West Virginia adds qualified step-sibling contact to custody objectives

A 2026 West Virginia act adds qualified step-sibling contact to an existing custody objective concerning meaningful contact between a child and siblings. Committee Substitute for Senate Bill 459 amended section 48-9-102 of the West Virginia Code. The act was approved April 1, 2026 and took effect June 11, according to the legislative record.

Section 48-9-102 describes the primary objective of the relevant custody article as serving the child’s best interests through eight listed objectives. The eighth addresses meaningful contact with siblings, including half-siblings. The amended language also refers to step-siblings when the child has an established bond with the step-sibling and that step-sibling lives at least part-time with the biological parent.

The act does not create a ninth numbered objective. It amends the wording of an existing objective and retains the section’s statement that fairness between the parents is a secondary objective. The section is part of a broader statutory framework for allocating custodial and decision-making responsibility; the act does not itself award visitation or resolve an individual family’s parenting plan.

Before the 2026 act, an official appellate opinion quoted an earlier version of the objective as referring to siblings, including half-siblings, without the step-sibling language. The 2026 enrolled act restates the section without a visible redline, while the signed act and current legislative display contain the new text. The qualifying language should be applied as written rather than assumed to cover every step-sibling relationship.