The state of West Virginia has the right to establish its own laws regarding court records. The laws that they put into place affect the ease of accessing West Virginia court records that you may need for a number of different purposes.

When you make your request for West Virginia court records with the respective court in the state, they have five days to respond to your request. If the records that you request are difficult to obtain for some reason, the court is required to notify you of the delay. If they fail to provide you with the information you require, you have to option to appeal the delay.

The state legislature does not define the way that fees for West Virginia court records are calculated. In fact, you may be able to view the records that you seek free of charge, or you may be asked to cover the cost of copying the records or man-hours spent searching for the requested records.

Some states in the U.S. have specific regulations pertaining to who may have access to their public records. However, the state of West Virginia allows anyone willing to search for records access to view or copy the records that they request. This means that if you want to search for West Virginia court records, but you do not live in the state, you will still be able to request the information that you need, no matter why you need it or what you plan to do with it once you have it.

You can plainly see that there is a great deal of freedom surrounding West Virginia court records for anyone requesting access. Even though the response time to your requests is quick, the fees are reasonable and access is easy, you can still save a lot of time and effort by learning a little about the court system in the state of West Virginia.

About West Virginia Courts

The state of West Virginia was first admitted into the union in June of 1863. The current state constitution was sanctioned in 1872; however, the entire judicial article was rewrote by legislature in 1880 and accepted by the voters.

An important event surrounding the history of the West Virginia court system took place in November of 1974. At this time, voters in the state approved a new Judicial Reorganization Amendment, ending the old justice of the peace system and creating a unified judicial system. All state courts, with the exception of the municipal courts, are a single system that is administrated and supervised by the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia.

Three layers of the court were created in the West Virginia system, which included the circuit courts, the magistrate courts and the Supreme Court. In November of 2000, voters expressed their approval of the addition of family court, which was implemented in January of 2002.

The court system in each state is different from the next. Therefore, when you are searching for important information, such as that found in West Virginia court records, it is helpful to obtain as much background information as possible before you set out on your quest.

• West Virginia State Court Districts

• West Virginia State Legislature