Justia West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals Opinion Summaries

J.G. was born at 34 weeks’ gestation with drugs in his system. Noting mother’s prior involuntary termination of parental rights, the Department of Health and Human Resources (DHHR) filed an abuse and neglect petition. J.G. was placed in foster care with petitioners in February 2015 and remains there. J.G. requires medical monitoring and treatment. The birth parents canceled multiple visits, frequently fell asleep during visits, failed to return calls from DHHR, and had multiple positive drug screens. The circuit court granted a six-month improvement period. DHHR indicated that the improvement period was a failure. Subsequent psychological evaluations indicated little likelihood that the parents would improve. The court granted another six-month improvement period, during which the parents were evicted, had positive drug tests, and engaged in a physical altercation. The court granted two more six-month improvement periods. During an overnight visit, a CPS worker arrived at the parents’ home to pick up J.G and observed large amounts of blood. She found J.G., screaming and in a saturated diaper, on the bed beside his father, who was unresponsive. Mother “was high as a kite.” The guardian ad litem and DHHR requested termination. Despite observations that the infant was bonded with the foster family and that returning J.G., to the parents “could be traumatizing” and continuing positive drug screens, the court ordered transition of J.G., to the parents’ custody. The West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals reversed. The circuit court failed to comply with the requirements of West Virginia Code 49-4-610 and the Rules of Procedure for Child Abuse and Neglect and abused its discretion in failing to terminate parental rights. View "In re: J.G., II" on Justia Law

In this abuse and neglect proceeding, the Supreme Court affirmed the circuit court’s adjudicatory order finding Father to be an abusing and neglectful parent but set aside the court’s order that adopted the parenting plan recommended by the children’s guardian ad litem.This proceeding concerned three children and their biological parents. Father appealed from the adjudicatory order finding him to be an abusing and neglectful parent and also appealed from a later order adopting the parenting plan recommended by the guardian ad litem. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding (1) the adjudicatory order was supported by clear and convincing evidence that Father was an abusing and neglectful parent in relation to the children; but (2) in view of updates to Rule 11(j) of the West Virginia Rules of Appellate Procedure, the circumstances regarding the children changed to the extent that the parenting plan was no longer viable in the absence of additional findings by the circuit court. View "In re J.P." on Justia Law

The Supreme Court reversed the decision of the circuit court awarding guardianship of A.C., a twelve-year-old girl, to A.C.’s grandmother, A.H. Petitioner, A.C., through her guardian ad litem, objected to the guardianship award and subsequently appealed, arguing that the circuit court’s award of guardianship to the grandmother was not in the child’s best interests and failed to include an appropriate evaluation of the Guardianship Screening Factors enumerated in Rule 10 of the West Virginia Rules of Practice and Procedure for Minor Guardianship Proceedings. The Supreme Court agreed and reversed, holding that the Guardianship Screening Factors, when applied to the facts of this case, indicated that the grandmother was not a viable candidate to serve as guardian to A.C. The court remanded the matter for entry of an order awarding guardianship to E.B., the godmother of A.C. View "In re Guardianship of A.C." on Justia Law

A parent who had court-appointed counsel in an abuse and neglect proceeding was not entitled to representation by court-appointed counsel once the abuse and neglect proceeding was dismissed and further action was brought in a domestic relations case.The Supreme Court held that, in this case, the circuit court correctly determined that because it had dismissed the abuse and neglect proceeding, Father was no longer entitled to court-appointed counsel to resolve a motion for custody, as the proceeding was a domestic relations case. The court, however, reversed the circuit court’s decision to continue the appointment of the guardian ad litem for the children in the domestic relations proceeding, holding (1) pursuant to Rule 47 of the West Virginia Rules of Practice and Procedure for Family Court, courts shall not routinely assign guardians ad litem for children in a domestic relations case but, rather, shall appoint a guardian ad litem only where the court is presented with substantial allegations of domestic abuse or other serious issues; and (2) in this case, the circuit court’s appointment of the guardian ad litem in the domestic relations proceeding was in error. View "In re Interest of Z.D." on Justia Law

In an appeal from a divorce action Wife argued that the circuit court abused its discretion with regard to a permanent spousal support award of $4,000 per month and challenged the circuit court’s equitable distribution findings, specifically, classification of certain retirement accounts of Husband as premarital and classification of certain expenditures Husband made as marital expenses. The Supreme Court (1) affirmed the circuit court’s order with regard to the equitable distribution findings with the exception of the finding on Husband’s premarital portion of his retirement account, holding the evidence showed $249,685 of that account was premarital; and (2) reversed the award of spousal support, holding that Wife was “harshly short-changed, considering the great disparity of the parties’ income.” View "Mulugeta v. Misailidis" on Justia Law

When a child is born alive, the presence of illegal drugs in the child’s system at birth constitutes sufficient evidence that the child is an abused and/or neglected child, as those terms are defined by W. Va. Code 49-1-201, to support the filing of an abuse and neglect petition pursuant to W. Va. Code 49-4-601The West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources filed an abuse and neglect petition against Father alleging that Child was an abused and/or neglected child. The allegations of Father’s misconduct included his failure to protect Child from Mother’s drug use - both prenatal and ongoing after Child’s birth - and his continuing association with Mother. Father filed a motion to dismiss the petition claiming that because an abuse and neglect proceeding could not be brought to protect a child who has not yet been born, a parent could not be charged with injuries in utero. The circuit court agreed to certify a question to the Supreme Court insofar as it was deemed to be determinative of Father’s motion to dismiss. The Supreme Court answered the question as reformulated. View "In re A.L.C.M." on Justia Law

Seven entities under contract to provide residential services to youth in the state (collectively, Petitioners) filed a petition for writ of mandamus requiring the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Services (DHHR), its Cabinet Secretary, the West Virginia Bureau for Medical Services (BMS), its Acting Commissioner, the Bureau for Children and Families (BCF), and its Commissioner (collectively, Respondents) to promulgate new or amended legislative rules prior to implementing changes to existing residential child care services policies. The Supreme Court granted a writ as moulded, finding it most appropriate to order this matter to be docketed in this circuit court as if it were an original proceeding in mandamus in that court. Remanded for further proceedings. View "State ex rel. Pressley Ridge v. W. Va. Department of Health & Human Resources" on Justia Law

Husband and Wife were granted a divorce by order of the family court in 2014. The circuit court affirmed the family court’s orders. Both parties appealed. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that the trial court did not err in (1) classifying certain property as marital property; (2) calculating Husband’s gambling losses; (3) denying Husband credit for payments Husband made during the parties’ separation; (4) ordering Husband to pay one-half of the attorney’s fees incurred by Wife; (5) calculating amounts due to Wife on one of the marital assets; and (6) failing to award Wife a cash sum to equalize the distribution of marital assets. View "P.A. v. T.A." on Justia Law

Mother and Father were the biological parents of D.M. D.M. was removed from Mother and Father and placed in the custody of the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources (the DHHR). After a dispositional hearing, the circuit court entered a final order finding D.M. to be an abused and neglected child and terminating the parental rights of both Mother and Father. The court denied Mother’s and Father’s motions for a post-adjudicatory improvement period and ordered that custody of D.M. will remain with the DHHR. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that the circuit court (1) did not err in determining that D.M. was an abused and neglected child and that there was no reasonable likelihood that the conditions of neglect or abuse could be substantially corrected in the near future; and (2) properly determined that neither Mother nor Father established a likelihood of full participation in a post-adjudicatory improvement period. View "In re D.M." on Justia Law

S.H. was adjudicated to have been neglected by her maternal grandmother and guardian, M.C. M.C. was granted an improvement period, but the improvement period was abruptly terminated by the court’s order, and M.C.’s guardianship of S.H. was subsequently terminated. The court affirmed the determination that S.H. was a neglected child, finding no error as to that conclusion. However, the court concluded that termination of M.C.’s improvement period was erroneous because M.C. was in full compliance with the terms and conditions of her improvement period. Accordingly, the court reversed and remanded with directions. View "In Re: S.H." on Justia Law