No estate of inheritance or freehold, or for a term of more than five years, in lands, 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 be created or conveyed unless by deed or will.
W. Va. Code § 36-1-1
Creation of estates; necessity of deed or will
Applied in 5 court decisions — leading case 234 W. Va. 526 - Clifton G. Valentine v. Sugar Rock, Inc. and Gerald D. and Teresa D. Hall (2014)
Most recently applied in 234 W. Va. 526 - Clifton G. Valentine v. Sugar Rock, Inc. and Gerald D. and Teresa D. Hall (November 2014)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Official source: West Virginia Legislature. Reproduced from public-domain West Virginia statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.