The rest of what we have written about Oregon. Every figure is quoted from Oregon’s own statute or its courts’ own published schedule, and carries the date we last checked it.
Dividing property and money in an Oregon divorce
The money picture for a divorce in Oregon: how property gets divided, what Oregon calls spousal support and how it is decided, whether one spouse can be made to pay the other’s legal fees while the case is running, and — the part nobody publishes — whether Oregon’s own income tax follows the federal rule on alimony.
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Every claim is traced to Oregon’s own statute, court rule or revenue department, quoted where the wording carries the meaning. Where we could not verify something, the page says so instead of filling the space. Information, not legal advice — and tax questions in particular need a professional in your state. Corrections: thecusp.app/corrections.
The short version6 points · tap one to jump to it
- Does Oregon follow the federal alimony rule? — Since 2019, federal law has treated alimony as not deductible by the payer and not taxable to the recipient, for any instrument executed after 31 December 2018.
- How property is divided — Oregon is an equitable distribution state.
- Spousal support — Oregon calls it spousal support.
- Child support — Oregon uses the income shares model — both parents’ incomes go into the calculation, and the result is apportioned between you.
- Who pays for the lawyers — A fee award that only arrives at final judgment is close to worthless to someone who could not afford a lawyer during the case.
- The thing worth knowing about Oregon — Rev. Stat. § 107.105(1)(d)), rather than awarding a single undifferentiated 'alimony' amount as most states do.
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Does Oregon follow the federal alimony rule?
The short version6 points · tap one to jump to it
- Does Oregon follow the federal alimony rule? — Since 2019, federal law has treated alimony as not deductible by the payer and not taxable to the recipient, for any instrument executed after 31 December 2018.
- How property is divided — Oregon is an equitable distribution state.
- Spousal support — Oregon calls it spousal support.
- Child support — Oregon uses the income shares model — both parents’ incomes go into the calculation, and the result is apportioned between you.
- Who pays for the lawyers — A fee award that only arrives at final judgment is close to worthless to someone who could not afford a lawyer during the case.
- The thing worth knowing about Oregon — Rev. Stat. § 107.105(1)(d)), rather than awarding a single undifferentiated 'alimony' amount as most states do.
In this subject 8
Since 2019, federal law has treated alimony as not deductible by the payer and not taxable to the recipient, for any instrument executed after 31 December 2018. Most people assume every state followed. Most did. Not all.
Oregon uses a static, annually-updated IRC conformity date — ‘as amended and in effect on December 31, 2025’ for tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2026 (SB 1507, 2026 Or. Laws ch. 142; December 31, 2023 for 2025) — which the legislature rolls forward each session; this date is well after the TCJA’s December 22, 2017 enactment, so Oregon’s personal income tax already incorporates the federal alimony change (non-deductible to payer, non-taxable to recipient, for post-2018 instruments). Oregon also computes federal adjusted gross income under current IRC provisions with no separate alimony addition or subtraction in its own modification statutes.
So the federal answer is your answer: post-2018 instruments, no deduction and no inclusion, on either return.
Source: Or. Rev. Stat. § 316.012 (‘any reference in this chapter to the laws of the United States or to the Internal Revenue Code refers to the … Internal Revenue Code as they are amended and in effect … [o]n December 31, 2023’) · source
Conformity: static: December 31, 2025 for TY2026 (updated annually by the Legislative Assembly)
Oregon has replied to us twice. In the first reply the Department pointed us at its administrative rules — which is how we found the error described above. In the second, on 16 September 2026, a tax auditor in the Department set out the position itself: Oregon allows a deduction for alimony paid if the alimony is deductible on the federal return, and the federal deduction flows through the Oregon return as part of federal adjusted gross income.
And the sentence that settles the pre- and post-2019 question in one line: “Oregon’s tax treatment of alimony before and after the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 has conformed with the Internal Revenue Code.”
This is correspondence, not a ruling, and it binds nobody.
Also: correspondence with the Oregon Department of Revenue, 15 and 16 September 2026. We do not name the individual who replied. Checked 18 Sep 2026.
Nationally: 37 states follow the federal rule, 9 have no income tax, and 4 are decoupled. The full fifty-state table and what each decoupled state does differently.
How property is divided
Oregon is an equitable distribution state. That means the court divides marital property fairly, which is not a synonym for equally. What counts as marital rather than separate property is frequently the whole argument.
For the division or other disposition between the parties of the real or personal property, or both, of either or both of the parties as may be just and proper in all the circumstances. … [T]here is a rebuttable presumption that both parties have contributed equally to the acquisition of property during the marriage.
Source: Or. Rev. Stat. § 107.105(1)(f)
Spousal support
Oregon calls it spousal support. Using the state’s own word matters when you are searching for forms or reading a statute.
There is no guideline calculation. A judge weighs the statutory factors and reaches a number.
This is the norm and it is why alimony is the least predictable figure in a divorce. Two judges can reach different answers on the same facts and both be right. It also means the strength of your evidence about income, earning capacity and the standard of living during the marriage does real work.
For spousal support, an amount of money for a period of time as may be just and equitable for one party to contribute to the other … In making the spousal support order, the court shall designate one or more categories of spousal support and shall make findings of the relevant factors in the decision.
Source: Or. Rev. Stat. § 107.105(1)(d)
Child support
Oregon uses the income shares model — both parents’ incomes go into the calculation, and the result is apportioned between you.
Whichever model applies, this is the most predictable number in your case — there is a formula and a presumption that its output is correct. Deviating from it takes written findings. Run it early; it is free, and it anchors everything else.
Guideline: Or. Rev. Stat. § 25.275 (child support formula) and the Oregon Child Support Guidelines, OAR chapter 137, division 050
Who pays for the lawyers
In any proceeding brought under ORS 107.095, 108.110 and 108.120, and in any contempt proceeding to enforce an order or judgment entered in a marital annulment, dissolution or separation proceeding, the court may render an order or judgment awarding to a party, or directly to the party’s attorney, a sum of money determined to be reasonable as an attorney fee at trial and on appeal.
Source: Or. Rev. Stat. § 107.445
Or. Rev. Stat. § 107.095(1)(a): After the commencement of a suit … and until a general judgment therein, the court may provide … [t]hat a party pay to the other party such amount of money as may be necessary to enable the other party to prosecute or defend the suit … Or. Rev. Stat. § 107.445 then expressly authorizes an attorney-fee award ‘in any proceeding brought under ORS 107.095’ — the pre-judgment/temporary-order statute.
A fee award that only arrives at final judgment is close to worthless to someone who could not afford a lawyer during the case. By then it is over. An interim award is what stops a wealthier spouse winning by attrition.
If you are the lower earner, this is the single most actionable thing on this page. Ask at the first meeting, in these words: “Can we move for an interim award of attorney fees now?” Do not let “we will deal with fees at the end” pass unexamined.
Separately, if custody is contested you may be ordered to pay for a guardian ad litem or a custody evaluator, and the court decides how to split that. What that costs in Oregon, and who bears it.
The thing worth knowing about Oregon
Oregon requires courts to sort every spousal-support award into one or more of three distinct statutory categories — transitional, compensatory, or maintenance spousal support — each governed by its own list of factors (Or. Rev. Stat. § 107.105(1)(d)), rather than awarding a single undifferentiated ‘alimony’ amount as most states do.