Divorce in Oregon

Residency Requirements and Grounds for Divorce

Residency Requirements and Grounds for Divorce

Either you or your spouse must have lived in Oregon for at least six months before filing for divorce. The legal divorce process begins when one spouse pays the required fees and files a petition for dissolution of marriage with the circuit court clerk's office at the local county courthouse. Next, you must have the petition served (officially delivered) to your spouse, which lets your spouse know that a divorce action has been started and what you are asking for.

Oregon has "no fault" divorce, which is a divorce on the ground of irreconcilable differences. Thus, you may get a divorce if you and your spouse cannot get along and you do not see a way of settling your differences.

Summary Dissolution

You may be able to get a summary dissolution of your marriage (simplified process that generally does not require any court appearances) if you meet all of the following requirements:

One of the spouses is a resident of Oregon and one of you have lived in Oregon for the last six months
You have not been married for more than ten years
You have no minor children (adopted or natural), no children 18 years or older attending school and the wife is not pregnant
Neither you nor your spouse owns any real property anywhere
The combined net value of the personal property owned by you and your spouse is not more than $30,000
The combined unpaid debts incurred by you and your spouse during your marriage are not more than $15,000
Neither spouse is asking for spousal support
Neither spouse is asking for any temporary orders
You are not aware of another proceeding involving your marriage filed in any court
You and your spouse are in agreement on the division of property and debt

If you do not meet all of the above requirements, you and your spouse need to agree on (or have a judge decide for you) how to divide your property, if one or both of you should have custody of any children, whether alimony is necessary and the amount of child supported that is required.

If you and your spouse do not disagree about the terms of the divorce then your divorce is an uncontested divorce, which can be final approximately three months after the divorce petition is filed and delivered to your spouse. If you and your spouse disagree about the terms of the divorce then your divorce is a contested divorce, which can take much longer than three months to finalize because you will probably need court hearings and a trial.

Dividing the Property

In Oregon, assets and debts acquired during your marriage - called "marital property" - will be divided "equitably" when you divorce. All of the property owned by you and your spouse is subject to division by the court, including any inheritance or gifts received prior or during the marriage may be considered for distribution. Whether your property is held jointly or individually, there is a presumption that both you and your spouse contributed equally to the acquisition of any property, unless one of you proves otherwise.

All of the property will be divided, without regard to any fault, based on the following factors:

The cost of any sale of assets
The amount of taxes and liens on the property
The contribution of each spouse to the acquisition of the marital property, including the contribution of each spouse as homemaker
Any retirement benefits
Any life insurance coverage
Whether the property award is instead of or in addition to spousal support

It is important to collect all the information you can about all your property, including when you purchased it, approximately how much it is worth and details such as account numbers, serial numbers and so forth. Collecting this information before you see an Oregon divorce lawyer can save you a lot of time and money.

Alimony

The court can order alimony or spousal support, which is an amount of money for a period of time that one spouse contributes to the other, to either spouse in Oregon. Spousal support is not based on the fault of either spouse in causing grounds for dissolution of marriage. The award may be as a lump sum or installments. The court may order transitional spousal support, compensatory spousal support or spousal maintenance.

Transitional spousal support may be awarded for a spouse to attain education and training necessary to allow that spouse to prepare for a job. The court considers the following factors in awarding transitional spousal support:

The length of the marriage
A spouse's training and employment skills
A spouse's work experience
The financial needs and resources of each spouse
The tax consequences to each spouse
A spouse's custodial and child support responsibilities
Any other relevant factors

Compensatory spousal support may be awarded when there has been a significant financial or other contribution by one spouse to the education, training, vocational skills, career or earning capacity of the other spouse. The court considers the following factors in awarding compensatory spousal support:

The amount, duration and nature of the contribution
The length of the marriage
The relative earning capacity of the spouses
The extent to which the marital estate has already benefited from the contribution
The tax consequences to each spouse
Any other relevant factors

Spousal maintenance may be awarded as a contribution by one spouse to the support of the other for either a specified or an indefinite period. The court considers the following factors in awarding spousal maintenance:

The length of the marriage
The age of the spouses
The health of the spouses
The standard of living established during the marriage
The relative income and earning capacity of the spouses
A spouse's training and employment skills
A spouse's work experience
The financial needs and resources of each spouse
The tax consequences to each spouse
A spouse's custodial and child support responsibilities
Any other relevant factors

Child Custody and Visitation

In Oregon, the court will make child custody decisions based primarily upon the best interests and welfare of the child. In determining the best interests and welfare of the child, the court will consider the following relevant factors:

The emotional ties between the child and other family members
The interest of the parents in and attitude toward the child
The desirability of continuing an existing relationship
The abuse of one parent to the other
The preference for the primary caregiver of the child, if the caregiver is deemed fit by the court
The willingness and ability of each parent to facilitate and encourage a close and continuing relationship between the other parent and the child

The court may grant sole or joint custody. The conduct, marital status, income, social environment or life style of either parent is only considered in determining custody if it is shown that any of these factors are causing or may cause emotional or physical damage to the child. No preference is given to either parent based upon gender. If a parent has abused a family or household member, there is a rebuttable presumption that it is not in the best interests and welfare of the child to award sole or joint custody of the child to the parent who committed the abuse.

If the court orders sole custody, it may order parenting time or visitation rights to the parent not having custody of the child. If the parents are unable to develop a parenting plan, the court will develop a parenting plan in the best interest of the child, ensuring the noncustodial parent sufficient access to the child to provide for appropriate quality parenting time. The court may deny parenting time to the noncustodial parent only if it finds that parenting time would endanger the health or safety of the child.

Child Support

In Oregon, the court applies a formula when ordering child support. Both parents are expected to share in the costs of supporting the child in the same proportion as each parent's income bears to the combined income of both parents. The court looks at the earnings, income and resources of each parent. The amount of child support determined by the formula is presumed to be the correct amount unless it is shown that it would be unjust or inappropriate in a particular case.

The support order must include provisions for the payment of uninsured medical expenses of the child and health insurance for the child. The court may require an accounting from the custodial parent as to the use of the money received as child support. Child support ends when a child becomes self-supporting, emancipated, married or stops attending high school after turning 18 years old.

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