Divorce In Oregon

 

In the state of Oregon the way the courts split a couple’s property by dividing it in an equitable way. This means that it may not be equal but rather what the court thinks each of the parties deserves. In Oregon`s law, “There is a rebuttable presumption that both spouses have contributed equally to the acquisition of property during the marriage, whether such property is jointly or separately held. (Oregon Statutes)”. This means that because they were married and considered as one, the courts view the distribution of property as belonging to both parties weather or not it belonged to one person in the marriage or not.
Custody can be a battle field in many divorces. The Oregon Statutes explains that when either of the parents cannot agree on custody, the courts decide what would be best for the children. They take things such as the emotional ties to the parents, the attitude the parents have toward the children, the desire to keep the children, the relationship between the parents and each other. The courts then decide the custody plan that creates the schedule that depends on location, transportation, resources like money etc.

Whether or not alimony is given depends on each case in Oregon law. The things that are taken into consideration are things like the length of the marriage, if they are going back to get an education, health, income that the party that needs support makes and many more factors that determines these types of cases. Child support in Oregon is supposed to be divided from the parent’s income. The parents must pay the child support even if they do not have visitation rights because it is for the child not the parents.

According to the Public Health Bureau of Oregon there were 6,298 children that were affected by divorce in 2012. Children in divorce really struggle with divorce especially when parents cannot have an amicable one. These laws put in place are very hard to interpret and it is left to the judge and who has a better lawyer.

 It is proven that children in divorced homes have a greater chance at living in poverty. In a recent study that women are more likely to fall into poverty after divorce that men do in Oregon. Women are really affected by the gender wage gap and how many employers will discriminate women who have children, especially single mothers, thus they are forced into jobs that do not pay enough to support a child and then the problem is they are not paid for the labor they put into their home life jobs. This is an example of what the textbook referred to as “pink collar” work.

According to the Separated Parenting Access & Resource Center almost 62% of mothers do not receive child support in Oregon. If a father resists paying child support the “Oregon Child Support Program” has the ability to withhold the father’s wages, or take away privileges such as driver’s license, business license. If it is a purposeful intent then the court can press charges on the father according to the Oregon Judicial Department.

Learning about Oregon`s divorce policies and the effects that it has on families enforced what we studied in class and how the work force still has this gender ranking attitude towards working women. As a class we agreed that the court system is flawed in its divorce policies due to the fact that it really puts labels on mothers and fathers. It enforces the idea that mothers are the primary caregivers because they are supposed to do the type of work at home which really puts a negative image in society that mothers should stay more focused on their reproductive labor rather than the work force labor. It also enforces the idea that father`s do not have the mothering touch so to speak. They are primarily there for child support if they pay for it. In the WVFV, Shaw and Lee, explains that “married women spent about 97 minutes a day on house hold chores while unmarried women spent about 67. Men spent about an average of 29 minutes regardless of their marital status” (Shaw and Lee 393). I think this proves the point that many people in society feel like women are in charge of house labor over the career labor they want and women themselves are falling into this trap.
In the textbook Shaw and Lee discussed and explained the relevance “Pink Collared” workers and how these workers are women who have to work typical low paying jobs such as secretary work and then come home and be the house provider which really affects a single mom’s income and time with her children. The horizontal segregation between men’s higher paying jobs and women’s lower paying jobs takes its tolls on single mothers as well. In the reading “The Importance of Fair Pay for Oregon women”, it points out that, “Oregon women working full time, year round in 2010 in management, business, and financial occupations were paid only 69 cents to every dollar paid to men in the same occupations, and Oregon women working full time, year round in sales and related occupations were paid only 60 cents to every dollar paid to men in the same occupations” (National Women`s Law Center 1). The information that women who divorce in Oregon are more likely to fall under the poverty line due to the fact that they are put into lower paying “feminine” jobs and not paid equally.
I think in order to challenge the legal system in Oregon to be more responsive to women`s and children`s need is to start researching ways that citizens can become involved in trying and changing the relaxed rules in divorce. There are not many restrictions or attention to it so I think the first priority is to find out laws women particularly struggle with. Is it custody, child support, a combination of those things? I think divorced women need to be able to know that someone is listening.