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About Vernonia's voice. (Vernonia, OR) 2007-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 7, 2014)
8 in other words august7 2014 Ask a Lawyer By Steven Leskin Q~My neighbor sued me in small claims court over a property line dispute. He said that my new fence was on his prop- erty. I lost. The judge ordered me to pay him money for the cost of removing the fence. I paid the full amount of the judgment the day we were in court. My neighbor then refused to sign a “Satis- faction of Judgment.” What can I do? A~From a lawyer’s perspective, the pur- pose of going to court is to obtain a judg- ment. A judgment is the final result of the legal process in a particular case. In Oregon, the “General Judgment” signi- fies that a case is complete. A judgment may contain a Money Award or an Or- der signed by the judge for something to happen. A judgment gives the plaintiff (the party who brought the law suit) the right to collect the amount specified in the Money Award. In order to enforce the Money Award, a plaintiff can gar- nish the defendant’s wages, or seize his assets and sell them at a sheriff’s sale. The plaintiff can also seize a defendant’s bank accounts. The right to collect the Money Award ends when the judgment is paid in full. Since a judgment is a public doc- ument, the plaintiff is required by law to sign a “Satisfaction of Judgment” once the judgment is paid. This document Vernonia Veterinary Clinic Small and Large Animals Now Open Mon, Wed & Saturday 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. Call for Appointments (503) 429-1612 Or 24 hr. Emergency Number (503) 397-6470 700 Weed Ave. Vernonia, OR tells the world that the judgment is paid. Once the Satisfaction of Judgment is signed by the plaintiff, the plaintiff can- not continue his or her collection efforts against the defendant. In the event the plaintiff refused to sign a Satisfaction of Judgment, the defendant can file a motion in the court in the same case. The motion requests that the court declare that the judgment is satisfied. The plaintiff will offer the court proof of payment. Once the court finds that the Money Award has been paid in full, the court will issue its own Satisfaction of Judgment. This tells the world that you have paid the judgment and prevents the plaintiff from taking any further collection efforts against you. Q~I received Social Security benefits. A few years ago, I got married. I received a letter from Social Security demanding that I re pay benefits they paid me since I got married. I’m still disabled. I do not understand. A~I suspect that you receive SSI benefits from Social Security. SSI benefits are available to any sick or injured person. By contrast, Social Security Disability is available to any sick or injured person who has worked for more than ten years. The amount of the Disability payment is higher that the SSI payment and there are no asset restrictions on the recipient. SSI recipients receive a smaller month- ly benefit and cannot own more than $2,000 in assets or have other income coming into their home. I strongly suspect that you did not tell Social Security that you mar- ried and that your husband or wife was working or had other assets which you now share. Your failure to tell Social Se- curity about your new economic con- dition, i.e., the marriage, created an overpayment when your new relation- ship (and the assets which came with it) exceeded the SSI asset restrictions for your household. Now, the Social Secu- rity Administration wants to collect the difference between what it was actually paying you with what it should have been paying you considering your new economic circumstances. I cannot give specific advice Columbia Humane Society Featured Pet "Houdini" Facts about Houdini Breed: Cattle Dog Color: Black, Brown and White Age: Adult Sex: Male Hair: Short Contact us for more information! Email: animalwelfare@columbiahumane.org Phone: 503-397-4353 Web: www.columbiahumane.org 2084 Oregon Street, St. Helens, OR 97051 here, but you should consider actually going to your local office and confirm- ing the facts on which the agency is basing its decision. You can file, if it’s timely, a Request for Reconsideration to dispute the facts. You might also discuss with Social Security a payment plan to re pay the benefits you should not have received. You should also discuss with Social Security what the consequences will be if you do not re pay the over pay- ment. If you think that Social Security is in error in its factual assessment, then consider hiring an attorney. Q~Is there common law marriage in Or- egon? A~The simple answer is that there is, in fact, no common law marriage in Or- egon. However, if a couple lives to- gether and they have a plan for their rela- tionship, they can go to court to dissolve their “domestic partnership.” A plan for the relationship might mean that one of the party works and the other raises the kids with the understanding that the as- sets of the relationship will support the couple in retirement. While that sounds simple to prove in court, it’s not. Most couples do not discuss this, let alone write it out. The court will look to the actual facts of the relationship to determine what the agreement of the parties was, if any. Unlike in a marriage, if the court finds that there was no partnership plan, one spouse may find that they are not entitled to spousal support, or to a share of the assets, or the retirement accounts (like the 401K). There are no legal benefits or consequences to simply living together even if the couple is (falsely) holding themselves out as “husband” and “wife.” There are no legal benefits to that ar- rangement. The easiest way to think of this is to consider a business partnership. Suppose two people go into business to- gether and the business fails. Who is go- ing to get what? If there is a written part- nership agreement, it’s easy to determine who gets the assets and how the debt will be distributed. If there is no partnership agreement, the court will look at the facts of the business relationship to dis- tribute the assets and debt in the event of a dispute. The act of marriage provides a rational, somewhat predictable manner to divide the assets and debts in the event the relationship fails. There are laws and cases to provide the court with direction how to dissolve a marriage. The act of marriage provides protection to both parties. Without a marriage, the par- ties will need to convince the court that there was in fact a domestic partnership (as opposed to just living together), and what that plan was. And, this is going to be especially difficult because it’s not likely that the couple wrote out a plan on which the court could look at to deter- mine the couple’s actual intentions. That’s the long answer. There is no common law marriage. However, to mitigate against the harsh effect that might have on one party to a marriage, that party can claim a domestic partner- ship exists. The best safeguard against a grossly inequitable dissolution of the relationship, absent a written domestic partnership agreement, is actually mar- riage. Steven Leskin is an attorney in North Portland. He has been in practice since 1992. You can submit a question to him through www.StevenLeskin.com or through the Vernonia’s Voice website. The next Vernonia Area Chamber of Commerce Meeting will be held at New Hong Kong Restaurant 669 Mist Drive Tuesday, August 12 at 6:30 PM TOO BUSY? 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