W. Va. Code § 28-5-37: Maintenance of convict's wife and family.

The committee of any convict who was, at the time of incarceration, a resident of this state shall allow (subject to the claims of creditors) a sufficient maintenance out of the convict's estate for his wife and family, if any; the wife to be entitled, as long as he is confined, to the profits of such portion of his estate as she would have if he had died intestate.