West Virginia · statute · W. Va. Code ch. 42 · 61 active provisions
Subject to additional definitions contained in the subsequent articles that are applicable to specific articles, parts or sections, and unless the context otherwise requires in this code: (1) "Agent" includes an attorney-in-fact under a durable or nondurable power of attorney, an individual authorized to make decisions…
(a) Any part of a decedent's estate not effectively disposed of by will passes by intestate succession to the decedent's heirs as prescribed in this code, except as modified by the decedent's will. (b) A decedent by will may expressly exclude or limit the right of an individual or class to succeed to property of the de…
The intestate share of a decedent's surviving spouse is: (a) The entire intestate estate if: (1) No descendant of the decedent survives the decedent; or (2) All of the decedent's surviving descendants are also descendants of the surviving spouse and there is no other descendant of the surviving spouse who survives the…
Any part of the intestate estate not passing to the decedent's surviving spouse under section three of this article, or the entire intestate estate if there is no surviving spouse, passes in the following order to the individuals designated below who survive the decedent: (a) To the decedent's descendants by representa…
An individual who fails to survive the decedent by one hundred twenty hours is deemed to have predeceased the decedent for purposes of intestate succession, and the decedent's heirs are determined accordingly. If the time of death of a decedent or of an individual who would otherwise be an heir, or the times of death o…
If there is no taker under the provisions of this article, the intestate estate passes to the state. Any real property shall pass to the State Auditor. Any personal property shall pass to the State Treasurer for disposition by public sale in accordance with the provisions of section twelve, article eight, chapter thirt…
(a) In this section: (1) "Deceased descendant," "deceased parent," or "deceased grandparent" means a descendant, parent, or grandparent who either predeceased the decedent or is deemed to have predeceased the decedent under section three-b of this article. (2) "Surviving descendant" means a descendant who neither prede…
Relatives of the half blood inherit the same share they would inherit if they were of the whole blood.
An individual in gestation at a particular time is treated as living at that time if the individual lives one hundred twenty hours or more after birth.
(a) If an individual dies intestate as to all or a portion of his or her estate, property the decedent gave during the decedent's lifetime to an individual who, at the decedent's death, is an heir is treated as an advancement against the heir's intestate share only if (i) the decedent declared in a contemporaneous writ…
No individual is disqualified to take as an heir because the individual or an individual through whom he or she claims is or has been an alien.
(a) Children born out of wedlock shall be capable of inheriting and transmitting inheritance on the part of their mother and father. (b) Prior to the death of the father, paternity shall be established by: (1) Acknowledgment that he is the child's father; (2) Adjudication on the merits pursuant to the provisions of art…
If a man, having had a child or children by a woman, shall afterwards intermarry with her, such child or children, or their descendants, shall be deemed legitimate.
The issue of marriages deemed null in law, or dissolved by a court, shall nevertheless be legitimate.
Any child in the womb of its mother at, and which may be born after, the death of the intestate, shall be capable of taking by inheritance in the same manner as if such child were in being at the time of such death.
Where any person having title to an estate of inheritance in real estate within this state has died intestate, or testate, without having devised his real estate, his heirs, or any of them, or any person deriving title from or through such heirs, or any of them, may at any time within twenty years after the death of su…
An individual who is related to the decedent through two lines of relationship is entitled to only a single share based on the relationship that would entitle the individual to the larger share.
(a) A parent is barred from inheriting from or through a child of the parent if: (1) The parent’s parental rights were terminated by court order and the parent-child relationship has not been judicially reestablished; or (2) the child died before reaching 18 years of age and there is clear and convincing evidence that…
If a parent is barred from inheriting under the provisions of W.Va. Code §42-1-11, the child may still inherit from or through the barred parent as long as a parent-child relationship does not exist between the child as an adoptee with another person as the adoptee’s adoptive parent.
Repealed. Acts, 1992 Reg. Sess., Ch. 75.
Repealed. Acts, 1992 Reg. Sess., Ch. 75.
(a) The surviving spouse of a decedent who dies domiciled in this state has a right of election, against either the will or the intestate share, under the limitations and conditions stated in this part, to take the elective-share percentage of the augmented estate, determined by the length of time the spouse and the de…
(a) Definitions. (1) In this section: (i) "Bona fide purchaser" means a purchaser for value in good faith and without notice of an adverse claim. The notation of a state documentary fee on a recorded instrument is prima facie evidence that the transfer described therein was made to a bona fide purchaser. (ii) "Nonadver…
(a) The right of election may be exercised only by a surviving spouse who is living when the petition for the elective share is filed in the court under subsection (a), section four of this article. If the election is not exercised by the surviving spouse personally, it may be exercised on the surviving spouse's behalf…
(a) The right of election of a surviving spouse may be waived, wholly or partially, before or after marriage, by a written contract, agreement, or waiver signed by the surviving spouse. (b) A surviving spouse's waiver is not enforceable if the surviving spouse proves that: (1) He or she did not execute the waiver volun…