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WV Code § 44-9-4 (2021)
2021 West Virginia Code|Chapter 44. Administration of Estates and Trusts|Article 9. Persons Presumed to Be Dead and Their Estates|§44-9-4. Ancillary Letters on Estates of Nonresidents Supposed to Be Dead

Whenever letters testamentary or of administration shall have been granted in any other state, territory or country, on the estate of a resident thereof presumed to be dead on account of absence for seven or more successive years from the place of his last domicile, the person to whom such letters have been granted, may present a petition to the county court of the county in this state in which all or the greater portion of the estate of such supposed decedent in this state may be found, accompanied by a complete exemplified copy of the record for the grant of such letters, praying for the grant of ancillary letters testamentary or of administration upon the estate of such supposed decedent situate, owing, or belonging to him within this state; and the court may grant to some fit person, resident of this state, such ancillary letters, after notice shall be given in the manner provided for in the preceding section.
WV Code § 44-9-5 (2021)
2021 West Virginia Code|Chapter 44. Administration of Estates and Trusts|Article 9. Persons Presumed to Be Dead and Their Estates|§44-9-5. Evidence on Such Application; Record Thereof

At the hearing in either of the cases provided for in the preceding two sections, the county commission shall receive all legal evidence as may be offered, for the purpose of ascertaining whether the presumption of death is established; or it may refer the matter to a fiduciary commissioner to take such evidence, and report his findings thereon. No person shall be disqualified as a witness by reason of relationship to the supposed decedent or interests in his estate. All the evidence shall be reduced to writing and preserved in the files of the commission with the record of the case.
WV Code § 44-9-6 (2021)
2021 West Virginia Code|Chapter 44. Administration of Estates and Trusts|Article 9. Persons Presumed to Be Dead and Their Estates|§44-9-6. Order Declaring Presumption Established; Probate of Will; Letters Testamentary or of Administration; Their Effect; Death Certificate Issued Upon Order

If the commission is satisfied, upon the hearing or from the report of the fiduciary commissioner, that the legal presumption of death is established, the commission shall so declare by order, shall then proceed to hear, and to grant, if proper, the application for probate of the will of such supposed decedent, if such there be, and to grant letters testamentary or of administration, as the case may require, to the party entitled thereto, who shall qualify and give bonds as in cases of persons known to be dead. The probate of any such will and such letters, until revoked, and all acts done in pursuance thereof and in reliance thereupon, shall be as valid as if the supposed decedent were in fact dead.Immediately upon the entry of such order declaring that the legal presumption of death is established, the commission shall direct the clerk thereof forthwith to make and deliver to the state registrar of vital statistics the order and such personal data and other information from the records of the proceedings as may enable the state registrar of vital statistics to issue a death certificate. Upon receipt of the order, personal data and other information, the registrar of vital statistics shall forthwith issue and deliver by mail unto the clerk of the county commission wherein such order was entered, a death certificate in the form prescribed by law, except that no medical certification shall be required. The clerk shall record such death certificate in the manner set forth in section nineteen, article five, chapter sixteen of this code.
WV Code § 44-9-7 (2021)
2021 West Virginia Code|Chapter 44. Administration of Estates and Trusts|Article 9. Persons Presumed to Be Dead and Their Estates|§44-9-7. Powers of Clerk of County Commission

The clerk of any county commission during the recess of the regular sessions of the county commission may exercise the same powers as are herein conferred upon such commission.
WV Code § 44-9-8 (2021)
2021 West Virginia Code|Chapter 44. Administration of Estates and Trusts|Article 9. Persons Presumed to Be Dead and Their Estates|§44-9-8. Personal Representative to Institute Suit to Settle Such Estate

The personal representative of the estate of such supposed decedent shall, after qualifying, institute a suit in equity in the circuit court of the county in which such personal representative qualified, for the settlement of the estate of such supposed decedent. To such suit the surviving wife or husband, heirs, distributees, devisees, legatees, and all known creditors of the supposed decedent, shall be made parties defendant, and there shall be filed with the bill of complaint therein an attested copy of the complete record of the county court relating to the appointment and qualification of such personal representative, including a copy of the evidence taken to establish the presumption of death.
WV Code § 44-9-9 (2021)
2021 West Virginia Code|Chapter 44. Administration of Estates and Trusts|Article 9. Persons Presumed to Be Dead and Their Estates|§44-9-9. Publication in Such Suit

Such personal representative, upon the institution of such suit, shall cause notice to the supposed decedent to be issued by the clerk of the circuit court, that such suit has been instituted and that such supposed decedent, if alive, is required to appear on a certain day of a regular or special term of said court not less than three nor more than six months from the date of the first publication of such notice as hereinafter required. Such notice shall be published as a Class II legal advertisement in compliance with the provisions of article three, chapter fifty- nine of this code, and the publication area for such publication shall be the county where the suit is brought. When practicable, such notice shall also be published once a week for two successive weeks in a newspaper published at or near the place where such supposed decedent was last known to reside beyond this state, or in this state, if the supposed decedent was not known to have left the same and such place is in a county other than the one where the suit is pending.
WV Code § 44-9-10 (2021)
2021 West Virginia Code|Chapter 44. Administration of Estates and Trusts|Article 9. Persons Presumed to Be Dead and Their Estates|§44-9-10. Procedure When Supposed Decedent Fails to Appear

If such supposed decedent shall not appear, or satisfactory evidence that he is alive shall not be offered, on or before such date, the circuit court shall review the record from the county court filed in such suit, and, if satisfied that the county court improperly ruled on the facts before it with reference to the presumption of death, may call for and take further proof, and, when satisfied that the presumption of death is properly established, shall then refer the cause to a commissioner in chancery to convene the creditors of such supposed decedent, by publishing notice therefor in the manner provided in proceedings for subjection of a decedent’s real estate to the payment of his debts, and to take proof of the claims of creditors, the amount and nature of the estate of such supposed decedent and the persons entitled thereto; and the cause shall thenceforth be proceeded with as other causes in chancery of a similar nature.
WV Code § 44-9-11 (2021)
2021 West Virginia Code|Chapter 44. Administration of Estates and Trusts|Article 9. Persons Presumed to Be Dead and Their Estates|§44-9-11. Distribution of Estate; Refunding Bonds

When the commissioner in chancery has rendered his report, and all exceptions thereto have been disposed of, the court may enter a decree authorizing the payment of creditors and assigning and transferring such estate to the persons entitled thereto, or directing sale thereof and distribution of the proceeds of sale among the creditors and persons entitled thereto. But before such assignment of the estate or distribution of the proceeds thereof the court shall require the persons, other than creditors, entitled to receive the same, to enter into a joint or separate bond before the clerk of the court, in a penalty to be fixed by the court, with sureties to be approved by the clerk, with condition that, if the supposed decedent shall at any time within fifteen years thereafter appear, they will refund the amounts received, on demand. If the persons entitled thereto are jointly or separately unable to give such security, then such estate may be sold and the proceeds thereof paid into the hands of the general receiver of the court until such security is given or until the further order of the court, but the interest arising therefrom shall be paid annually to the person or persons appearing to be entitled thereto, without the giving of any refunding bond.
WV Code § 44-9-12 (2021)
2021 West Virginia Code|Chapter 44. Administration of Estates and Trusts|Article 9. Persons Presumed to Be Dead and Their Estates|§44-9-12. Vacation of Prior Proceedings on Reappearance of Supposed Decedent

The circuit court may at any time, on satisfactory proof that the supposed decedent is in fact alive, set aside and vacate all proceedings theretofore had in such suit, including the decree of distribution, if such has been entered, and any order or decree entered by it or the county court establishing the presumption of death, and upon doing so shall certify that fact to the county court. The county court shall thereupon revoke the probate of any will of such supposed decedent and the grant of letters testamentary or of administration on his estate: Provided, That in no case shall the supposed decedent file his petition or suit to set aside and vacate such adjudication after the lapse of fifteen years from the date of such adjudication.
WV Code § 44-9-13 (2021)
2021 West Virginia Code|Chapter 44. Administration of Estates and Trusts|Article 9. Persons Presumed to Be Dead and Their Estates|§44-9-13. Final Accounting of Personal Representative; Effect of His Acts; Title of Purchasers and Distributees

The circuit court shall, when the prior proceedings have been vacated as provided in the preceding section, require a final settlement of the personal representative, and direct the transfer of all assets in the hands of such personal representative, and, if any property or proceeds thereof have been distributed, the retransfer or refunding thereof to the supposed decedent, or his duly authorized agent, attorney or representative. All acts of such personal representative while his letters were in force, and the title of bona fide purchasers to property under sales made by him shall remain as valid as if such letters were unrevoked. But nothing in this section shall validate the title of any person to any money or property received as surviving wife or husband, next of kin, heir, legatee or devisee of such supposed decedent, but the same may be recovered from such person in like manner as if there had been no proceedings under the provisions of this article.
WV Code § 44-9-14 (2021)
2021 West Virginia Code|Chapter 44. Administration of Estates and Trusts|Article 9. Persons Presumed to Be Dead and Their Estates|§44-9-14. Substitution of Supposed Decedent in Pending Actions; Opening Judgments; Effect of Judgment After Substitution

After revocation of the letters and vacation of the order or orders declaring the presumption of death established, the person erroneously supposed to be dead may, on suggestion filed of record of the proper fact, be substituted as plaintiff in all actions, suits, or proceedings brought by the personal representative, whether prosecuted to judgment or decree, or otherwise. He may, in all actions, suits or proceedings previously brought against the personal representative, be substituted as defendant, on proper suggestion filed by himself or of the plaintiff therein, but shall not be compelled to go to trial in less than three months from the time of such suggestion filed. Judgments or decrees, recovered against the personal representative before revocation of the letters and vacation of such order or orders, may be opened on application by the supposed decedent, made within three months from such revocation of the letters and vacation of such order or orders, and supported by affidavit denying specifically, on the knowledge of the affiant, the cause of action, in whole or in part, or specifically alleging the existence of facts which would be a valid defense; but, if within such three months, such application shall not be made, or, being made, the facts exhibited shall be adjudged an insufficient defense, the judgment or decree shall be conclusive to all intents, saving the defendant’s right to have it reviewed as in other cases in the manner provided by law. After the substitution of the supposed decedent as defendant in any judgment or decree, as aforesaid, it shall have the same force and effect as if taken against him originally, and shall so continue as other judgments or decrees, unless and until it shall be set aside by the court below or reversed in the Supreme Court of Appeals.
WV Code § 44-9-15 (2021)
2021 West Virginia Code|Chapter 44. Administration of Estates and Trusts|Article 9. Persons Presumed to Be Dead and Their Estates|§44-9-15. When Laws Relating to Wills and Estates Generally to Govern

As to matters not specially provided for in this article, the provisions of law relating to the probate of wills and the administration of estates of actual decedents shall govern, so far as applicable.
WV Code § 44-9-16 (2021)
2021 West Virginia Code|Chapter 44. Administration of Estates and Trusts|Article 9. Persons Presumed to Be Dead and Their Estates|§44-9-16. Costs, by Whom Payable

The costs attending the issuance of letters testamentary or of administration, or their revocation, and the probate of any will, and of the suit for the settlement of the estate, shall be paid out of the estate of the supposed decedent; and costs arising upon an application for letters which shall not be granted shall be paid by the applicant.
WV Code § 44-10-1 (2021)
2021 West Virginia Code|Chapter 44. Administration of Estates and Trusts|Article 10. Guardians and Wards Generally|§44-10-1. Testamentary Guardians

Every father or mother, may, by last will and testament, appoint a guardian for his or her child, born or to be born, and for such time during its infancy as he or she may direct. Where both father and mother have so appointed guardians, only that guardian who is the appointee of the parent last living shall be entitled to the custody of the person of such child.
WV Code § 44-10-2 (2021)
2021 West Virginia Code|Chapter 44. Administration of Estates and Trusts|Article 10. Guardians and Wards Generally|§44-10-2. Appointment Void for Renunciation or Failure to Qualify

If any person so appointed shall renounce the trust, or fail to appear before the county court before whom such will shall be proved, within six months after the probate thereof, and declare his acceptance of the trust, and give bond as provided in this article, such appointment shall be void.
WV Code § 44-10-4 (2021)
2021 West Virginia Code|Chapter 44. Administration of Estates and Trusts|Article 10. Guardians and Wards Generally|§44-10-4. Right of Minor to Nominate Guardian

(a) If the minor is above the age of fourteen years, he or she may in the presence of the circuit or family court, or in writing acknowledged before any officer authorized to take the acknowledgment of a deed, nominate his or her own guardian, who, if approved by the court, shall be appointed accordingly.(b) If the minor is below the age of fourteen years and, if the court determines it is in the best interests of the minor, the court may consider the firm and reasonable preferences of a minor who, in the discretion of the court, is sufficiently matured that he or she can intelligently express a preference. He or she may in the presence of the circuit or family court, or in writing acknowledged before any officer authorized to take the acknowledgment of a deed, nominate his or her own guardian, who, if approved by the court, after giving that preference the weight warranted by the circumstances, shall be appointed accordingly.(c) If the guardian nominated by the minor is not appointed by the court, or if the minor resides outside the state, or if, after being summoned, the minor neglects to nominate a suitable person, the court may appoint the guardian in the same manner as if the minor were under the age of fourteen years.
WV Code § 44-10-5 (2021)
2021 West Virginia Code|Chapter 44. Administration of Estates and Trusts|Article 10. Guardians and Wards Generally|§44-10-5. Bond of Guardian

(a) Every guardian, except in the case of a testamentary guardian where the will otherwise directs and the court in which the will is recorded deems it unnecessary for the safety of the ward, shall give bond with security to be approved by the court by whom he or she is appointed, or before whom he or she accepts the trust, in such penalty as shall be prescribed by the court.(b) The bond shall be given before the clerk of the court in which the petition is filed.
WV Code § 44-10-6 (2021)
2021 West Virginia Code|Chapter 44. Administration of Estates and Trusts|Article 10. Guardians and Wards Generally|§44-10-6. Curator; Bond; Powers and Duties

Until a guardian gives bond, or while there is no guardian, the circuit or family court, may, from time to time, appoint a curator, who shall give bond, and during the continuance of his or her trust, have all the powers and perform all the duties of a guardian, and be responsible in the same way.
WV Code § 44-10-8 (2021)
2021 West Virginia Code|Chapter 44. Administration of Estates and Trusts|Article 10. Guardians and Wards Generally|§44-10-8. Disbursements and Expenditures by Guardians From Income and Corpus of Estates of Infant Wards

No disbursements, beyond the annual income of the ward’s estate, shall be allowed to any guardian where the deed or will, under which the estate is derived, does not authorize it, unless the same shall have been authorized by the circuit court of the county in which the guardian was appointed or qualified. Any guardian, who may desire to spend more than the annual income of his ward’s estate for any purpose, shall file in such circuit court a petition, verified by his oath, setting forth the reasons why it is necessary to make such expenditures, to which petition the ward shall be made defendant. The court shall appoint a guardian ad litem for the ward, who shall answer such petition, be present at the hearing, and represent the infant. Five days’ notice shall be given to the defendant before such petition can be heard. At the hearing the evidence may be taken orally, and the court, if satisfied that such expenditure would be judicious and proper, may grant the prayer of the petition. Such petition may be filed and heard before the judge of such court in vacation as well as in term time. In the settlement of the guardian’s accounts no credit shall be allowed him by the fiduciary commissioner or the court for expenditures for his ward, except for expenditures of the annual income of his ward’s estate and for expenditures of such amounts of the principal of the ward’s personal estate as are authorized by the court as provided by this section: Provided, That if the personal estate in the hands of the guardian does not exceed in amount the sum of $3,000, disbursement may be made by the guardian from the corpus of such personal estate for the ward’s maintenance and education, after first securing the written approval so to do of and from the fiduciary commissioner to whom the settlement of the ward’s estate was referred.
WV Code § 44-10-9 (2021)
2021 West Virginia Code|Chapter 44. Administration of Estates and Trusts|Article 10. Guardians and Wards Generally|§44-10-9. Sale of Personal Estate to Pay Excess Beyond Income

When any such disbursements shall be so allowed, the court shall, if necessary, order the sale of such portions of the personal estate of the ward as may be necessary to pay the balance of such expenditures over and above the income of his estate.
WV Code § 44-10-10 (2021)
2021 West Virginia Code|Chapter 44. Administration of Estates and Trusts|Article 10. Guardians and Wards Generally|§44-10-10. When Guardian to Pay Interest

If any balance, whether of profits received or estimated, or of interest or principal, be due by any guardian, or other person acting as guardian, at the end of any year, which ought to be invested or loaned out within a reasonable time for the benefit of the ward, and the same remain in the hands of such guardian or other person, he shall be charged with interest thereon from the end of the year in which such balance arose, and so on, as often as such shall be the fact, during the continuance of the trust.
WV Code § 44-10-11 (2021)
2021 West Virginia Code|Chapter 44. Administration of Estates and Trusts|Article 10. Guardians and Wards Generally|§44-10-11. Compound Interest Recoverable

Any person acting as guardian shall have the right to demand and recover of any obligor in any bond or the maker of any other instrument in writing, payable to him as guardian, and held by him for the benefit of his ward, not only the principal sum due, with interest thereon after the rate prescribed by law; but also, when the interest on the principal sum is not paid punctually at the time stipulated in such bond or writing, to demand and recover interest upon the interest so due and unpaid.
WV Code § 44-10-12 (2021)
2021 West Virginia Code|Chapter 44. Administration of Estates and Trusts|Article 10. Guardians and Wards Generally|§44-10-12. Time Allowed Guardian for Investment of Funds

Whenever a guardian shall collect any principal or interest belonging to his ward, he shall have sixty days to invest or loan the same, and shall not be charged with interest thereon until the expiration of such time, unless he shall have made the investment previous thereto, in which case he shall be charged with interest from the time the investment or loan was made: Provided, That if by due diligence any guardian is unable to loan any principal or interest belonging to his ward within the time aforesaid, and it becomes necessary for him to apply to the circuit court for authority or direction concerning such funds, such guardian shall not, pending a hearing of the matter, be chargeable with interest on the funds in his hands uninvested, unless the court or judge otherwise order.
WV Code § 44-10-13 (2021)
2021 West Virginia Code|Chapter 44. Administration of Estates and Trusts|Article 10. Guardians and Wards Generally|§44-10-13. Powers of Chancery Courts Over Guardians; When and How Real Estate May Be Sold for Maintenance and Education of Wards

The circuit court, in chancery, may hear and determine all matters between guardians and their wards, require settlement of the guardianship accounts, remove any guardian for neglect or breach of trust, and appoint another, or order another to be appointed, in his stead, and make any orders for the custody and tuition of an infant, and the management, preservation and investment of his estate; and when it shall be made to appear to the satisfaction of a circuit court on a bill in chancery, or by petition in a summary way, filed for the purpose by the guardian, that the proper maintenance and education, or other interests of an infant, require that the proceeds of his real estate, beyond the annual income thereof, should be applied to the use of such infant, it shall be lawful for the court to order the sale of, or to authorize a loan upon, his real estate, or such part thereof as may be necessary for the purpose, and, from time to time, make such decrees and orders as may be proper to secure the due application of the proceeds of such sale or loan; and to the extent that such proceeds may be so applied they shall be deemed personal estate, but no further. Every bill or petition filed under this section, and the proceedings thereon, shall conform to the procedure provided by law for authority to sell the real estate of an infant.