Child Support
W. Va. Code § 48-13-101 — the guidelines amount is presumed correct, and school support can run to twenty
In any court proceeding for child support, the amount the guidelines produce is presumed to be the correct amount. The guidelines exist to make support orders more uniform and more predictable for parents and children.
Who handles this in West Virginia: legal aid programs, lawyer referral and the state offices, listed in the West Virginia directory.
When the court departs from them. If the court finds the guidelines inappropriate in a specific case, it may disregard them or adjust the guidelines award to fit the children's needs or the parents' circumstances, and it states on the record the reason and the amount the guidelines would have produced.
Past eighteen, while still in school. An order provides for support to continue after the child turns eighteen while the child is unmarried, living with a parent, guardian or custodian, and enrolled full time in a secondary educational or vocational program with substantial progress toward a diploma, but not past the child reaching twenty.
The guidelines' tables and worksheets are in the rest of the article. How they apply to a particular household are questions for a licensed West Virginia attorney.
Sources for this section (3)
- W. Va. Code § 48-13-101 — Guidelines to ensure uniformity and increase predictability; presumption of correctness
- W. Va. Code § 48-13-702 — Disregard of formula
- W. Va. Code § 48-11-103 — Child support beyond age eighteen
Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of October 2026. Applying it to a particular situation is the work of a licensed West Virginia attorney.