ENGROSSED
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
Senate Bill No. 640
(By Senators Wooton, Hunter, Sprouse, McCabe and Rowe)
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[Originating in the Committee on the Judiciary;
reported March 29, 2001.]
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A BILL to amend article two, chapter forty-four-a of the code of
West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated section
one-a, relating to filing under the West Virginia guardianship
and conservatorship act a petition for appointment of a
guardian and conservator for a minor approaching adulthood.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That article two, chapter forty-four-a of the code of West
Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be
amended by adding thereto a new section, designated section one-a,
to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2. PROCEDURE FOR APPOINTMENT.
§44A-2-1a. Filing of a petition where protected person is a minor.
A petition for the appointment of a guardian, conservator or
both of a minor may be filed if the minor is at least seventeen
years and ten months of age and the petition alleges that the minor
would qualify as a "protected person", as that term is defined in
section four, article one of this chapter, if he or she were an
adult. The hearing provided for in section nine of this article
shall occur no sooner than fourteen days prior to the alleged
protected person's eighteenth birthday if the trier of fact is the
mental hygiene commissioner and no more than seven days prior to
said date if the circuit judge conducts the hearing.
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(NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to allow the filing under
the West Virginia Guardianship and Conservatorship Act of a
petition for appointment of a guardian and conservator for a minor
approaching adulthood.
This is a new section; therefore, underlining and strike-
throughs have been omitted.
)