West Virginia Code 48-16-305 – Duties and powers of responding tribunal
(a) When a responding tribunal of this state receives a petition or comparable pleading from an initiating tribunal or directly pursuant to subsection (b), section 16-301 [§48-16-301], it shall cause the petition or pleading to be filed and notify the petitioner where and when it was filed.
Terms Used In West Virginia Code 48-16-305
- Child: means an individual, whether over or under the age of majority, who is or is alleged to be owed a duty of support by the individual'. See West Virginia Code 48-16-102
- Child support order: means a support order for a child, including a child who has attained the age of majority under the law of the issuing state or foreign country. See West Virginia Code 48-16-102
- Income: includes earnings or other periodic entitlements to money from any source and any other property subject to withholding for support under the law of this state. See West Virginia Code 48-16-102
- Initiating tribunal: means the tribunal of a state or foreign country from which a petition or comparable pleading is forwarded or in which a petition or comparable pleading is filed for forwarding to another state or foreign country. See West Virginia Code 48-16-102
- Judgment: includes decrees and orders for the payment of money, or the conveyance or delivery of land or personal property, or some interest therein, or any undertaking, bond or recognizance which has the legal effect of a judgment. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10
- Law: includes decisional and statutory law and rules and regulations having the force of law. See West Virginia Code 48-16-102
- Obligor: means an individual or the estate of a decedent that:
(A) Owes or is alleged to owe a duty of support. See West Virginia Code 48-16-102
- Responding tribunal: means the authorized tribunal in a responding state or foreign country. See West Virginia Code 48-16-102
- State: means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands or any territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. See West Virginia Code 48-16-102
- Support order: means a judgment, decree, order, decision or directive, whether temporary, final or subject to modification, issued in a state or foreign country for the benefit of a child, a spouse or a former spouse which provides for monetary support, health care, arrearages, retroactive support or reimbursement for financial assistance provided to an individual obligee in place of child support. See West Virginia Code 48-16-102
- Tribunal: means a court, administrative agency or quasi-judicial entity authorized to establish, enforce or modify support orders or to determine parentage of a child. See West Virginia Code 48-16-102
(b) A responding tribunal of this state, to the extent not prohibited by other law, may do one or more of the following:
(1) Establish or enforce a support order, modify a child support order, determine the controlling child support order, or determine parentage of a child;
(2) Order an obligor to comply with a support order, specifying the amount and the manner of compliance;
(3) Order income withholding;
(4) Determine the amount of any arrearages and specify a method of payment;
(5) Enforce orders by civil or criminal contempt or both;
(6) Set aside property for satisfaction of the support order;
(7) Place liens and order execution on the obligor's property;
(8) Order an obligor to keep the tribunal informed of the obligor's current residential address, electronic mail address, telephone number, employer, address of employment and telephone number at the place of employment;
(9) Issue a capias for an obligor who has failed after proper notice to appear at a hearing ordered by the tribunal and enter the capias in any local and state computer systems for criminal warrants;
(10) Order the obligor to seek appropriate employment by specified methods;
(11) Award reasonable attorney's fees and other fees and costs; and
(12) Grant any other available remedy.
(c) A responding tribunal of this state shall include in a support order issued under this article or, in the documents accompanying the order, the calculations on which the support order is based.
(d) A responding tribunal of this state may not condition the payment of a support order issued under this article upon compliance by a party with provisions for visitation.
(e) If a responding tribunal of this state issues an order under this article, the tribunal shall send a copy of the order to the petitioner and the respondent and to the initiating tribunal, if any.
(f) If requested to enforce a support order, arrears, or judgment or modify a support order stated in a foreign currency, a responding tribunal of this state shall convert the amount stated in the foreign currency to the equivalent amount in dollars under the applicable official or market exchange rate as publicly reported.