Terms Used In West Virginia Code > Chapter 48 > Article 16 > Part VI - Registration, Enforcement and Modification of Support Order

• Allegation: something that someone says happened.
• 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.
• Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
• Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
• 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
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Convention: means the Convention on the International Recovery of Child Support and Other Forms of Family Maintenance, concluded at The Hague on November 23, 2007. See West Virginia Code 48-16-102
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• County court: includes any existing tribunal created in lieu of a county commission. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10
• Docket: A log containing brief entries of court proceedings.
• Duty of support: means an obligation imposed or imposable by law to provide support for a child, spouse or former spouse, including an unsatisfied obligation to provide support. See West Virginia Code 48-16-102
• 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.
• Ex officio: Literally, by virtue of one's office.
• 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
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• in writing: includes any representation of words, letters, or figures, whether by printing, engraving, writing, or otherwise. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10
• 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
• Income withholding order: means an order or other legal process directed to an obligor'. See West Virginia Code 48-16-102
• Issuing state: means the state in which a tribunal issues a support order or a judgment determining parentage of a child. See West Virginia Code 48-16-102
• 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
• 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
• Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). ^{Source: OCC}
• 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

• Person: means an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, limited liability company, association, joint venture, public corporation, government or governmental subdivision, agency or instrumentality or any other legal or commercial entity. See West Virginia Code 48-16-102
• 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
• Register: means to record in a tribunal of this state a support order or judgment determining parentage of a child issued in another state or a foreign country. See West Virginia Code 48-16-102
• Registering tribunal: means a tribunal in which a support order or judgment determining parentage of a child is registered. 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
• 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
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• 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
• Testify: Answer questions in court.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• 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