Legal Question in Family Law in Oregon

Re: cohabitation

Oregon does not have any special rule regarding cohabitation. However, when resolving the property disputes arising between persons who are not married to one another, the key issue for the court is to determine the intentions of the parties, which will then control the outcome of the case. And in determining the intention(s) of the parties as to the ownership of the property that is in dispute, the fact that the parties lived with one another MAY have some relevance and shed some light, together with other actions and conduct, on what the parties intended.

For a case from the Oregon Supreme Court similar to your, see BEAL v. BEAL, 282 Or 115, 577 P2d 507 (1978).

http://www.lawriter.net/cgi-bin/texis/web/orcaselaw/+sTeoLnyemxbnmevK2BemDNxwwxFqH_v9XXvms86WsmXh9w+wv6Kx6m_KWxs6w/svindex.html?doc=1

In Beal, the parties, who had been previously married to one another (hence the use of the same surname), began cohabiting with one another after the divorce. They shared expenses, bought property on a land sale contract (listing themselves as �husband and wife�) and commingled their financial affairs, etc., etc. When they then broke up, disagreement arose as to the extent of their ownership interest in the land sale contract and how it should be divided. The Supreme Court engaged in an extensive discussion about property and financial disputes arising between unmarried couples who have cohabited and how the courts should deal with such cases.

Ultimately, the court held that courts, when dealing with the property disputes of a man and a woman who have been living together in a nonmarital domestic relationship, should distribute the property based upon the express or implied intent of those parties.

LAWRENCE D. GORIN

http://www.divorcesource.com/OR/pages/ldgorin.html

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