Oregon

All states

Luck of the Draw score: 60 out of 100

Oregon judges can divide everything either spouse owns, including premarital property, and have broad discretion over spousal support and fees. Marital fault is excluded by statute, and either side can remove the assigned judge without stating a specific reason. On the book’s scale, 0 is a contract you can read and 100 is one that mostly says “ask the judge.” Oregon ranks 13 of 51, counting from the state that leaves the least to the judge. How the index works, and every state’s score.

Part	Score	The rule, and where it comes from
Property	10 / 20	The court divides the parties’ property as is just and proper in all the circumstances, including property owned before the marriage, with a rebuttable presumption that both spouses contributed equally to property acquired during the marriage. ORS 107.105(1)(f); In re Marriage of Kunze, 337 Or. 122, 92 P.3d 100 (2004)
Alimony	20 / 20	The court may award transitional, compensatory or maintenance spousal support in amounts and for periods that are just and equitable after weighing listed factors, and maintenance may be for a specified or indefinite period. ORS 107.105(1)(d)
Fault	0 / 20	The doctrines of fault and in pari delicto are abolished in dissolution cases, and evidence of specific acts of misconduct is excluded except where relevant to child custody. ORS 107.036
Lawyers’ fees	20 / 20	The court may award reasonable attorney fees and costs and expenses reasonably incurred in the action, in its discretion. ORS 107.105(1)(j); ORS 20.075
Second opinion	10 / 20	Any party may disqualify a circuit judge by a motion and affidavit stating a belief that the party cannot have a fair hearing, without alleging specific grounds, and no jury is available on property or support. ORS 14.250, 14.260(1), 14.270

Getting in

A 3-day wait. Both people file a written application with a county clerk. The license takes effect three days after they sign it, and a judge or the clerk may waive that wait for good cause. It stays valid for 60 days after it takes effect.
ORS 106.041, 106.045, 106.077, 205.320(1)(e)

Who can marry you. A judge, a county clerk or deputy, an authorized clergyperson, or an authorized celebrant of a secular organization may officiate before two witnesses. A religious or secular organization may also solemnize under its usual ritual. The statute does not address online ordination; clergy must be authorized by their organization, and a marriage stays valid if the couple believed in good faith the officiant was authorized.
ORS 106.120(2), 106.130, 106.150

Common-law marriage: Not available here. A couple cannot form a common-law marriage in Oregon, because a marriage must be licensed and solemnized under the marriage statutes. Oregon honors a marriage, including a common-law one, that was valid in the state where it was formed.
ORS 106.010, 106.041, 106.150; Bridgman v. Stout, 5 Or App 558, 485 P2d 1101 (1971); Boykin v. State Indus. Acc. Com., 224 Or 76, 355 P2d 724 (1960)

Chapter 5 of the book covers getting in, and whether you are in at all.

The property system

Oregon is one of forty-one equitable distribution jurisdictions. Equitable distribution. Each of you owns what’s in your own name during the marriage. At a divorce a judge divides the marital property as the judge finds equitable, which is not a promise of half. Chapter 11 of the book covers what that means, and Chapter 22 covers what happens to it when you move.

What counts as marital. The judge may divide any property of either spouse as is just and proper, including premarital property. Property acquired during the marriage, up to dissolution, is presumed to reflect equal contribution, whoever holds title; a long separation with financial independence can rebut that. Growth during the marriage on premarital assets is also a marital asset. Gifts and inheritances kept separately held from receipt are not presumed joint.
ORS 107.105(1)(f); Kunze and Kunze, 337 Or 122, 92 P3d 100 (2004); Massee and Massee, 328 Or 195, 970 P2d 1203 (1999); Deming and Deming, 246 P3d 513 (Or App 2011)

An inheritance that touches a joint account

A judge can reach it either way. A judge can divide inherited property in any event if that is just and proper. An inheritance kept separately held since receipt is not presumed joint. When separate money has been commingled, the judge asks whether the owner meant to keep it separate or make it joint, and how far it was integrated into shared finances. Commingling alone does not require including it.
ORS 107.105(1)(f)(D); Kunze and Kunze, 337 Or 122, 92 P3d 100 (2004)

Chapter 12 explains how mine becomes ours.

Your spouse’s medical bills (Article 5)

Both of you can be liable from the first dollar. The expenses of the family and the education of minor children are chargeable on the property of both spouses who are parents of the minor children, or either of them, and the spouses may be sued jointly or separately; after the spouses separate, neither is liable for the other’s new debts except those for the children.
Or. Rev. Stat. §§ 108.040, 108.020

Chapter 8 of the book explains the three ways states handle this.

If one of you dies (Article 9)

The surviving spouse may elect a percentage of the augmented estate, which includes non-probate property: 5 percent for a marriage under 2 years, rising 2 points a year to 33 percent at 15 years or more.
Or. Rev. Stat. § 114.605 (2009 c.574)

Chapter 9 covers what a will can and can’t take away from a spouse.

Prenups and postnups (Article 12)

One look, under UPAA (1983). A premarital agreement is unenforceable only if the challenger proves it was signed involuntarily, or was unconscionable when signed and the challenger lacked fair disclosure, did not waive disclosure in writing, and lacked adequate knowledge. The Act covers only premarital agreements; the standard for postnuptial agreements was not confirmed from a primary source.
Or. Rev. Stat. § 108.725

What an agreement needs. The agreement must be in writing and signed by both parties; no notarization, witnesses, waiting period or independent counsel is required, and disclosure matters through the enforcement test. The agreement may modify or eliminate spousal support, but a court may order support if the waiver would make a party eligible for public assistance or medical assistance.
Or. Rev. Stat. §§ 108.705, 108.710(1)(d), 108.725(2)

Chapter 29 explains one look and two, and what makes agreements stick.

Children (Article 8)

Child support: income shares. Oregon’s guideline reads a scale using the parents’ combined adjusted income and assigns each parent a percentage share, which is an income shares model. Support generally ends at 18. A judge may also order support for a child aged 18 to 20 who attends high school, college or job training at least half time with satisfactory progress.
OAR 137-050-0710, 137-050-0725; ORS 107.105(1)(c), 107.108

Moving away with a child. Every custody judgment must bar either parent from moving more than 60 miles farther from the other parent without reasonable notice to that parent and the court; the statute sets no number of days. When a court is asked to approve a move, the question is the child’s best interests, and a parenting plan change needs no showing of changed circumstances.
ORS 107.159; Cooksey and Cooksey, 203 Or App 157, 125 P3d 57 (2005)

Chapter 17 covers the children.

Getting out (Article 2)

How long you must live here before filing: six months. For a divorce on irreconcilable differences, one spouse must have lived in Oregon continuously for six months before filing, wherever the marriage took place. A marriage performed in Oregon avoids the six months only when the ground is force, fraud, incapacity or a void marriage. The filer must use a county where either spouse lives, with no minimum time there.
ORS 107.075, 107.015, 107.086

How long it takes. One spouse’s view that irreconcilable differences have irremediably broken down the marriage is enough, and no separation is required. Oregon abolished fault in these cases. The legislature repealed ORS 107.065 in 2011, and no current statute sets a minimum wait before judgment. The other spouse has 30 days after service to respond, so a contested case takes longer in practice.
ORS 107.025(1), 107.036, 107.115(2); Ballard and Ballard, 93 Or App 463, 763 P2d 1051 (1988); Dunn and Dunn, 13 Or App 497, 511 P2d 427 (1973); Or Laws 2011, ch 114, § 1

The legal minimum for a spouse who moves here alone and files as soon as allowed, with no minor children and the other spouse objecting, is about 180 days from arrival to a final decree (180 days of residence; the 30 days to respond is not a set wait). Courts often take longer.

If you moved here from another state

Oregon’s law applies, even after a short stay. In 1995 the Oregon Court of Appeals applied Oregon law to the equity in a California house after a couple moved here and separated four months later. California’s rule would have reimbursed the husband $200,000 from his inheritance, and Oregon’s moved about $82,500 to the wife.
In re Marriage of Day, 137 Or. App. 264 (1995)

A clause may not bring the other state’s divorce rules with it. In 2005 the Oregon Court of Appeals held that a prenup to be “interpreted as construed” under California law governed only how the agreement is read. Oregon law still divided the property.
In re Marriage of Proctor, 203 Or. App. 499 (2005)

Chapter 22 covers what changes when you move.

Each entry on this page comes from the statute, rule or case it cites, read in September or November 2026, except where the entry says it has not been checked. A rule can change after that, and a rule on paper can play out differently in a particular courthouse. No lawyer reviews these pages.

If you practice family law in Oregon and would like to correct or contribute to this page, write to me.

Meanwhile

• The default contract, with the options states choose among. Read it with a Oregon lawyer, or paste it into a chatbot along with “I live in Oregon” and treat what comes back as a list of questions, not answers.
• Three contracts you could sign instead.
• A worksheet for reading it together, and every state’s Luck of the Draw score.
• Corrections, including changes in the law since the book went to press.
• About the book.