Code of West Virginia, 1931

Code	Chapter	Article	Section Heading	Section Text Preview	Status
41-2-2	Ch. 41 — WILLS	Competency of Witnesses	Creditors May be Witnesses	If a will charging any estate with debts be attested by a creditor, or the wife or husband of a creditor, whose debt is so charged, such creditor shall, notwith…	Proofed
41-2-3	Ch. 41 — WILLS	Competency of Witnesses	Executor May be Witness	No person shall, on account of his being executor of a will, be incompetent as a witness for or against the will.	Proofed
41-3-1	Ch. 41 — WILLS	Provisions as to Construction	When Will Takes Effect	A will shall be construed, with reference to the estate comprised in it, to speak and take effect as if it had been executed immediately before the death of the…	Proofed
41-3-2	Ch. 41 — WILLS	Provisions as to Construction	When Advancement Deemed Satisfaction of Devise or Bequest	A provision for or advancement to any person shall be deemed a satisfaction in whole or in part of a devise or bequest to such person, contained in a previous w…	Proofed
41-3-3	Ch. 41 — WILLS	Provisions as to Construction	Death of Devisee or Legatee Before Testator	If a devisee or legatee die before the testator, or be dead at the time of making of the will, leaving issue who survive the testator, such issue shall take the…	Proofed
41-3-4	Ch. 41 — WILLS	Provisions as to Construction	Failure or Invalidity of Devise or Bequest	Unless a contrary intention shall appear by the will, such real or personal estate, or interest therein, as shall be comprised in any devise or bequest in such …	Proofed
41-3-5	Ch. 41 — WILLS	Provisions as to Construction	Construction of Devises in General Terms	A devise of the land of the testator, or of the land of the testator in any place, or in the occupation of any person mentioned in his will, or otherwise descri…	Proofed
41-3-6	Ch. 41 — WILLS	Provisions as to Construction	Operation of Devise or Bequest as Power of Appointment	A devise or bequest shall extend to any real or personal estate (as the ease may be) which the testator has power to appoint as he may think proper, and to whic…	Proofed
41-3-7	Ch. 41 — WILLS	Provisions as to Construction	Courts of Equity May Construe Wills	Notwithstanding any other provision of law, and notwithstanding there is no other ground of equity jurisdiction, courts possessing general equity powers shall h…	Proofed
41-4-1	Ch. 41 — WILLS	Provisions as to Pretermitted Children	Where no Child Living When Will Made	If any person die leaving a child, or his wife with child, which shall be born alive, and leaving a will made when such person had no child living, wherein any …	Proofed
41-4-2	Ch. 41 — WILLS	Provisions as to Pretermitted Children	Where Child Living When Will Made	If a will be made when a testator has a child living, and a child be born afterwards, such after-born child or any descendant of his, if not provided for by any…	Proofed
41-5-1	Ch. 41 — WILLS	Production, Probate and Record of Wills	Custodian of Will to Deliver Same to Clerk of County Court or Executor; Liability for Neglect	A person having custody of a will shall, within thirty days after the death of the testator is known to him, deliver such will to the clerk of the county court …	Proofed
41-5-2	Ch. 41 — WILLS	Production, Probate and Record of Wills	Clerk to Notify Executor and Beneficiaries, and to Keep Will Safe in His Office	Upon delivery of a will unto him as provided in the next preceding section, the clerk shall notify by mail or otherwise the executor and the beneficiaries named…	Proofed
41-5-3	Ch. 41 — WILLS	Production, Probate and Record of Wills	Compelling Production of Will and Offer of Probate	A county court having jurisdiction to probate a will, or the clerk thereof in the vacation of the court, upon being informed that any person has in his custody …	Proofed
41-5-4	Ch. 41 — WILLS	Production, Probate and Record of Wills	Place of Probate	The county court shall have jurisdiction of the probate of wills according to the following rules. (a) In the county wherein the testator, at the time of his …	Proofed
41-5-5	Ch. 41 — WILLS	Production, Probate and Record of Wills	Procedure for Probate in Solemn Form	The county court, sitting in a regular or special session, shall hear and determine all proceedings to admit a will to probate in solemn form. Upon or at any ti…	Proofed
41-5-6	Ch. 41 — WILLS	Production, Probate and Record of Wills	Hearing and Decision	If no contest be made, the court may, on the return day of the summons on the petition, and, if contest be made, on the return day of the process upon notice of…	Proofed
41-5-7	Ch. 41 — WILLS	Production, Probate and Record of Wills	Appeal from Probate Order; When May be Taken; Procedure	Any person feeling himself aggrieved by any order or judgment of the county court admitting or refusing to admit any will to probate may, within eight months, o…	Proofed
41-5-8	Ch. 41 — WILLS	Production, Probate and Record of Wills	Other Testamentary Papers to be Produced; Jury Trial if Desired	If there be more than one testamentary paper in question in any such proceeding, the circuit court shall order them all to be produced. The circuit court shall …	Proofed
41-5-9	Ch. 41 — WILLS	Production, Probate and Record of Wills	Order as Bar to Suit in Equity	Every such order or judgment of a county court not appealed from in proceedings for probate in solemn form, or in an ex parte proceeding which has been converte…	Proofed
41-5-10	Ch. 41 — WILLS	Production, Probate and Record of Wills	Ex Parte Procedure to Probate; Appeal	At, or at any time after, the production of a will, any person may move the county court having jurisdiction, or the clerk thereof in the vacation of the court,…	Proofed
41-5-11	Ch. 41 — WILLS	Production, Probate and Record of Wills	Impeachment or Establishment in Equity; Trial by Jury	After a judgment or order entered as aforesaid in a proceeding for probate ex parte, any person interested who was not a party to the proceeding, or any person …	Proofed
41-5-12	Ch. 41 — WILLS	Production, Probate and Record of Wills	Same, by Person Under Disability or Nonresident	Notwithstanding the two preceding sections, any person interested who, at the time of the judgment or order is under the age of twenty-one years, or is a convic…	Proofed
41-5-13	Ch. 41 — WILLS	Production, Probate and Record of Wills	Probate of Foreign Will	Where will relative to estate within this State has been proved without the same, an authenticated copy thereof and the certificate of probate thereof, may be o…	Proofed
41-5-14	Ch. 41 — WILLS	Production, Probate and Record of Wills	When Depositions Admissible	The deposition of an attesting witness or other person may be read on the hearing of any proceeding to probate a will, when under the facts and circumstances th…	Proofed
41-5-15	Ch. 41 — WILLS	Production, Probate and Record of Wills	Proof of Will While Testator Living	Any or all of the attesting witnesses to any will, at the request of the testator, may make and subscribe an affidavit before any officer authorized to administ…	Proofed
41-5-16	Ch. 41 — WILLS	Production, Probate and Record of Wills	Statements of Particulars in Will Contests	For the trial of any appeal under the provisions of sections seven and ten of this article, or for the trial of any issues to be submitted to a jury under the p…	Proofed
41-5-17	Ch. 41 — WILLS	Production, Probate and Record of Wills	Probated Wills to be Recorded and Indexed	Every will or authenticated copy of a will, when admitted to probate under the provisions of this article, shall be recorded by the clerk of the county court, a…	Proofed
41-5-18	Ch. 41 — WILLS	Production, Probate and Record of Wills	Recording in Other Counties; Duty of Personal Representative or Devisee	A duly certified copy of such will when probated, or of an authenticated copy of a foreign will admitted to record as a will of real estate, may be recorded in …	Proofed
41-5-19	Ch. 41 — WILLS	Production, Probate and Record of Wills	Title of Bona Fide Purchasers of Real Estate From Heirs	The title of a bona fide purchaser without notice and for valuable consideration from the heir or heirs at law of a person who has died heretofore, or who may d…	Proofed
42-1-1	Ch. 42 — DESCENT AND DISTRIBUTION	Descent	Course of Descent Generally	When any person having title to any real estate of inheritance shall die intestate as to such estate, it shall descend and pass in parcenary to his kindred, mal…	Proofed
42-1-2	Ch. 42 — DESCENT AND DISTRIBUTION	Descent	How Collaterals of Half Blood Inherit	Collaterals of the half blood shall inherit only half so much as those of the whole blood. But if all the collaterals be of the half blood, the ascending kindre…	Proofed
42-1-3	Ch. 42 — DESCENT AND DISTRIBUTION	Descent	When Parties Take Per Capita and When Per Stirpes	Whenever the children of the intestate, or the wife or husband of the intestate with his brothers and sisters, or the uncles and aunts of the intestate, or the …	Proofed
42-1-4	Ch. 42 — DESCENT AND DISTRIBUTION	Descent	Alienage of Ancestor Not to Bar	In making title by descent, it shall be no bar to a party that any ancestor, whether living or dead, through whom he derives his descent from the intestate, is …	Proofed
42-1-5	Ch. 42 — DESCENT AND DISTRIBUTION	Descent	From Whom Bastards Inherit	Bastards shall be capable of inheriting and transmitting inheritance on the part of their mother, as if lawfully begotten.	Proofed
42-1-6	Ch. 42 — DESCENT AND DISTRIBUTION	Descent	Legitimation by Marriage	If a man, having had a child or children by a woman, shall afterwards intermarry with her, such child or children, or their descendants, shall be deemed legitim…	Proofed
42-1-7	Ch. 42 — DESCENT AND DISTRIBUTION	Descent	Issue Legitimate Though Marriage Null	The issue of marriages deemed null in law, or dissolved by a court, shall nevertheless be legitimate.	Proofed
42-1-8	Ch. 42 — DESCENT AND DISTRIBUTION	Descent	Posthumous Children to Take	Any child in the womb of its mother at, and which may be born after, the death of the intestate, shall be capable of taking by inheritance in the same manner as…	Proofed
42-1-9	Ch. 42 — DESCENT AND DISTRIBUTION	Descent	Establishment and Recordation of Descent	Where any person having title to an estate of inheritance in real estate within this State has died intestate, or without having devised his real estate, his he…	Proofed
42-2-1	Ch. 42 — DESCENT AND DISTRIBUTION	Distribution	To Whom Personal Estate Distributed	When any person shall die intestate as to his personal estate or any part thereof, the surplus, after payment of funeral expenses, charges of administration and…	Proofed
42-2-2	Ch. 42 — DESCENT AND DISTRIBUTION	Distribution	Personalty Accrues to the State if no Other Distributee	To the State shall accrue all the personal estate of every decedent, of which there may be no other distributee.	Proofed
42-3-1	Ch. 42 — DESCENT AND DISTRIBUTION	Provisions Relating to Husband or Wife of Decedent	Renunciation of Will by Husband or Wife	When any provision is made in a will for the surviving wife or husband of the testator, such surviving wife or husband may, within eight months from the time of…	Proofed
42-3-2	Ch. 42 — DESCENT AND DISTRIBUTION	Provisions Relating to Husband or Wife of Decedent	Provision in Lieu of Dower and Distributive Share	If a person make provision by will for his or her surviving wife or husband, such provision shall be construed to be in lieu and bar of dower and distributive s…	Proofed
42-3-3	Ch. 42 — DESCENT AND DISTRIBUTION	Provisions Relating to Husband or Wife of Decedent	Effect of Bar of Dower	The provisions of this chapter in favor of the husband and the wife are all subject to this qualification, that if the husband would be barred of his dower in t…	Proofed
42-4-1	Ch. 42 — DESCENT AND DISTRIBUTION	General Provisions	Advancements to be Brought Into Hotchpot	Where any descendant or collateral relative of a person dying intestate as to his estate, or any part thereof, shall have received from such intestate in his li…	Proofed
42-4-2	Ch. 42 — DESCENT AND DISTRIBUTION	General Provisions	Homicide Bars Acquisition of Estate or Insurance Money	No person who has been convicted of feloniously killing another, or of conspiracy in the killing of another, shall take or acquire any money or property, real o…	Proofed
43-1-1	Ch. 43 — DOWER AND VALUATION OF LIFE ESTATES	Dower	Who Entitled to Dower	A surviving spouse shall be endowed of one-third of all the real estate whereof the deceased spouse, or any other to his or her use, or in trust for him or her,…	Proofed
43-1-2	Ch. 43 — DOWER AND VALUATION OF LIFE ESTATES	Dower	Same, Where Only Right of Entry or Action	When a deceased spouse, or any other to his or her use, shall have been entitled to a right of entry or action in any land, and the surviving spouse would be en…	Proofed
43-1-3	Ch. 43 — DOWER AND VALUATION OF LIFE ESTATES	Dower	Same, Where Land of Spouse Sold in Lifetime of Such Spouse to Satisfy Encumbrance	Where land is bona fide sold in the lifetime of a husband or wife to satisfy a lien or encumbrance thereon, created by deed in which the other spouse has united…	Proofed
43-1-4	Ch. 43 — DOWER AND VALUATION OF LIFE ESTATES	Dower	Same, Where Land of Spouse Sold After Death of Such Spouse to Satisfy Encumbrance	When the land in which a surviving spouse is entitled to dower is subject to a lien or encumbrance, created by deed in which he or she united, or for the purcha…	Proofed