Legal Question in Business Law in West Virginia

Re: Residency law

Generally speaking, a natural person's residence is the place where they are and where they intend to stay. Intent is the key factor. The residency of a child is the residence of his or her parent. In any given legal circumstance or purpose to determine residency, there may be a statutory definition or bright line test which could bring a different result than a common law analysis. I know of a local court rulling that held where a person, a resident of West Virginia traveled to Ohio on a short trip, with no intent to change residency, and was involved in an automobile accident which rendered the person unable to form and intent to change residency; that person's residence was West Virginia for suit purposes even though confined to an Ohio nursing home for many years. Thus, the purpose of establishment of residency is fundamental to making a determination of what the law will deem to be a persons residence.