Courts of record within their respective jurisdictions shall have power to declare rights, status and other legal relations whether or not further relief is or could be claimed. No action or proceeding shall be open to objection on the ground that a declaratory judgment or decree is prayed for. The declaration may be either affirmative or negative in form and effect; and such declarations shall have the force and effect of a final judgment or decree.
W. Va. Code § 55-13-1
Power of courts to declare rights, status and other legal relations; objections; form and effect of declaration
Known as the Uniform Declaratory Judgments Act
The act spans §§ 55-13-1–55-13-9 (16 sections).
Applied in 32 court decisions — leading case 213 W. Va. 80 - Findley v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance (2003)
Most recently applied in Uncork and Create LLC v. The Cincinnati Insurance Company (March 2022)
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.