Senate Bill No. 640
(By Senators Wooton, Hunter, Sprouse, McCabe and Rowe)
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[Introduced March 26, 2001; referred to the Committee on the
Judiciary.]
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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 interested person is a minor.
(a) A petition for the appointment of a guardian, a
conservator or both, may be filed on behalf of an interested person
who is a minor: Provided, That the interested person reaches
eighteen years of age within sixty days subsequent to the filing of
the petition or upon the entry of the final order appointing a
guardian, a conservator, or both.
(b) A hearing as described in section nine of this article to
consider a petition filed in accordance with this section shall
occur no more than fourteen days prior to the alleged protected
person's eighteenth birthday if the trier of fact be the mental
hygiene commissioner, or no more than seven days prior to said date
if the circuit judge conducts the hearing.
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.