Terms Used In West Virginia Code > Chapter 48 > Article 16 > Part II - Jurisdiction

• Agency: includes a municipality, a county or municipal development agency established pursuant to authority granted in §. See West Virginia Code 7-11B-3
• Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
• 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
• Commissioner of Highways: means the Commissioner of the Division of Highways. See West Virginia Code 7-11B-3
• County commission: means the governing body of a county of this state and, for purposes of this article only, includes the governing body of a Class I, Class II or Class III municipality in this state. See West Virginia Code 7-11B-3
• Current assessed value: means the annual taxable assessed value of all real and tangible personal property, excluding personal motor vehicles, having a tax situs within a development or redevelopment district as shown upon the landbook and personal property records of the assessor: Provided, That for any development or redevelopment district approved after the effective date of the amendments to this section enacted during the regular session of the Legislature in 2014, personal trailers, personal boats, personal campers, personal motor homes, personal ATVs and personal motorcycles having a tax situs within a development or redevelopment district are excluded from the current assessed value. See West Virginia Code 7-11B-3
• Development or redevelopment district: means an area proposed by one or more agencies as a development or redevelopment district which may include one or more counties, one or more municipalities or any combination thereof, that has been approved by the county commission of each county in which the project area is located if the project is located outside the corporate limits of a municipality, or by the governing body of a municipality if the project area is located within a municipality, or by both the county commission and the governing body of the municipality when the development or redevelopment district is located both within and without a municipality. See West Virginia Code 7-11B-3
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• Division of Highways: means the state Department of Transportation, Division of Highways. See West Virginia Code 7-11B-3
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• Foreign country: means a country, including a political subdivision thereof, other than the United States, that authorizes the issuance of support orders and:

  (A) Which has been declared under the law of the United States to be a foreign reciprocating country. See West Virginia Code 48-16-102

• Foreign support order: means a support order of a foreign tribunal. See West Virginia Code 48-16-102
• Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
• Home state: means the state or foreign country in which a child lived with a parent or a person acting as parent for at least six consecutive months immediately preceding the time of filing of a petition or comparable pleading for support and, if a child is less than six months old, the state or foreign country in which the child lived from birth with any of them. See West Virginia Code 48-16-102
• including: when used in a definition contained in this article, shall not exclude other things otherwise within the meaning of the term being defined. See West Virginia Code 7-11B-3
• 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
• Intergovernmental agreement: means any written agreement that may be entered into by and between two or more county commissions, or between two or more municipalities, or between a county commission and a municipality, in the singular and the plural, or between two or more government entities and the Commissioner of Highways: Provided, That any intergovernmental agreement shall not be subject to provisions governing intergovernmental agreements set forth in other provisions of this code, including, but not limited to, §. See West Virginia Code 7-11B-3
• Issuing tribunal: means the tribunal of a state or foreign country that issues a support order or a judgment determining parentage of a child. 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
• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• Law: includes decisional and statutory law and rules and regulations having the force of law. See West Virginia Code 48-16-102
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
• Obligee: means :

  (A) An individual to whom a duty of support is or is alleged to be owed or in whose favor a support order or a judgment determining parentage of a child has been issued. 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

• Order: means an order of the county commission adopted in conformity with the provisions of this article and as provided in this chapter. See West Virginia Code 7-11B-3
• Outside this state: means a location in another state or a country other than the United States, whether or not the country is a foreign country. See West Virginia Code 48-16-102
• Project: means any capital improvement, facility or both, as specifically set forth and defined in the project plan, requiring an investment of capital including, but not limited to, extensions, additions or improvements to existing facilities, including water or wastewater facilities, and the remediation of contaminated property as provided for in §. See West Virginia Code 7-11B-3
• Project costs: include , but are not limited to:

  (A) Capital costs, including, but not limited to, the actual costs of the construction of public works or improvements, capital improvements and facilities, new buildings, structures and fixtures, the demolition, alteration, remodeling, repair or reconstruction of existing buildings, structures and fixtures, environmental remediation, parking and landscaping, the acquisition of equipment and site clearing, grading and preparation. See West Virginia Code 7-11B-3

• Project plan: means the plan for a development or redevelopment project that is adopted by a county commission or governing body of a municipality in conformity with the requirements of this article and this chapter or §. See West Virginia Code 7-11B-3
• Record: means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in perceivable form. See West Virginia Code 48-16-102
• Remainder: An interest in property that takes effect in the future at a specified time or after the occurrence of some event, such as the death of a life tenant.
• Responding tribunal: means the authorized tribunal in a responding state or foreign country. See West Virginia Code 48-16-102
• Spousal support order: means a support order for a spouse or former spouse of the obligor. 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 enforcement agency: means a public official or governmental entity, or private agency authorized to:

  (A) Seek enforcement of support orders or laws relating to the duty of support. 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
• Tax increment: means the amount of regular levy property taxes attributable to the amount by which the current assessed value of real and tangible personal property having a tax situs in a development or redevelopment district exceeds the base assessed value of the property. See West Virginia Code 7-11B-3
• Tax increment financing fund: means a separate fund for a development or redevelopment district established by the county commission or governing body of the municipality into which all tax increment revenues and other pledged revenues are deposited and from which projected project costs, debt service and other expenditures authorized by this article are paid. See West Virginia Code 7-11B-3
• tax increment financing obligations: means bonds, loans, debentures, notes, special certificates or other evidences of indebtedness issued by a county commission or municipality pursuant to this article to carry out a development or redevelopment project or to refund outstanding obligations under this article. See West Virginia Code 7-11B-3
• This code: means the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended by the Legislature. See West Virginia Code 7-11B-3
• Town: includes a city, village or town, and the word "council" any body or board, whether composed of one or more branches, which is authorized to make ordinances for the government of a city, town, or village. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10
• 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