Lewis v. Lewis

This is a sequel to this Court’s decision in Lewis v. Lewis, 189 W.Va. 598, 433 S.E.2d 536 (1993), in which we concluded upon an appeal by the husband, Timothy F. Lewis, that the trial court had erred in applying a “best interest of the child” standard for custody of a young child rather than the primary caretaker rule as set out in syllabus point 2 of Garska v. McCoy 167 W.Va. 59, 278 S.E.2d 357 (1981):

With reference to the custody of very young children, the law presumes that it is in the best interests of such children to be placed in the custody of their primary caretaker, if he or she is…