WEST VIRGINIA BAR EXAM DISTINCTIONS — ONE-PAGE CHEAT SHEET
Condensed companion to the West Virginia Bar Exam Distinctions long outline.
1. EXAM FORMAT
UBE state · MBE/MEE/MPT weighted 50/30/20 · minimum passing score 270 · score transferable to/from other UBE jurisdictions · plus MPRE + character/fitness · highest court = Supreme Court of Appeals (intermediate Court of Appeals created 2022) · essays graded on national majority law.
2. CIVIL PROCEDURE
Tort/personal-injury SOL 2 years (§55-2-12) · written-contract SOL 10 years, oral 5 years (§55-2-6) · defamation 1 year · West Virginia Rules of Civil Procedure track the Federal Rules · Circuit Court is general jurisdiction; magistrate courts for smaller matters · long-arm (§56-3-33) to due-process limits.
3. EVIDENCE
Own West Virginia Rules of Evidence, patterned on the FRE and restyled to the federal format · Daubert-influenced expert reliability standard under WVRE 702 (Wilt v. Buracker line) · statutory/common-law physician-patient privilege with no FRE analog; spousal, clergy, attorney-client also recognized.
4. FAMILY LAW
No-fault (irreconcilable differences / living separate & apart 1 year) + retained fault grounds (cruelty / adultery / desertion / habitual drunkenness / felony conviction) · no common-law marriage · equitable distribution—classify property as marital vs. separate, then apply a PRESUMPTION OF EQUAL (50/50) DIVISION of marital property (§48-7-101) adjusted by statutory factors; do not assume a discretionary unequal split · spousal support under statutory factors · Family Court hears domestic matters.
5. WILLS / TRUSTS / ESTATES
Attested will = signature + 2 competent witnesses (§41-1-3) · HOLOGRAPHIC WILLS VALID if wholly in the testator's handwriting and signed, without witnesses—though counsel clients to use two witnesses for certainty · UPC-style augmented-estate sliding-scale elective share rising with marriage length, computed against the augmented estate (§42-3-1) · UPC-influenced intestacy—spouse takes the entire estate if all descendants are also the spouse's and the spouse has no other descendants, else a fraction with the balance to descendants by representation · constitutional/statutory homestead exemption + probate allowances for spouse and minor children.
6. REAL PROPERTY
NOTICE recording act (§40-1-9)—a subsequent bona fide purchaser for value without notice of a prior unrecorded interest prevails even without recording first · adverse possession 10 years (§55-2-1)—actual, hostile, open, notorious, exclusive, continuous, under claim of right · DEED OF TRUST conveying the property to a trustee, with nonjudicial trustee's-sale foreclosure under the power of sale on default following statutory notice (§38-1-1 et seq.); generally no statutory post-sale right of redemption after a properly conducted sale—do not import judicial-foreclosure or redemption assumptions from other states.
7. TORTS
MODIFIED comparative fault — 51% bar under the recent 2015 comparative-fault statute (§55-7-13a et seq.), which codified the bar and overhauled fault allocation: plaintiff recovers only if fault is NOT GREATER than the combined fault of all other parties—recovers (reduced) at 50%, barred at 51% · JOINT-AND-SEVERAL LIABILITY ABOLISHED in most cases—proportionate several liability so each defendant generally pays only its own percentage share (§55-7-13c), with fault allocated to nonparties in defined circumstances; limited concert-of-action exceptions preserve joint liability · med-mal noneconomic caps $250K generally / $500K for catastrophic injuries (death, permanent substantial deformity, loss of a bodily organ system) under the Medical Professional Liability Act (§55-7B-8), with inflation adjustment · limited liquor/dram-shop liability restricting common-law claims against sellers.
8. CONTRACTS / UCC
UCC adopted (Chapter 46)—Article 2 sales, negotiable instruments, and Article 9 secured transactions follow the uniform text · standard Statute of Frauds, including the UCC goods threshold of $500 or more · unusually long 10-year written-contract SOL (5-year oral)—never assume a short period on a stale claim · confirm the filing office for Article 9 work · otherwise apply national/Restatement and UCC rules straight.
9. BUSINESS ENTITIES
West Vi