Terms Used In West Virginia Code > Chapter 48 > Article 16 > Part VII - Support Proceeding Under Convention

• Answer: The formal written statement by a defendant responding to a civil complaint and setting forth the grounds for defense.
• 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.
• 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
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• County court: includes any existing tribunal created in lieu of a county commission. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10
• 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
• 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
• 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
• 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
• 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

• 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
• 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
• State: when applied to a part of the United States and not restricted by the context, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories, and the words "United States" also include the said district and territories. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10
• 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
• 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
• Writ: A formal written command, issued from the court, requiring the performance of a specific act.