Judge Joyce Helmick Carpenter is a native of Gilmer County. She has a 1977 bachelor’s degree in history from Glenville State College and a 1980 law degree from West Virginia University College of Law.

She was elected to the bench in the Twenty-Seventh Family Court Circuit (Pocahontas and Webster Counties) in 2016 and was re-elected in 2024.

She previously was an attorney in private practice with Ernest V. “Jack” Morton from 1980 to 1989 and, thereafter, worked at VanNostrand & Morton, PLLC, from 1990 to 2012. Judge Carpenter served as general counsel for Milan Puskar Trust from 2011 to 2012 and had a solo practice from 2013 until she took the bench.

Before her election, Judge Carpenter was active in the West Virginia State Bar, including terms on the Board of Governors and several State Bar committees. She served on the Lawyer Disciplinary Board and was vice-chair of the board for one year. She served on the West Virginia Law Institute and was a 2005 Bar Foundation Fellow. Judge Carpenter served as a board member for the West Virginia Bar Foundation of Fellows for two terms and is currently serving as a board member for The West Virginia Judicial and Lawyer Assistance Program.

She lives in Webster Springs with her husband, Michael Ray Carpenter. They have seven children and 16 grandchildren. Judge Carpenter’s daughter, Jasmine R. H. Morton, was elected in May 2024 as a circuit judge for the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit (Braxton, Clay, Gilmer, and Webster Counties).