West Virginia Family Courts handle cases involving

divorce Divorce (also known as dissolution of marriage) is the process of terminating a marriage or marital union. Divorce usually entails the canceling or reorganizing of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving the ...

;

annulment Annulment is a legal procedure within secular and religious legal systems for declaring a marriage null and void. Unlike divorce, it is usually retroactive, meaning that an annulled marriage is considered to be invalid from the beginning al ...

; separate maintenance;

paternity Paternity may refer to: *Father, the male parent of a (human) child *Paternity (law), fatherhood as a matter of law * ''Paternity'' (film), a 1981 comedy film starring Burt Reynolds * "Paternity" (''House''), a 2004 episode of the television seri ...

; grandparent visitation; issues involving allocation of parental responsibility; and

family support Family support is the support of families with a member with a disability, which may include a child, an adult, or even the parent in the family. In the United States, family support includes "unpaid" or "informal" support by neighbors, families, an ...

proceedings, except those incidental to child abuse and

neglect In the context of caregiving, neglect is a form of abuse where the perpetrator, who is responsible for caring for someone who is unable to care for themselves, fails to do so. It can be a result of carelessness, indifference, or unwillingness an ...

proceedings. Family court judges also hold final hearings in domestic violence civil proceedings. The Family Court replaced a previous system of governor appointed "Family Law Masters" who made "recommended decisions" to the Circuit Judge, which proved unsatisfactory. This system was used from 1986 through 2001. Prior to 1986, each Circuit Judge handled

cases directly, often adopting local informal procedures, which varied from county to county, to deal with the caseload. There are currently forty-seven family court judges who serve twenty-seven family court circuits. Family court judges, are elected for a term of eight years. Prior to the 2016 elections, elections were on a partisan basis, but in 2015 the Legislature provided that elections be conducted on a

non-partisan Nonpartisanism is a lack of affiliation with, and a lack of bias towards, a political party. While an Oxford English Dictionary definition of ''partisan'' includes adherents of a party, cause, person, etc., in most cases, nonpartisan refers s ...

basis. In counties with more than one judge, the elections are held by numbered divisions so the judges do not run against one another for re-election. The non-partisan elections were held May 10, 2016 and the judges elected took office January 1, 2017.

References

West Virginia state courts Courts and tribunals with year of establishment missing {{WestVirginia-stub