West Virginia Divorce Lawyers

Residency requirements before meeting a West Virginia divorce lawyer

As per the law in this state, one of the spouses should be a resident of this state for minimum 1 year. However, this 1 year residency requirement is waived in case the marriage has taken place in this state. The filing of the divorce takes place as follows –

• When the respondent is a resident of West Virginia, the petitioner may opt to bring the action in the county where the respondent stays or in the county where the partners last cohabited
• When the respondent is not a resident of the state, the petitioner may opt to bring the action in the county where the petitioner stays or in the county where the partners last cohabited

Grounds of divorce handled by West Virginia divorce lawyer

Fault based grounds:

• Abuse or willful neglect of child or spouse
• Habitual drug or alcohol use
• Incurable insanity
• Conviction of a felony
• Adultery
• Treatment or conduct that tends to destroy or destroys the physical and / or mental wellbeing of the spouse
• False accusation of homosexuality or adultery
• Reasonable apprehension of bodily harm

No fault based grounds:

• Irreconcilable differences amongst the partners
• Residing apart and separate in the absence of cohabitation for minimum 1 year. Such a separation may be mutually agreed upon or done voluntarily by one spouse

Military divorce laws

When compared with a typical civilian divorce, the military divorce has many unique issues due to which specific federal and state laws and rules are applicable. In order to safeguard active military personnel from being divorced without their knowledge, laws have been set up if they fail to respond to a divorce action. For the complete duration of time the active military service member is on duty and for up to sixty days after that, the divorce proceeding may be postponed. On the other hand, if an active duty member desires to get the divorce, the right to postpone divorce proceedings may be waived by this member.

The West Virginia Court can have jurisdiction over an active military member only if a copy of the divorce action and the summons are personally served to this member. In an uncontested case, if an active military member signs and files a waiver affidavit admitting the divorce action, then this member may not be served.

The residency requirements for a military divorce in this state are as follows –

• The petitioner or the spouse must reside in this state
• The petitioner or the spouse must be stationed in this state

The grounds for a civilian divorce also apply to a military divorce in this state.

Regarding division of property, the West Virginia property division laws are applicable. In addition to these, the USFSPA (Uniformed Services Former Spouses’ Protection Act) has been formulated by the Federal Government using which the military retirement benefits are calculated and divided. A direct payment of a section of the military retirees pay to the former spouse is authorized by the USFSPA.

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