Willis Layne, Jr. v. West Virginia Child Support Enforcement Division

Summary

The court affirmed a permanent injunction barring income withholding to collect alleged child-support arrearages until the statutory notice and opportunity-to-be-heard procedures are followed. It held that the arrearage-collection procedure in West Virginia Code § 48A-5-2 governs matured, unpaid support obligations, and that BCSE could not bypass that procedure by unilaterally determining the arrearage and directing withholding. Justice Workman, dissenting, would have held that wage withholding under a separate statutory mechanism could proceed without first using the § 48A-5-2 procedure.