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West Virginia Income Maintenance Manual Chapter 3
West Virginia Income Maintenance Manual Page 34 Chapter 3 Eligibility Determination Groups
out-of-wedlock can qualify as a specified relative only if the child’s paternity has been established. o Adoption procedures must be finalized in order for an adoptive parent to qualify as a specified relative. Adoption by a Relative Example: A set of paternal grandparents legally adopts a grandchild. The father of the child no longer has a specified relationship of parent to the child, but now has a specified relationship as the child’s brother. Severed Parental Rights Example: A father has all parental rights severed by a court order. The child goes to live with the father’s sister. The sister is still an aunt to the child and therefore a specified relative. • Blood relative: Those of half-blood, brothers or sisters, grandparents, great-grandparents, great-great grandparents, great-great-great grandparents, uncles or aunts, great-uncles or aunts, great-great uncles or aunts, nephews or nieces, first cousins, first cousins once removed. • Legal stepparent, stepbrother or stepsister, step-grandparents, step-great-grandparents, step-great-great grandparents, step-great-great-great grandparents, step-uncles or aunts, step-great-uncles or aunts, step-great-great uncles or aunts, step-nephews or nieces, step-first cousins, step-first cousins once removed; • The specified relationship exists even when a marriage terminates in death or divorce. Spouses of stepparents are not specified relatives. Stepparent Example: A man and his wife have a child from his previous marriage living with them. They get a divorce, and the child continues to live with the wife, and she remarries. She still qualifies as a specified relative, as she is a former stepparent, but her new husband does not. NOTE: When an adoption is finalized, the ties between the natural parent(s), the natural parent’s family, and the child are severed. The natural parent(s) and the natural parent’s family do not retain a specified relationship unless the adoptive parent is also related. The specified relationships are then based on the adoptive family. NOTE: When parental rights have been severed, but no adoption has been finalized, the parent is no longer a specified relative, but all other relationships of the child are unaffected.