H. B. 2509
(By Delegate Schoen (By Request))
[Introduced January 22, 2003; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend and reenact section one hundred one, article
eleven, chapter forty-eight of the code of West Virginia, one
thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to
support of children and providing that parents whose parental
rights are terminated continue to be responsible for support
until the child is adopted, reaches age of majority or is
otherwise emancipated.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section one hundred one, article eleven, 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 11. SUPPORT OF CHILDREN.
ยง48-11-101. General provisions relating to child support.
(a) It is one of the purposes of the Legislature in enacting this chapter to improve and facilitate support enforcement efforts
in this state, with the primary goal being to establish and enforce
reasonable child support orders and thereby improve opportunities
for children. It is the intent of the Legislature that to the
extent practicable, the laws of this state should encourage and
require a child's parents to meet the obligation of providing that
child with adequate food, shelter, clothing, education, and health
and child care.
(b) When the domestic relations action involves a minor child
or children, the court shall require either party to pay child
support in the form of periodic installments for the maintenance of
the minor children of the parties in accordance with support
guidelines promulgated pursuant to article 13-101, et seq., of this
chapter. Payments of child support are to be ordinarily made from
a party's income, but in cases when the income is not sufficient to
adequately provide for those payments, the court may, upon specific
findings set forth in the order, order the party required to make
those payments to make them from the corpus of his or her separate
estate.
(c) Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the
contrary, a parent whose parental rights have been terminated by an
order of a court of competent jurisdiction is responsible for
payment of child support to the state of West Virginia computed
according to the guidelines for child support awards set out in article thirteen of this chapter. This obligation continues until
the child is adopted or reaches the age of majority or is otherwise
emancipated.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to require that parents
whose parental rights are terminated continue to be responsible for
support of the child until the child is adopted, reaches age of
majority or is otherwise emancipated.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.