Lucas v. Lucas

In Lucas v. Lucas, 215 W. Va. 1, 215 W. Va. 1, 592 S.E.2d 646, 649, the circuit court affirmed an order of the family court finding a de facto marriage existed between the former wife and her paramour, and reducing the spousal support obligation of the former husband from $850.00 monthly to $700.00 monthly. The former husband appealed to this Court seeking, inter alia, to have his spousal support obligation further reduced or altogether terminated. Id. Consequently, the focus of the Lucas Court was primarily on the procedure used to determine whether and to what extent a spousal support obligation should be reduced pursuant to W. Va. Code 48-5-707 after a finding of de facto marriage has been made. See Syl. pts. 5 and 8 of Lucas. There was no challenge to the finding of the existence of a de facto marriage in Lucas.