West Virginia Code 48-16-711 – Modification of convention child support order
(a) A tribunal of this state may not modify a convention child support order if the obligee remains a resident of the foreign country where the support order was issued unless:
Terms Used In West Virginia Code 48-16-711
- 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
- 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
- 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 tribunal: means a court, administrative agency or quasi-judicial entity of a foreign country which is authorized to establish, enforce or modify support orders or to determine 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.
- 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
- 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 obligee submits to the jurisdiction of a tribunal of this state, either expressly or by defending on the merits of the case without objecting to the jurisdiction at the first available opportunity; or
(2) The foreign tribunal lacks or refuses to exercise jurisdiction to modify its support order or issue a new support order.
(b) If a tribunal of this state does not modify a convention child support order because the order is not recognized in this state, section 708(c) [§48-16-708(c)] applies.