H. B. 4489


(By Delegate Webb)

[Introduced February 14, 2002; referred to the

Committee on the Judiciary.]





A BILL to amend and reenact section eight hundred one, article thirteen, chapter forty-eight of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to requiring the court to allocate the full tax benefit for the payment of child support to one party parent when an allocation would be of no benefit to the other.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section eight hundred one, article thirteen, 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 13. GUIDELINES FOR CHILD SUPPORT AWARDS.
 PART VIII. MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS RELATING TO CHILD SUPPORT ORDERS .
§48-13-801. Tax exemption for child due support.
Unless otherwise agreed to by the parties, the court shall allocate the right to claim dependent children for income tax purposes to the payee parent except in cases of extended shared parenting. In extended shared parenting cases, these rights shall be allocated between the parties in proportion to their adjusted gross incomes for child support calculations. In a situation where allocation would be of no tax benefit to a party, the court need shall make no allocation to that the other party. However, the tax exemptions for the minor child or children should be granted to the payor parent only if the total of the payee parent's income and child support is greater when the exemption is awarded to the payor parent.


NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to require the court to allocate the full tax benefit for payment of child support to one party parent when an allocation would be of no benefit to the other.

Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.