West Virginia Code 48-22-601 – Who shall receive notice
(a) Unless notice has been waived, notice of a proceeding for adoption of a child must be served, within twenty days after a petition for adoption is filed, upon:
Terms Used In West Virginia Code 48-22-601
- 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.
- 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
(1) Any person whose consent to the adoption is required pursuant to the provisions of section 22-301, but notice need not be served upon a person whose parental relationship to the child or whose status as a guardian has been terminated;
(2) Any person whom the petitioner knows is claiming to be the father of the child and whose paternity of the child has been established pursuant to the provisions of 24-101, et seq.;
(3) Any person other than the petitioner who has legal or physical custody of the child or who has visitation rights with the child under an existing court order issued by a court in this or another state;
(4) The spouse of the petitioner if the spouse has not joined in the petition; and
(5) A grandparent of the child if the grandparent's child is a deceased parent of the child and, before death, the deceased parent had not executed a consent or relinquishment or the deceased parent's parental relationship to the child had not been otherwise terminated.
(b) The court shall require notice of a proceeding for adoption to be served upon any person the court finds, at any time during the proceeding, is:
(1) A person described in subsection (a) of this section who has not been given notice;
(2) A person who has revoked consent or relinquishment pursuant to the provisions of section 22-305; or
(3) A person who, on the basis of a previous relationship with the child, a parent, an alleged parent or the petitioner, can provide relevant information that the court, in its discretion, wants to hear.