182 W. Va. 448 - Honaker v. Burnside’s Empirical Analysis
1989
Citation profile
98 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 98 later decisions — most recently November 2015 · most notably 194 W. Va. 446 - In Re Christina L. (1995), 204 W. Va. 95 - Kessel v. Leavitt (1998)
98 state decisions
Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.
Relationships
Relies on Bennett v. Jeffreys · 153 W. Va. 404 - State Ex Rel. Kiger v. Hancock · 158 W. Va. 343 - Hammack v. Wise · 145 W. Va. 685 - Whiteman v. Robinson · 144 W. Va. 419 - State Ex Rel. Harmon v. Utterback
Most-quoted passages
The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 98 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“It is a traumatic experience for children to undergo sudden and dramatic changes in their permanent custodians. Lower courts in cases such as these should provide, whenever possible, for a gradual transition period, especially where young children are involved. Further, such gradual transition periods should be developed in a manner intended to foster the emotional adjustment of the children to this change and to maintain as much stability as possible in their lives.”
8 later decisions quote this exact passage“In the law concerning custody of minor children, no rule is more firmly established than that the right of a natural parent to the custody of his or her infant child is paramount to that of any other person; it is a fundamental personal liberty protected and guaranteed by the Due Process Clauses of the West Virginia and United States Constitutions.”
7 later decisions quote this exact passage“"these interests are interests of the child and not of the parent. Visitation is, to be sure, a benefit to the adult who is granted visitation rights with a child. But it is not the adult’s benefit about which the courts are concerned. It is the benefit of the child that is vital.””
5 later decisions quote this exact passage
How this case has been treated — in progress
Whether each later court followed, distinguished, criticized, or overruled this decision. The treatment classification (task #35) runs highest-cited cases first and lights up here as it reaches this one.