West Virginia § 48-18-201 - 48-18-201. General Provisions related to requests for assistance, recalculation of support amounts, preparation of petition and proposed orders.

§ 48-18-201. 48-18-201. General Provisions related to requests for assistance, recalculation of support amounts, preparation of petition and proposed orders.

(a) An obligor or an obligee under a child support order may seek and obtain the assistance of the Bureau for Child Support Enforcement to perform a recalculation of the support amount and prepare and present a petition seeking modification of a child support order and the presentation of a proposed order modifying support to the family court.

(b) A request for services authorized by this section shall constitute an application for services from the Bureau for Child Support Enforcement.

(c) The duties and actions directed or authorized when a request is made pursuant to this section shall be exercised by the employees and agents of the Bureau for Child Support Enforcement under the supervision and direction of Bureau for Child Support Enforcement attorneys as part of, and in addition to, their duties as set out in section one hundred three, article nineteen of this chapter.

(d) In performing its duties under this section, the Bureau for Child Support Enforcement is authorized to issue subpoenas and subpoenas duces tecum, pursuant to the provisions of section one hundred twenty-three of this article, to require an obligor or obligee to produce and permit inspection and copying of designated books, papers, documents or tangible things pursuant to Rule 45 of the Rules of Civil Procedure or section one hundred twenty-three of this article.

(e) When the Bureau for Child Support Enforcement is authorized or required by this section to notify or give notice to a party, the notice shall be given in the same manner as required for service of a petition for modification of support filed with the family court.

(f) The procedures and forms used shall provide that one party may request that their residential address and the address and identity of the employer not be revealed to another party.

(g) The Bureau for Child Support Enforcement may refuse to accept a request or take action on a request for assistance if it determines there are existing ongoing proceedings which would create a conflict, or if it determines that the request was not in good faith based on the allegations made, a history of multiple such requests or other information. If the Bureau for Child Support Enforcement makes a determination to refuse the request for assistance, it shall notify the party making the request for assistance and if the responding party has already been notified of the request, the responding party.

(h) The Bureau for Child Support Enforcement shall prepare an explanation of the process and procedures it will use to process the request for assistance under this section. The explanation shall be made available generally to the public, given to every person who makes a request and included with the notice to the responding party.