Oregon Child Custody Legal Questions

In Oregon, a Court can only order "joint" custody on a minor child when both parents agree to joint custody. If one parent does not agree to joint custody, the Court acn only enter a judgment for "sole" custody to one parent or the other with the selection to depend on "the best interst of the child(ren)." Once the Court has entered a judgment for "sole" custody, the only way custody can be changed is for the party wanting the change to be able to show that there has been a "material change in circumstances" since the sole custody judgment was entered. This can be something like one party got arrested for selling drugs, or a party got injured in a car accident and is now unable to walk. On the other hand, when you have a joint custody judgment, the "material change in circumstances" can be "we no longer agree to joint custody." At that point you can argue that the agreement broke down because one parent is not keeping to the agreed parenting plan or that it is bad for the child to try to go to school when he or she is alternating between the parents' homes on a week-to-week basis. In order to change the joint custody plan, the party wanting the change must file Motion for Order to Show Cause for Modification of Custody with the Circuit Court in the County where the original judgment for joint custody was entered. If the forging fits your situation, you should contact a local attorney.... Read More

Get your friends and relatives to step up to the plate and loan you enough money to get a lawyer on board to file a petition for dissolution with a status quo order giving you possession of the home with the kids in it and temporary support plus interim attorney fees. A restraining order to keep him away from you while he has parenting time with the kids for every other weekend would also be appropriate.... Read More

If you are in California and the child's mother and the child are located in Oregon, you are probably getting a notice from your local child support office in your California county to which the child support issue had been referred bythe Oregon Division of Child Support. Your best bet is to retain an Oregon attorney in the county where the mother and child reside and have that attorney either make a request for DNA testing through the Oregon Division of Child Support or file a petition for filiation in the Circuit Court for the county in which the mother and child reside. If there is any real chance that the child is yours, you need to file the filiation proceeding to get any parenting time with the child and to have that parenting time factored in to the child support calculation (the more overnights you get with the child, the lower you monthly child support obligation to the mother). The filiation petition raises the issues of parentage, custody, parenting time and child support which are decided by the court in that order.... Read More

While your daughter is a "child attending school," that term only applies to the duty to pay child support, not custodial status. The good news is that when she turned 18, she became an adult in her own right; she can join the Army, get married and vote and the original order granting her mother sole custody became obsolete. While we do not know what amounts of child support you have been directed to pay, you could seek a modification of child support in the court that issued the custody order. If she has been living with her mother but wants to live with you while she attending school, she can move to your residence and then you and/or her can bring a motion to modify child support. If she is living in your house while she is going to school, the court would probably order her mother to pay her child support directly as opposed to paying it to you. If your daughter is going to school away from both parent's homes, both parents would be ordered to pay an appropriate amount directly to your daughter until she reaches age 21 or is no longer in school.... Read More

The only way your husband and the child's mother could have joint custody with 50/50 parenting time is that they agreed to joint custody and equal parenting time which was then incorporated into the last judgment. Without an agreement for joint custody, an Oregon court can only grant sole custody to one parent based on the "best interest of the child" and then grant the other parent some amount of parenting time, usually under the Standard Parenting Plan used by the county in which the action was filed. After entry of a sole custody judgment, the only way you can modify that judgment is to show that there has been a "material change in circumstances." The changed circumstances can be something like "Father got busted for drunk driving and lost his driver's license for a year" or "Mom was injured in a car accident and is now partially paralyzed and cannot care for the Kids." On the other hand, the "changed circumstances" when there has been an award of joint custody can be as simple as "we no longer agree to joint custody and I want it to be changed to reflect the child's best interest." Normally, sharing joint custody with 50/50 parenting time is a bad idea when the parents' homes are separated and the child has to attend one school while splitting his or her residence between the two parents' homes. While the circumstances can vary widely, I would expect that if the child is attending a school near your home (where both parents used to live) but now has to spend half of his or her time at Mom's place 30 miles away, the Judge would probably award your husband sole custody with the child's Mom to get every other weekend plus a holiday schedule. Bottom line, your husband needs to consult with an attorney in the county where the judgment was entered to see what kind of approach to take.... Read More

The answer depends on where you are when your baby is born. If the father of your child lives in Oregon and the child is born in Oregon, the Oregon court (in the county where the child is born) would have jurisidiction. After the child is born, you need to file a petition for filiation and determination of custody, parenting time and child support and have the child's father served as soon as possible. If he denies that he is the father of the child, you can move for an order requiring a paternity test which would conclusively determine whether or not he is the father. Once you have the petition filed and served, and he is determined to be the father, he would need to file a motion in order to get any parenting time. For a newborn, that would be a couple of hours of supervised parenting time, probably every other week. Meanwhile, he gets to pay child support. You need to consult with an attorney in Oregon if the child is to be born in Oregon and with a California attorney if you are going to have the child in California. Preferably the lawyer you consult with should be in the county wher the child will be born. If your child is born in California and the father lives in Oregon, you will have a harder time establishing the California court's jurisdiction over custody, parenting time and child support.... Read More

From the question, I am assuming that your nieces are your brother's daughters, that their Mom got custody and that she has sole custody with parenting time to your brother every other weekend. If this is the case, your brother needs to contact the local office of the Oregon Department of Human Services (DHS) and explain what is happening. Hopefully, the agency will go the mother's home and do a welfare check on the girls. If they see that they are not being cared for properly, they can take the girls from the mother and give them to your brother who can then file a motion to modify custody with the court that has jurisdiction. Best case, go see a local family law attorney.... Read More

Both Oregon and California have adopted the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Enforcement Act (the UCCJEA). Under the Act, the state where the child last lived for six months has jurisdiction to detemine child custody, parenting time and support. Once a court in that state has determined custody, that court retains jurisdiction to modify the original judgment unless that court decides to grant a motion to change jurisdiction to another state because the custodial parent and the child have lived in another state for a fairly long period of time. In addition, the court where the child currently resides can exercise emergency jurisdiction to protect the child from bad things, but the court that is being asked to exercise emergency jurisdiction would have to consult with the court that made the original custody determination. If you got sole custody under an order from a California Court and then moved to Oregon, and if the child has been in Oregon for a significant period of time, you can bring a motion in the California court to transfer jurisdiction to the Oregon county where you live. The motion would not automatically be granted but the court would evaluate the factors affecting the child's welfare. The court would also have to consult with the Oregon court to which you are asking for jurisdiction to be transferred.... Read More

Are you serious? What's going to happen, the child support fairy is going to go into the Father's wallet and take out money to give to you for child support? Are you asking if you can get assistance from the State of Washington. Maybe, contact DSHS. Child support comes from the Father. How could that possibly happen without notifying him?... Read More