reglab/statecodes huggingface dataset:
2023 West Virginia Code › Chapter 39B. Uniform Power of Attorney Act › Article 2. Authority › §39B-2-117. Gifts

(a) In this section, a gift "for the benefit of" a person includes a gift to a trust, an account under the Uniform Transfers to Minors Act and a tuition savings account or prepaid tuition plan as defined under Internal Revenue Code, 26 U. S. C. §529, as amended.
(b) Unless the power of attorney otherwise provides, language in a power of attorney granting general authority with respect to gifts authorizes the agent only to:
(1) Make outright to, or for the benefit of, a person, a gift of any of the principal's property, including by the exercise of a presently exercisable general power of appointment held by the principal, in an amount per donee not to exceed the annual dollar limits of the federal gift tax exclusion under Internal Revenue Code, 26 U. S. C. §2503(b), without regard to whether the federal gift tax exclusion applies to the gift or if the principal's spouse agrees to consent to a split gift pursuant to Internal Revenue Code, 26 U. S. C. §2513, as amended, in an amount per donee not to exceed twice the annual federal gift tax exclusion limit; and
(2) Consent, pursuant to Internal Revenue Code, 26 U. S. C. §2513, to the splitting of a gift made by the principal's spouse in an amount per donee not to exceed the aggregate annual gift tax exclusions for both spouses.
(c) An agent may make a gift of the principal's property only as the agent determines is consistent with the principal's objectives if actually known by the agent and, if unknown, as the agent determines is consistent with the principal's best interest based on all relevant factors, including:
(1) The value and nature of the principal's property;
(2) The principal's foreseeable obligations and need for maintenance;
(3) Minimization of taxes, including income, estate, inheritance, generation-skipping transfer and gift taxes;
(4) Eligibility for a benefit, a program or assistance under a statute or regulation; and
(5) The principal's personal history of making or joining in making gifts.
2023 West Virginia Code › Chapter 39B. Uniform Power of Attorney Act › Article 3. Statutory Forms › §39B-3-102. Agent's Certification

The following optional form may be used by an agent to certify facts concerning a power of attorney:
AGENT'S CERTIFICATION AS TO THE VALIDITY OF POWER OF
ATTORNEY AND AGENT'S AUTHORITY
State of _____________________________
[County] of___________________________]
I, _____________________________________________ (Name of Agent), [certify] under penalty of perjury that ______________________________(Name of Principal) granted me authority as an agent or successor agent in a power of attorney dated ______________.
I, further [certify] that to my knowledge:
(1) The Principal is alive and has not revoked the power of attorney or my authority to act under the power of attorney and the power of attorney and my authority to act under the power of attorney have not terminated;
(2) If the power of attorney was drafted to become effective upon the happening of an event or contingency, the event or contingency has occurred;
(3) If I was named as a successor agent, the prior agent is no longer able or willing to serve; and
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ (Insert other relevant statements)
SIGNATURE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENT
____________________________________________________________________________
Agent's Signature ___________________________________Date _______________
Agent's Name Printed ____________________________________________
Agent's Address__________________________________________________
Agent's Telephone Number_________________________________________
This document was acknowledged before me on _______________,
(Date)
by ______________________________________.
(Name of Agent)
_________________________________________
Signature of Notary
(Seal, if any)
My commission expires: ________________________
[This document prepared by:_____________________________________]
2023 West Virginia Code › Chapter 39B. Uniform Power of Attorney Act › Article 4. Miscellaneous Provisions › §39B-4-102. Relation to Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act

This act modifies, limits and supersedes the federal Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act, 15 U. S. C. §7001 et seq., but does not modify, limit or supersede 15 U. S. C. Section 7001(c), of that act, or authorize electronic delivery of any of the notices described in 15 U. S. C. Section §7003(b), of that act.
2023 West Virginia Code › Chapter 39B. Uniform Power of Attorney Act › Article 4. Miscellaneous Provisions › §39B-4-103. Effect on Existing Powers of Attorney

(a) Except as otherwise provided in this act, on the effective date of this act its provisions apply to:
(1) A power of attorney created before, on, or after the effective date of this act;
(2) A judicial proceeding concerning a power of attorney commenced on or after the effective date of this act; and
(3) A judicial proceeding concerning a power of attorney commenced before the effective date of this act unless the court finds that application of a provision of this chapter would substantially interfere with the effective conduct of the judicial proceeding or prejudice the rights of a party, in which case that provision does not apply and the superseded law applies.
(b) An act done before the effective date of this act is not affected by this act.
2023 West Virginia Code › Chapter 40. Acts Void as to Creditors and Purchasers › Article 1. Acts Generally Void as to Creditors and Purchasers › §40-1-8. Effect of Recording Certain Contracts as to Creditors and Purchasers; Memorandum of Lease May Be Recorded

Any contract in writing made in respect to real estate or goods and chattels in consideration of marriage; or any contract in writing made for the conveyance or sale of real estate, or an interest or term therein of more than five years, or any other interest or term therein, of any duration, under which the whole or any part of the corpus of the estate may be taken, destroyed, or consumed, except for domestic use, shall, from the time it is duly admitted to record, be, as against creditors and purchasers, as valid as if the contract were a deed conveying the estate or interest embraced in the contract. In lieu of the recording of a lease pursuant to this section, there may be recorded with like effect a memorandum of such lease, executed by all persons who are parties to the lease and acknowledged in the manner to entitle a conveyance to be recorded. A memorandum of lease thus entitled to be recorded shall contain at least the following information with respect to the lease: The name of the lessor and the name of the lessee and the addresses of such parties as set forth in the lease; a reference to the lease, with its date of execution; a description of the leased premises in the form contained in the lease; the term of the lease, with the date of commencement and the date of termination of such term, and if there is a right of extension or renewal, the maximum period for which, or date to which, the lease may be extended, or the number of times or date to which it may be renewed and the date or dates on which such rights of extension or renewal are exercisable. Such memorandum shall constitute notice of only the information contained therein.
2023 West Virginia Code › Chapter 40. Acts Void as to Creditors and Purchasers › Article 1. Acts Generally Void as to Creditors and Purchasers › §40-1-9. Contracts, Deeds and Mortgages Invalid as to Creditors and Purchasers Until Recorded

Every such contract, every deed conveying any such estate or term, and every deed of gift, or deed of trust or memorandum of deed of trust pursuant to section two, article one, chapter thirty-eight of this code, or mortgage, conveying real estate shall be void, as to creditors, and subsequent purchasers for valuable consideration without notice, until and except from the time that it is duly admitted to record in the county wherein the property embraced in such contract, deed, deed of trust or memorandum of deed of trust or mortgage may be.
2023 West Virginia Code › Chapter 40. Acts Void as to Creditors and Purchasers › Article 1. Acts Generally Void as to Creditors and Purchasers › §40-1-10. When Recordation in More Than One County Necessary

Notwithstanding any such writing shall be duly admitted to record in one county wherein there is real estate, it shall nevertheless be void as to such creditors and purchasers in respect to other real estate without the same, until it is duly admitted to record in the county wherein such other real estate may be.
2023 West Virginia Code › Chapter 40. Acts Void as to Creditors and Purchasers › Article 1. Acts Generally Void as to Creditors and Purchasers › §40-1-13. Priorities of Writings Admitted to Record on Same Day

Where two or more writings embracing the same property are admitted to record in the same county on the same day, if the previous sections do not provide for the case, that which was first admitted to record shall have priority in respect to the property in such county.
2023 West Virginia Code › Chapter 40. Acts Void as to Creditors and Purchasers › Article 1. Acts Generally Void as to Creditors and Purchasers › §40-1-14. Construction of Words "creditors" and "purchasers."

The words "creditors" and "purchasers," where used in this chapter, shall not be restricted to the protection of creditors of, and purchasers from, the grantor, but shall extend to and embrace all creditors and purchasers who, but for the deed or writing, would have had title to the property conveyed, or a right to subject it to their debts.
2023 West Virginia Code › Chapter 40. Acts Void as to Creditors and Purchasers › Article 1. Acts Generally Void as to Creditors and Purchasers › §40-1-15. Purchaser Not Affected by Record Not in Chain of Title

A purchaser shall not, under this article, or articles one, two and eleven, chapter thirty-eight of this code, be affected by the record of a deed or contract made by a person under whom his title is not derived; nor by the record of a deed or contract made by any person under whom the title of such purchaser is derived, if it was made by such person, and was recorded, before he acquired the legal title.
2023 West Virginia Code › Chapter 40. Acts Void as to Creditors and Purchasers › Article 1. Acts Generally Void as to Creditors and Purchasers › §40-1-16. Certain Sections Not to Apply to Transfer or Assignment of Trust Deed or Mortgage

The provisions of sections eight, nine, ten, thirteen, fourteen and fifteen of this article shall have no application to the transfer or assignment of any interest created by a trust deed or mortgage.
2023 West Virginia Code › Chapter 40. Acts Void as to Creditors and Purchasers › Article 1A. Uniform Fraudulent Transfers Act › §40-1A-2. Insolvency

(a) A debtor is insolvent if the sum of the debtor’s debts is greater than all of the debtor’s assets at a fair valuation.
(b) A debtor who is generally not paying his or her debts as they become due, other than as a result of a bona fide dispute, is presumed to be insolvent. The presumption imposes on the party against which the presumption is directed the burden of proving that the nonexistence of insolvency is more probable than its existence.
(c) A partnership is insolvent under subsection (a) of this section if the sum of the partnership’s debts is greater than the aggregate, at a fair valuation, of all the partnership’s assets and the sum of the excess of the value of each general partner’s nonpartnership assets over the partner’s nonpartnership debts.
(d) Assets under this section do not include property that has been transferred, concealed or removed with intent to hinder, delay or defraud creditors or that has been transferred in a manner making the transfer voidable under this article.
(e) Debts under this section do not include an obligation to the extent it is secured by a valid lien on property of the debtor not included as an asset.
2023 West Virginia Code › Chapter 40. Acts Void as to Creditors and Purchasers › Article 1A. Uniform Fraudulent Transfers Act › §40-1A-3. Value

(a) Value is given for a transfer or an obligation if, in exchange for the transfer or obligation, property is transferred or an antecedent debt is secured or satisfied, but value does not include an unperformed promise made otherwise than in the ordinary course of the promisor's business to furnish support to the debtor or another person.
(b) For the purposes of subdivision (2), subsection(a), section four, and subsection (a), section five, all of this article, a person gives a reasonably equivalent value if the person acquires an interest of the debtor in an asset pursuant to a regularly conducted, noncollusive foreclosure sale or execution of a power of sale for the acquisition or disposition of the interest of the debtor upon default under a mortgage, deed of trust or security agreement.
(c) A transfer is made for present value if the exchange between the debtor and the transferee is intended by them to be contemporaneous and is in fact substantially contemporaneous.
2023 West Virginia Code › Chapter 40. Acts Void as to Creditors and Purchasers › Article 1A. Uniform Fraudulent Transfers Act › §40-1A-4. Transfers Fraudulent as to Present and Future Creditors

(a) A transfer made or obligation incurred by a debtor is fraudulent as to a creditor, whether the creditor’s claim arose before or after the transfer was made or the obligation was incurred, if the debtor made the transfer or incurred the obligation:
(1) With actual intent to hinder, delay or defraud any creditor of the debtor; or
(2) Without receiving a reasonably equivalent value in exchange for the transfer or obligation and the debtor:
(i) Was engaged or was about to engage in a business or a transaction for which the remaining assets of the debtor were unreasonably small in relation to the business or transaction; or
(ii) Intended to incur, or believed or reasonably should have believed that he or she would incur, debts beyond his or her ability to pay as they became due.
(b) In determining actual intent under subdivision (1), subsection (a) of this section, consideration may be given, among other factors, to whether:
(1) The transfer or obligation was to an insider;
(2) The debtor retained possession or control of the property transferred after the transfer;
(3) The transfer or obligation was disclosed or concealed;
(4) Before the transfer was made or obligation was incurred, the debtor had been sued or threatened with suit;
(5) The transfer was of substantially all the debtor’s assets;
(6) The debtor absconded;
(7) The debtor removed or concealed assets;
(8) The value of the consideration received by the debtor was reasonably equivalent to the value of the asset transferred or the amount of the obligation incurred;
(9) The debtor was insolvent or became insolvent shortly after the transfer was made or the obligation was incurred;
(10) The transfer occurred shortly before or shortly after a substantial debt was incurred; and
(11) The debtor transferred the essential assets of the business to a lienor who transferred the assets to an insider of the debtor.
(c) A creditor making a claim for relief under subsection (a) of this section has the burden of proving the elements of the claim for relief by a preponderance of the evidence.
2023 West Virginia Code › Chapter 40. Acts Void as to Creditors and Purchasers › Article 1A. Uniform Fraudulent Transfers Act › §40-1A-5. Transfers Fraudulent as to Present Creditors

(a) A transfer made or obligation incurred by a debtor is fraudulent as to a creditor whose claim arose before the transfer was made or the obligation was incurred if the debtor made the transfer or incurred the obligation without receiving a reasonably equivalent value in exchange for the transfer or obligation and the debtor was insolvent at that time or the debtor became insolvent as a result of the transfer or obligation.
(b) A transfer made by a debtor is fraudulent as to a creditor whose claim arose before the transfer was made if the transfer was made to an insider for an antecedent debt, the debtor was insolvent at that time and the insider had reasonable cause to believe that the debtor was insolvent.
(c) Subject to the provisions of §40-1A-2(b) of this code, a creditor making a claim for relief under subsection (a) or (b) of this section has the burden of proving the elements of the claim for relief by a preponderance of the evidence.
2023 West Virginia Code › Chapter 40. Acts Void as to Creditors and Purchasers › Article 1A. Uniform Fraudulent Transfers Act › §40-1A-6. When Transfer Is Made or Obligation Is Incurred

For the purposes of this article:
(a) A transfer is made:
(1) With respect to an asset that is real property other than a fixture, but including the interest of a seller or purchaser under a contract for the sale of the asset, when the transfer is so far perfected that a good-faith purchaser of the asset from the debtor against whom applicable law permits the transfer to be perfected cannot acquire an interest in the asset that is superior to the interest of the transferee; and
(2) With respect to an asset that is not real property or that is a fixture, when the transfer is so far perfected that a creditor on a simple contract cannot acquire a judicial lien otherwise than under this article that is superior to the interest of the transferee;
(b) If applicable law permits the transfer to be perfected as provided in subdivision (a) of this subsection and the transfer is not so perfected before the commencement of an action for relief under this article, the transfer is considered made immediately before the commencement of this action;
(c) If applicable law does not permit the transfer to be perfected as provided in subdivision (a) of this subsection, the transfer is made when it becomes effective between the debtor and the transferee; and
(d) A transfer is not made until the debtor has acquired rights in the asset transferred and an obligation is incurred.
(e) If the obligation incurred is oral, a transfer is made when the obligation becomes effective. If the obligation incurred is evidenced by a writing, the obligation becomes effective when the writing is delivered to or for the benefit of the obligee.
2023 West Virginia Code › Chapter 40. Acts Void as to Creditors and Purchasers › Article 1A. Uniform Fraudulent Transfers Act › §40-1A-7. Remedies of Creditors

(a) In an action for relief against a transfer or obligation under this article, a creditor, subject to the limitations in section eight of this article, may obtain:
(1) Avoidance of the transfer or obligation to the extent necessary to satisfy the creditor's claim;
(2) An attachment or other provisional remedy against the asset transferred or other property of the transferee;
(3) Subject to applicable principles of equity and in accordance with applicable rules of civil procedure:
(i) An injunction against further disposition by the debtor or a transferee, or both, of the asset transferred or of other property;
(ii) Appointment of a receiver to take charge of the asset transferred or of other property of the transferee; or
(iii) Any other relief the circumstances may require.
(b) If a creditor has obtained a judgment on a claim against the debtor, the creditor, if the court so orders, may levy execution on the asset transferred or its proceeds.
2023 West Virginia Code › Chapter 40. Acts Void as to Creditors and Purchasers › Article 1A. Uniform Fraudulent Transfers Act › §40-1A-9. Extinguishment of Claim for Relief, Cause of Action

A cause of action with respect to a fraudulent transfer or obligation under this article is extinguished unless action is brought:
(a) Under subdivision (1), subsection (a), section four of this article, within four years after the transfer was made or the obligation was incurred or, if later, within one year after the transfer or obligation was or could reasonably have been discovered by the claimant;
(b) Under subdivision (2), subsection (a), section four or subsection (a), section five of this article, within four years after the transfer was made or the obligation was incurred; or
(c) Under subsection (b), section five of this article, within one year after the transfer was made or the obligation was incurred.
2023 West Virginia Code › Chapter 40. Acts Void as to Creditors and Purchasers › Article 1A. Uniform Fraudulent Transfers Act › §40-1A-10. Supplementary Provisions

Unless displaced by the provisions of this article, the principles of law and equity, including the law merchant and the law relating to principal and agent, estoppel, laches, fraud, misrepresentation, duress, coercion, mistake, insolvency or other validating or invalidating cause, supplement its provisions.
2023 West Virginia Code › Chapter 40. Acts Void as to Creditors and Purchasers › Article 1A. Uniform Fraudulent Transfers Act › §40-1A-13. Governing Law

(a) In this section, the following rules determine a debtor’s location:
(1) A debtor who is an individual is located at the individual’s principal residence.
(2) A debtor that is an organization and has only one place of business is located at its place of business.
(3) A debtor that is an organization and has more than one place of business is located at its chief executive office.
(b) A claim for relief in the nature of a claim for relief under this article is governed by the local law of the jurisdiction in which the debtor is located when the transfer is made or the obligation is incurred.
2023 West Virginia Code › Chapter 40. Acts Void as to Creditors and Purchasers › Article 1A. Uniform Fraudulent Transfers Act › §40-1A-14. Application to and Recognition of a Foreign Series Organization

(a) In this section:
“Protected series” means an arrangement, however denominated, created by a series organization that, pursuant to the law under which the series organization is organized, has the characteristics set forth in the definition of a series organization in §40-1A-14 of this code.
“Series organization” means an organization that, pursuant to the law under which it is organized, has the following characteristics:
(A) The organic record of the organization provides for creation by the organization of one or more protected series, however denominated, with respect to specified property of the organization, and for records to be maintained for each protected series that identify the property of or associated with the protected series.
(B) Debt incurred or existing with respect to the activities of, or property of or associated with, a particular protected series is enforceable against the property of or associated with the protected series only, and not against the property of or associated with the organization or other protected series of the organization.
(C) Debt incurred or existing with respect to the activities or property of the organization is enforceable against the property of the organization only, and not against the property of or associated with a protected series of the organization.
(b) A series organization and each protected series of the organization is a separate person for purposes of this article even if for other purposes a protected series is not a person separate from the organization or other protected series of the organization.
(c) A series organization includes a foreign series limited liability company, or one or more protected series thereof, which is organized as a series organization under the laws of another state or jurisdiction, and shall be recognized as a foreign series limited liability company in this state pursuant to, and in compliance with the provisions of §31B-10-1 et seq. of this code.
2023 West Virginia Code › Chapter 40. Acts Void as to Creditors and Purchasers › Article 1A. Uniform Fraudulent Transfers Act › §40-1A-15. Relation to Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act

This article modifies, limits, or supersedes the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act, 15 U.S.C. Section 7001 et seq., but does not modify, limit, or supersede Section 101(c) of that act, 15 U.S.C. Section 7001(c), or authorize electronic delivery of any of the notices described in Section 103(b) of that act, 15 U.S.C. Section 7003(b).
2023 West Virginia Code › Chapter 41. Wills › Article 1. Capacity to Make; Requisites; Validity › §41-1-1. Who May Make Will and as to What Property

Every person not prohibited by the following section may, by will, dispose of any estate to which he shall be entitled at his death, and which, if not so disposed of, would devolve upon his heirs, personal representative, or next of kin. The power hereby given shall extend to any estate, right, or interest, to which the testator may be entitled at his death, notwithstanding he may become so entitled after the execution of the will.
2023 West Virginia Code › Chapter 41. Wills › Article 1. Capacity to Make; Requisites; Validity › §41-1-3. Must Be in Writing; Witnesses

No will shall be valid unless it be in writing and signed by the testator, or by some other person in his presence and by his direction, in such manner as to make it manifest that the name is intended as a signature; and moreover, unless it be wholly in the handwriting of the testator, the signature shall be made or the will acknowledged by him in the presence of at least two competent witnesses, present at the same time; and such witnesses shall subscribe the will in the presence of the testator, and of each other, but no form of attestation shall be necessary.
2023 West Virginia Code › Chapter 41. Wills › Article 1. Capacity to Make; Requisites; Validity › §41-1-4. Execution of Power of Appointment

No appointment made by will, in the exercise of any power, shall be valid unless the same be so executed that it would be valid for the disposition of the property to which the power applies, if it belonged to the testator; and every will so executed shall be a valid execution of a power of appointment by will, notwithstanding the instrument creating the power expressly requires that a will made in execution of such power shall be executed with some additional or other form of execution or solemnity.
2023 West Virginia Code › Chapter 41. Wills › Article 1. Capacity to Make; Requisites; Validity › §41-1-5. Wills of Personal Estate by Soldiers, Sailors or Nonresidents

Notwithstanding the two preceding sections, a soldier being in actual military service, or a mariner or seaman being at sea, may dispose of his personal estate as he might heretofore have done; and the will of a person domiciled out of this state at the time of his death shall be valid as to his personal property in this state, if it be executed according to the law of the state or country in which he was so domiciled.
2023 West Virginia Code › Chapter 41. Wills › Article 1. Capacity to Make; Requisites; Validity › §41-1-6. Revocation by Divorce; No Revocation by Other Changes of Circumstances

(a) If after executing a will the testator is divorced or his marriage annulled, the divorce or annulment revokes any disposition or appointment of property made by the will to the former spouse, any provision conferring a general or special power of appointment on the former spouse, and any nomination of the former spouse as executor, trustee, conservator, or guardian, unless the will expressly provides otherwise. Property prevented from passing to a former spouse because of revocation by divorce or annulment passes as if the former spouse failed to survive the decedent, except that the provisions of section three, article three, chapter forty-one do not apply, and other provisions conferring some power or office on the former spouse are interpreted as if the spouse failed to survive the decedent. If provisions are revoked solely by this section, they are revived by testator's remarriage to the former spouse. For purposes of this section, divorce or annulment means any divorce or annulment which would exclude the spouse as a surviving spouse. A decree of separation which does not terminate the status of husband and wife is not a divorce for purposes of this section. No change of circumstances other than as described in this section revokes a will.
(b) This section applies to all divorces, annulments or remarriages which become effective after June 5, 1992.
2023 West Virginia Code › Chapter 41. Wills › Article 1. Capacity to Make; Requisites; Validity › §41-1-7. Revocation Generally

No will or codicil, or any part thereof, shall be revoked, unless under the preceding section, or by a subsequent will or codicil, or by some writing declaring an intention to revoke the same, and executed in the manner in which a will is required to be executed, or by the testator, or some person in his presence and by his direction, cutting, tearing, burning, obliterating, canceling or destroying the same, or the signature thereto, with the intent to revoke.
2023 West Virginia Code › Chapter 41. Wills › Article 1. Capacity to Make; Requisites; Validity › §41-1-8. Revival After Revocation

No will or codicil, or any part thereof, which shall be in any manner revoked, shall, after being revoked, be revived otherwise than by the re-execution thereof, or by a codicil executed in the manner hereinbefore required, and then only to the extent to which an intention to re-revive the same is shown.
2023 West Virginia Code › Chapter 41. Wills › Article 1. Capacity to Make; Requisites; Validity › §41-1-9. Effect of Subsequent Conveyance

No conveyance or other act subsequent to the execution of a will shall, unless it be an act by which the will is revoked as aforesaid, prevent its operation with respect to such interest in the estate comprised in the will as the testator may have power to dispose of by will at the time of his death.
2023 West Virginia Code › Chapter 41. Wills › Article 1. Capacity to Make; Requisites; Validity › §41-1-10. On What Wills Chapter Operates; When Re-Executed Wills Deemed to Be Made

The validity and effect of wills executed prior to the time this code becomes effective shall be determined by the laws of this state in force at the time of their execution. Every will re-executed, or republished, or revived by any codicil, shall, for the purposes of this chapter, be deemed to have been made at the time at which the same shall be so re-executed, republished, or revived.
2023 West Virginia Code › Chapter 41. Wills › Article 2. Competency of Witnesses › §41-2-1. Competency of Witnesses Who Are Beneficiaries

If a will be attested by a person to whom, or to whose wife or husband, any beneficial interest in any estate is thereby devised or bequeathed, if the will may not be otherwise proved such person shall be deemed a competent witness; but such devise or bequest shall be void, except that, if such witness would be entitled to any share of the estate of the testator, in case the will is not established, so much of his share shall be saved to him as shall not exceed the value of what is so devised or bequeathed. In case the will be contested any such attesting witness may, at the instance of any contestant, be required, either in court or by deposition, to testify as upon, and with the effect of, cross-examination; and the giving of such testimony or testimony in rebuttal thereto by such attesting witness, shall not, if the will be established or admitted to probate, affect in any manner the devise or bequest to such attesting witness, or to the wife or husband of such witness.
2023 West Virginia Code › Chapter 41. Wills › Article 3. Provisions as to Construction › §41-3-2. 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 will, if it would be so deemed in case the devisee or legatee were the child of the testator; and whether he be a child or not, it shall be so deemed in all cases in which it shall appear from parol or other evidence to have been so intended.
2023 West Virginia Code › Chapter 41. Wills › Article 3. Provisions as to Construction › §41-3-3. 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 estate devised or bequeathed, as the devisee or legatee would have done if he had survived the testator, unless a different disposition thereof be made or required by the will. And if the devise or bequest be made to two or more persons jointly, and one or more of them die without issue, or be dead at the time of the making of the will, the part of the estate so devised or bequeathed to him or them shall not go to the other joint devisees or legatees, but shall, in the case of a devise, descend and pass to the heirs at law, and, in the case of a bequest, go and pass to the personal representative, of the testator, as if he had died intestate, unless the will otherwise provides.
2023 West Virginia Code › Chapter 41. Wills › Article 3. Provisions as to Construction › §41-3-4. 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 will, which devise or bequest shall fail or be void, or be otherwise incapable of taking effect, shall, if the estate be real estate, be included in the residuary devise, or, if the estate be personal estate, in the residuary bequest, if any residuary devise or bequest be contained in such will, and, in the absence of such residuary devise or bequest, shall pass as in case of intestacy. However, when a devise or bequest shall be included in a residuary clause of the will, which devise or bequest shall fail or be void or be otherwise incapable of taking effect, it shall not pass as in case of intestacy but shall pass to the remaining residuary devisees or legatees or devisee or legatee, if any there be, in proportion to their respective shares or interests in the residue.
2023 West Virginia Code › Chapter 41. Wills › Article 3. Provisions as to Construction › §41-3-5. 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 described in a general manner, and any other general devise which would describe a leasehold estate, if the testator had no freehold estate which could be described by it, shall be construed to include his leasehold estates, or any of them to which such description shall extend, as well as freehold estates, unless a contrary intention shall appear by the will.
2023 West Virginia Code › Chapter 41. Wills › Article 3. Provisions as to Construction › §41-3-6. Operation of Devise or Bequest as Exercise of Power of Appointment

A devise or bequest shall extend to any real or personal estate which the testator has power to appoint as he may think proper, and to which it would apply if the estate were his own property, and shall be construed to operate as an exercise of such power with respect to such property unless a contrary intention shall appear by the will of said testator, or unless:
(a) The instrument creating said power of appointment (whether said instrument was executed before or after the effective date of this section) provides that such power must be specifically referred to and expressly exercised; and
(b) The instrument creating said power of appointment contains a provision disposing of said real or personal estate in the event of the failure of the donee of the power to so exercise said power.
2023 West Virginia Code › Chapter 41. Wills › Article 3. Provisions as to Construction › §41-3-7. 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 have and take jurisdiction of a suit to construe an ambiguous will at the suit of the executor, or administrator with the will annexed, or of any beneficiary thereunder whose interests are affected by a construction of the ambiguous provision.
2023 West Virginia Code › Chapter 41. Wills › Article 3. Provisions as to Construction › §41-3-8. Testamentary Additions to Trusts

(a) A will may validly devise or bequeath property to the trustee of a trust established or to be established: (i) during the testator's lifetime by the testator, by the testator and some other person, or by some other person including a funded or unfunded life insurance trust, although the trustor has reserved any or all rights of ownership of the insurance contracts; or (ii) at the testator's death by the testator's devise to the trustee, if the trust is identified in the testator's will and its terms are set forth in a written instrument, other than a will, executed before, or concurrently with the execution of the testator's will or in another individual's will if that other individual has predeceased the testator, regardless of the existence, size, or character of the corpus of the trust. The devise or bequest is not invalid because the trust is amendable or revocable, or because the trust was amended after the execution of the will or the testator's death.
(b) Unless the testator's will provides otherwise, property devised or bequeathed to a trust described in subsection (a) is not held under a testamentary trust of the testator but it becomes a part of the trust to which it is devised or bequeathed, and must be administered and disposed of in accordance with the provisions of the governing instrument setting forth the terms of the trust, including any amendments thereto made before or after the testator's death.
(c) Unless the testator's will provides otherwise, a revocation or termination of the trust before the testator's death causes the devise or bequest to lapse.
2023 West Virginia Code › Chapter 41. Wills › Article 4. Provisions as to Pretermitted Children › §41-4-1. 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 child he might have is not provided for or mentioned, such child, or any descendant of his shall succeed to such portion of the testator's estate as he would have been entitled to if the testator had died intestate; and towards raising such portion the devisees and legatees shall, out of what is devised and bequeathed to them, contribute ratably, either in kind or in money, as a court, in the particular case, may deem most proper. But if any such child, or descendant, die under the age of eighteen years, unmarried and without issue, his portion of the estate, or so much thereof as may remain unexpended in his support and education, shall revert to the person or persons to whom it was given by the will.
2023 West Virginia Code › Chapter 41. Wills › Article 4. Provisions as to Pretermitted Children › §41-4-2. 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 settlement, and neither provided for nor expressly excluded by the will, but only pretermitted, shall succeed to such portion of the testator's estate as he would have been entitled to if the testator had died intestate, toward raising which portion the devises and legatees shall, out of what is devised and bequeathed to them, contribute ratably, either in kind or in money, as a court in the particular case, may deem most proper. But if any such after-born child or descendant die under the age of eighteen years, unmarried and without issue, his portion of the estate, or so much thereof as may remain unexpended in his support and education, shall revert to the person or persons to whom it was given by the will.
2023 West Virginia Code › Chapter 41. Wills › Article 5. Production, Probate and Record of Wills › §41-5-1. 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 having jurisdiction of the probate thereof, or to the executor named in the will, who shall offer it for probate, or deliver it to the clerk, within a reasonable time. Any person who shall, without reasonable cause, neglect so to deliver a will shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and, on conviction, be punished by a fine not exceeding $200; and shall in addition be liable to any person interested in such will for all damages caused by such neglect.
2023 West Virginia Code › Chapter 41. Wills › Article 5. Production, Probate and Record of Wills › §41-5-2. 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 in the will, of such delivery, and shall keep the same safe in his office until proceedings may be had for the probate thereof, or until it is demanded by an executor or other person authorized to demand it for the purpose of having it proved according to law.
2023 West Virginia Code › Chapter 41. Wills › Article 5. Production, Probate and Record of Wills › §41-5-3. 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 the will of a decedent, shall summon him and by proper process compel him to produce the same. Upon the production of the will it shall remain on file in the clerk's office until proceedings are taken for the probate thereof. If any party desires to contest such will he may by application to the court or the clerk thereof in vacation have a rule against the executors and all the beneficiaries named in the will, returnable to the court, to be served in the manner prescribed in this article for service of process upon a petition to probate a will in solemn form, to offer such will for probate. If none of the executors or beneficiaries offers such will for probate within ten days after the return day of the rule, the court of its own motion shall offer the same for probate, so that the parties adversely affected by the will may contest the same.
2023 West Virginia Code › Chapter 41. Wills › Article 5. Production, Probate and Record of Wills › §41-5-4. 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 death, had a mansion house or known place of residence; or
(b) If he had no such house or place of residence, then in the county wherein any real estate devised thereby is situated; or
(c) If there be no real estate devised thereby, and the testator had no such house or place of residence, then in the county wherein he died, or in any county wherein he had any property at the time of his death; or
(d) If he died out of this state, his will or an authenticated copy thereof, may be admitted to probate in any county in this state, wherein there is property devised or bequeathed thereby.
2023 West Virginia Code › Chapter 41. Wills › Article 5. Production, Probate and Record of Wills › §41-5-5. 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 time after the production of a will, any person may offer the will for probate in solemn form by filing in the county court having jurisdiction a petition duly verified by affidavit, stating when and where the testator died, his last place of residence, the nature of his estate, the relationship to decedent and place of residence of each of his heirs at law and distributees, surviving wife or husband, and each of the beneficiaries of the will. Process shall issue against and be served upon all persons interested in the probate of the will to appear at a day named, and show cause why the will should not be admitted to probate. A guardian ad litem for any person under disability shall be appointed, upon whom such process may be served, and such process shall be served upon parties resident in the state, and proceedings by order of publication or service in person without the state shall be had against all nonresidents and against all persons to the petitioner unknown, in the same manner as process is served and such proceeding had in suits in equity. At any time after the petition is filed and before final order is made admitting or refusing to admit the will to probate any person desiring to contest the will may appear and file a notice of contest in the proceeding, stating concisely the grounds of such contest. Thereupon, process shall issue on such notice and be served upon any person whose interest will be adversely affected by a refusal to admit the will to probate to appear and defend his interest. Any person sui juris may waive service of process upon the petition or notice, and the guardian ad litem of any person under disability may waive service of any such process, upon such person and upon himself Process upon the petition or notice shall be served at least ten days before the return day thereof. Any petition or notice of contest hereunder may be filed in the office of, process be issued, served and returned, and a guardian ad litem appointed by, the clerk of the court in the vacation of the court, and the proceeding may be matured and set down for hearing.
2023 West Virginia Code › Chapter 41. Wills › Article 5. Production, Probate and Record of Wills › §41-5-6. 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 contest, or at any day thereafter fixed by the court, proceed to hear and determine the question of probate, and enter such order or judgment thereon as the law and the evidence in the case requires.
2023 West Virginia Code › Chapter 41. Wills › Article 5. Production, Probate and Record of Wills › §41-5-7. Appeal From Probate Order -- When to Be Taken; Procedure

Any person feeling himself aggrieved by any order or judgment of the county commission admitting or refusing to admit any will to probate may, within three months, or, if such a person be under any disability within three months after such disability ceases, file his petition in the circuit court of such county, or before the clerk thereof, appealing to the circuit court from such order or judgment, stating in the petition the grounds of appeal and the parties interested in the probate of the will; and, in case of appeal, it shall be the duty of the clerk of the county commission promptly to transmit to the clerk of the circuit court, the will and all original papers filed or used in the proceedings for probate, together with copies of all orders made therein. The clerk of the circuit court shall, upon the filing of such petition, issue process thereon, and the case shall be proceeded in, tried and determined in such court, regardless of the proceedings before the county commission, and in the same manner and in all respects as if the application for such probate had been originally made to the circuit court.