceedings for the enforcement of support, custody or
visitation orders;
(10) All actions to establish custody of a minor child or
visitation with a minor child, including actions brought pursuant
to the uniform child custody jurisdiction act and actions brought
to establish grandparent visitation: Provided, That any action
instituted under article six, chapter forty-nine shall be heard
by a circuit judge;
(11) Civil contempts and direct contempts: Provided, That
criminal contempts must be heard by a circuit judge; and
(12) Full hearings in domestic or family violence
proceedings wherein a protective order is sought.
(b) On its own motion or upon motion of a party, the circuit
court may revoke the referral of a particular matter to a family
court judge if the family court judge is recused, if the matter
is uncontested, or for other good cause, or if the matter will be
more expeditiously and inexpensively heard by a circuit judge
without substantially affecting the rights of parties.
§51-2A-12. Contempt powers of family court judge.
(a) A family court judge, acting in his or her capacity as a commissioner of the circuit court, may:
(1) Sanction persons through civil contempt proceedings when
necessary to preserve and enforce the rights of private parties
or to administer remedies granted by the court;
(2) Regulate all proceedings in a hearing before the family
court judge;
(3) Punish direct contempts that are offered in the presence
of the court or that obstruct or corrupt the proceedings of the
court.
(b) A family court judge may enforce compliance with his or
her lawful orders with remedial or coercive sanctions designed to
compensate a complainant for losses sustained and to coerce
obedience for the benefit of the complainant. Sanctions must
give the contemnor an opportunity to purge himself. In selecting
sanctions, the court must use the least possible power adequate
to the end proposed. A person who lacks the present ability to
comply with the order of the court may not be confined for a
civil contempt. Sanctions may include, but are not limited to,
seizure or impoundment of property to secure compliance with a
prior order. Ancillary relief may provide for an award of
attorney's fees.
CHAPTER 59. FEES, ALLOWANCES AND COSTS;
NEWSPAPERS; LEGAL ADVERTISEMENTS.
ARTICLE 1. FEES AND ALLOWANCES.
§59-1-11. Fees to be charged by clerk of circuit court.
(a) The clerk of a circuit court shall charge and collect for services rendered as such clerk the following fees, and such
fees shall be paid in advance by the parties for whom such
services are to be rendered:
(1) For instituting any civil action under the rules of
civil procedure, any statutory summary proceeding, any
extraordinary remedy, the docketing of civil appeals, or any
other action, cause, suit or proceeding, seventy-five dollars:
Provided, That the fee for instituting an action for divorce
shall be one hundred five twenty-five dollars.; and
(2) For petitioning for the modification of an order
involving child custody, child visitation, child support or
spousal support, fifty dollars.
(b) In addition to the foregoing fees, the following fees
shall likewise be charged and collected:
(1) For preparing an abstract of judgment, five dollars;
(2) For any transcript, copy or paper made by the clerk for
use in any other court or otherwise to go out of the office, for
each page, fifty cents;
(3) For action on suggestion, ten dollars;
(4) For issuing an execution, ten dollars;
(5) For issuing or renewing a suggestee execution, including
copies, postage, registered or certified mail fees and the fee
provided by section four, article five-a, chapter thirty-eight of
this code, three dollars;
(6) For vacation or modification of a suggestee execution,
one dollar;
(7) For docketing and issuing an execution on a transcript
of judgment from magistrate's court, three dollars;
(8) For arranging the papers in a certified question, writ
of error, appeal or removal to any other court, five dollars;
(9) For postage and express and for sending or receiving
decrees, orders or records, by mail or express, three times the
amount of the postage or express charges;
(10) For each subpoena, on the part of either plaintiff or
defendant, to be paid by the party requesting the same, fifty
cents;
(11) For additional service (plaintiff or appellant) where
any case remains on the docket longer than three years, for each
additional year or part year, twenty dollars.
(c) The clerk shall tax the following fees for services in
any criminal case against any defendant convicted in such court:
(1) In the case of any misdemeanor, fifty-five dollars;
(2) In the case of any felony, sixty-five dollars.
(d) No such clerk shall be required to handle or accept for
disbursement any fees, costs or amounts, of any other officer or
party not payable into the county treasury, except it be on order
of the court or in compliance with the provisions of law
governing such fees, costs or accounts.
§59-1-28a. Disposition of filing fees in divorce and other civil
actions and fees for services in criminal cases.
(a) Except for those payments to be made from amounts
equaling filing fees received for the institution of divorce actions as prescribed in subsection (b) of this section, or for
petitioning for guardianship as prescribed in subsection (c) of
this section, for each civil action instituted under the rules of
civil procedure, any statutory summary proceeding, any
extraordinary remedy, the docketing of civil appeals, or any
other action, cause, suit or proceeding in the circuit court, the
clerk of the court shall, at the end of each month, pay into the
funds or accounts described in this subsection an amount equal to
the amount set forth in this subsection of every filing fee
received for instituting such action as follows:
(1) Into the regional jail and correctional facility
development fund in the state treasury established pursuant to
the provisions of section ten, article twenty, chapter thirty-one
of this code, the amount of sixty dollars;
(2) Into the court security fund in the state treasury
established pursuant to the provisions of section fourteen,
article three, chapter fifty-one of this code, the amount of five
dollars;
(3) Into the special revenue account of the state treasury,
established pursuant to section twenty-four, article one, chapter
forty-eight of this code, an amount of ten dollars;
(4) Into the family court fund in the state treasury
established pursuant to the provisions of section twenty-three,
article four, chapter forty-eight-a of this code, an amount of
thirty-five dollars.
(b) For each divorce action instituted in the circuit court, the clerk of the court shall, at the end of each month, pay into
the funds or accounts in this subsection an amount equal to the
amount set forth in this subsection of every filing fee received
for instituting such divorce action as follows:
(1) Into the regional jail and correctional facility
development fund in the state treasury established pursuant to
the provisions of section ten, article twenty, chapter thirty-one
of this code, the amount of ten dollars;
(2) Into the special revenue account of the state treasury,
established pursuant to section twenty-four, article one, chapter
forty-eight of this code, an amount of thirty ten dollars;
(3) Into the family law masters court fund in the state
treasury, established pursuant to section twenty-three, article
four, chapter forty-eight-a of this code, an amount of fifty
ninety dollars; and
(4) Into the court security fund in the state treasury,
established pursuant to the provisions of section fourteen,
article three, chapter fifty-one of this code, the amount of five
dollars.
(c) For each action instituted in the circuit court
petitioning for appointment of a guardian or conservator, the
clerk of the court shall, at the end of each month, pay into the
funds or accounts in this subsection an amount equal to the
amount set forth in this subsection of every filing fee received
for petitioning for such appointment as follows:
(1) Into the special revenue account of the state treasury, established pursuant to section twenty-four, article one, chapter
forty-eight of this code, an amount of five dollars;
(2) Into the family court fund in the state treasury,
established pursuant to section twenty-three, article four,
chapter forty-eight-a of this code, an amount of forty-five
dollars; and
(3) Into the court security fund in the state treasury,
established pursuant to the provisions of section fourteen,
article three, chapter fifty-one of this code, the amount of five
dollars.
(d) For each action instituted in the circuit court
petitioning for modification of an order involving child custody,
child visitation, child support or spousal support, the clerk of
the court shall, at the end of each month, pay into the family
court fund in the state treasury, established pursuant to section
twenty-three, article four, chapter forty-eight-a of this code,
an amount equal to the amount of every filing fee received for
instituting such modification proceeding.
(e) The clerk of each circuit court shall, at the end of
each month, pay into the regional jail and prison development
fund in the state treasury an amount equal to forty dollars of
every fee for service received in any criminal case against any
defendant convicted in such court and shall pay an amount equal
to five dollars of every such fee into the court security fund in
the state treasury established pursuant to the provisions of
section fourteen, article three, chapter fifty-one of this code.