West Virginia Code 48-14-401 – Support orders to provide for withholding from income
(a) Every order entered or modified under the provisions of this article that requires the payment of child support or spousal support must include a provision for automatic withholding from income of the obligor in order to facilitate income withholding as a means of collecting support.
Terms Used In West Virginia Code 48-14-401
- 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.
- State: means a state of the United States, or 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 48-14-601
(b) Every support order heretofore or hereafter entered by a court of competent jurisdiction is considered to provide for an order of income withholding, notwithstanding the fact that the support order does not in fact provide for an order of withholding. Income withholding may be instituted under this part for any arrearage without the necessity of additional judicial or legal action.
(c) Every such order as described in subsection (a) of this section shall contain language authorizing income withholding for both current support and for any arrearages to commence without further court action as follows:
The order shall provide that income withholding shall begin immediately, without regard to whether there is an arrearage;
(A) When a child for whom support is ordered is included or becomes included in a grant of assistance from the division of human services, its successor the Department of Human Services beginning January 1, 2024, or a similar agency of a sister state for temporary assistance for needy families benefits, medical assistance only benefits or foster care benefits and is referred to the Bureau for Child Support Enforcement; or
(B) When the support obligee has applied for services from the Bureau for Child Support Enforcement created pursuant to §48-18-101 et seq., of this code, or the support enforcement agency of another state or is otherwise receiving services from the Bureau for Child Support Enforcement as provided for in this chapter. In any case where one of the parties demonstrates, and the court finds, that there is good cause not to require immediate income withholding, or in any case where there is filed with the court a written agreement between the parties which provides for an alternative arrangement, such order shall not provide for income withholding to begin immediately, pursuant to § 48-14-403 of this code.