The court system in general as it relates to domestic relations is a subject that people wonder about in West Virginia. Okay. In West Virginia as of right now you have family courts that generally handle most things you could generally associate with domestic relations. Things like divorce, child custody, child support, all of those things are going to be handled in the family courts. There are some things that are not going to be handled necessarily in the family courts. For example, adoptions are not handled in the family courts at all. Adoptions are going to be handled in the circuit courts in West Virginia. The other thing that’s going to be handled in the circuit courts in West Virginia is abuse and neglect actions. Those are also handled in the circuit courts.
One area of the law where there is something called concurrent jurisdiction and that is guardianships. Guardianships can generally be filed in either the family court or the circuit court. Now it is customary in some counties that guardianships are going to be filed in one County or another. Oftentimes, there are other issues that have been involved in the past that can really impact the guardianship case is going to be found. For example, if it’s a guardianship case and there has been an abuse neglect case in the past, it’s generally going to be dealt with in the circuit court. This is a broad view of where things are going to be handled between the two kinds of courts.
Now, grandparent visitation is going to be handled in the family courts. Sometimes the circuit courts too are going to handle certain issues that usually are done by the family court. For example, matters of child support and in the event that there is an abuse of neglect case that has been going on, that’s going to be handled in the circuit court. Now also to some issues are oftentimes going to be divided out. If in the middle of a divorce, you have a situation where an abuse and neglect case has been filed, then issues involving the children are going to be shifted over to the circuit court until that process has been completed. Then the divorce case can still go on. The family court can still hear that portion of the case as long as it doesn’t involve anything related at all to the children.
