Judge J. Jeffrey Culpepper was born in St. Louis, Missouri; grew up in Maryland; and came to Morgantown to attend college, where he has remained. He has a 1989 bachelor’s degree in journalism from West Virginia University and a 1993 law degree from West Virginia University College of Law.

Prior to college, "Jeff" was a communications computer operator for a U.S.D.O.E. contractor in Maryland. During college, Judge Culpepper was a social worker at Monongalia County Youth Services Center. During law school, he was a law clerk for Seventeenth Judicial Circuit (Monongalia County) Judge Robert B. Stone. Once out of law school, while building his practice, Judge Culpepper was a legal instructor at West Virginia Junior College.

In 1997, then-Governor Cecil Underwood appointed him to be a family law master for Preston and Monongalia Counties. When the family court system was established in 2001, then-Governor Bob Wise appointed him to the bench in the Twentieth Family Court Circuit (Monongalia County). He was elected in 2002, left office in 2009, and was elected again to that position in 2024.

From 2009 to 2024, he practiced law in Morgantown with the firm Sal, Sellaro, Culpepper Legal Group PLLC and served as a temporary family court judge, accepting assignments around the state from the chief justice as needed.

Judge Culpepper and his wife, Susan, have two children and one grandchild.