West Virginia Code 48-16-201 – Bases for jurisdiction over nonresident
(a) In a proceeding to establish or enforce a support order or to determine parentage of a child, a tribunal of this state may exercise personal jurisdiction over a nonresident individual or the individual's guardian or conservator if:
Terms Used In West Virginia Code 48-16-201
- 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
- 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.
- 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
- 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
- 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
(1) The individual is personally served with notice within this state;
(2) The individual submits to the jurisdiction of this state by consent in a record, by entering a general appearance or by filing a responsive document having the effect of waiving any contest to personal jurisdiction;
(3) The individual resided with the child in this state;
(4) The individual resided in this state and provided prenatal expenses or support for the child;
(5) The child resides in this state as a result of the acts or directives of the individual;
(6) The individual engaged in sexual intercourse in this state and the child may have been conceived by that act of intercourse;
(7) The individual has committed a tortious act by failing to support a child resident in this state; or
(8) There is any other basis consistent with the constitutions of this state and the United States for the exercise of personal jurisdiction.
(b) The bases of personal jurisdiction set forth in subsection (a) of this section or in any other law of this state may not be used to acquire personal jurisdiction for a tribunal of this state to modify a child support order of another state unless the requirements of section 611 [§48-16-611] are met or in the case of a foreign support order, unless the requirements of section 615 [§48-16-615] are met.