Hi Angela,  

West Virginia has a very specific attorney supervision requirement, anything you do that requires an effective date will have to be under the supervision of an attorney.  The law does not require an actual Attorney Title Opinion such as the NC regulation; however, you must be under the direct supervision of the attorney.

What I found most often is that many times the Abstractor either 1) does not know that the regulation has changed because they do not keep up with the statutory changes and/or are not privy to underwriter bulletins or 2) they make the assumption that you have an attorney issuing the supervision certificate. 

You will want to look up Advisory Opinion 2010-002 (Amended) this will provide you the information of an Attorney Certification requirements (Statement of Supervision and/or Preliminary Title Opinion) for any and all searches completed withing the State of West Virginia.   

Hope this helps!

Kim