Law Office Of Teri Plagmann, PC 

No. Your spouse does not need to "give" you a divorce. The courts give it to you. Oregon is a no fault state. You do not need to prove grounds for divorce such as adultery, fraud, abandonment or abuse.  Instead, you just need to allege that there are irreconcilable differences between you and your spouse and that is reason enough for a court to grant you a divorce.

The length of your divorce depends completely upon you and your spouse. If you and your spouse agree on all of the issues, your case can often be resolved quite quickly.  However, if you and your spouse do not agree on the terms of a divorce, we may need to appear in front of a judge on one or more occasion and the process will last several months.

If you and your spouse reach an agreement on all of the issues in your divorce, or your divorce is "non-contested", we can prepare a stipulated judgment reflecting the terms of your agreement. We can then submit all of the paperwork to the court without the need for you to appear in person in front of a judge.  

A Judgment of Dissolution of Marriage will be your final decree of the court that grants your divorce and outlines all of the terms of your divorce that have been ordered by the court. Your judgment may order any or all of the following that are relevant to your particular case:

• Custody
• Parenting Time / Visitation
• Child Support
• Spousal Support / Alimony
• Property Division
• Debt Allocation
• Reinstatement of maiden name (optional)
• Attorney Fees

You are not required to hire a lawyer to obtain a divorce. You may think you are saving money by doing it yourself or having a service assist you with preparing your own paperwork. However, it will cost you more to have an attorney fix an issue later.  Furthermore, there are certain items in a divorce judgment, such as property divsion, that cannot be changed later. We always recommend having an attorney assist you if you have children or property that needs to be dealt with in your judgment.  They are too precious and too valuable to risk making a mistake. We strongly urge you to at least obtain legal advice before you proceed. We are happy to provide you with a free short telephone consultation with an experienced attorney or a longer one-hour consultation in our office at a low cost.  We can also discuss alternative payment arrangements with you to make sure that you receive the legal representation that you need.  

A court has authority to issue temporary orders while your divorce is pending. Temporary orders can concern issues such as temporary custody, parenting time, child support, spousal support, exclusive use of property, payment of bills and interim attorney fees. You should contact one of our attorneys immediately to discuss these issues in more detail. Additional information concerning child support and spousal support is located here. 

We can request that the court award you attorney fees and costs. However, this does not mean that you will automatically receive them.  You are responsible to pay your attorney fees unless a court orders your spouse to reimburse you at a later time.

Yes. You may want to consider mediation, arbitration, or a collaborative divorce process. We would be happy to assist you with any of these different options or talk to you about these options in more detail in order to find what best suits you and your particular needs.