Protect Legal West Virginia Visitation Forms For Free

Under West Virginia law, a grandparent of a child residing in West Virginia may apply for Court ordered visitation by filing a motion or petition with the Circuit Court or Family Court of the County where the child resides.

Custody orders stay in place until a child reaches 18 or is emancipated. A judge may order a visitation or custody arrangement that doesn't align with a child's preference. For example, a child may not want to have visits with an estranged parent. There's no set age when a child can refuse visitation.

The circuit court or family court shall grant reasonable visitation to a grandparent upon a finding that visitation would be in the best interests of the child and would not substantially interfere with the parent-child relationship.

This belief of 50/50 custody is ?rebuttable? or challengeable. To challenge it, a parent must prove ?by a preponderance of the evidence? that the other parent should not have 50/50 custody. This means there is over a 50% chance that what you are saying is true.

If the court has made an order for contact, it will expect the resident parent to encourage the child to have contact and ensure that it takes place. However, the child may simply refuse to have contact with the non-resident parent. Where this happens, the resident parent is at risk of being held in contempt of court.

The first thing you should do when a child refuses visitation is to notify the other parent as soon as possible. Let them know what's happening, and explain the situation as clearly as possible. Some custody orders include preferred communication methods, and you should notify them via that method when possible.