KATHRYN B. BROWN
Owner
ANDREW CUTLER
Publisher/Editor
TUESDAY, MARCH 8, 2022
ERICK PETERSON
Hermiston Editor/Senior Reporter
Founded October 16, 1875
A4
OUR VIEW
A needed
infusion
of cash
A
lot of money is coming to Eastern
Oregon after the passage of House
Bill 5202, and the area’s elected
and appointed officials will have a tremen-
dous opportunity with the infusion of cash.
Yet the money is very much a one-time
allocation and that should also be a key
item to ponder for everyone.
State cash will help hospitals, educa-
tion centers, fairgrounds and other projects
across the eastern part of Oregon.
The money is needed.
Republicans Sen. Bill Hansell, of
Athena, Rep. Bobby Levy, of Echo, and
Rep. Greg Smith, of Heppner, all deserve
a lot of credit for helping earmark specific
projects for Umatilla County and all three
performed as voters expect. They saw
opportunities for funding in their district
and worked hard to get money to our local
area.
Still, in the end, the cash isn’t going to
be a long-term funding outlay. That means
the money needs to be used in a precise
and effective way that will impact and help
all residents on the eastern side of the state.
The infusion of money also raises a
question about the future. Once the state
money disappears then the eastern part
of the state is back to living essentially
hand-to-mouth when it comes to repair-
ing some infrastructure or the renova-
tion of historic buildings or ensuring that
fairgrounds remain viable. Yes, the state
— and especially the federal government
— invests millions in roadways and other
key infrastructure projects every year,
but how much of that money reaches the
small towns and cities that dot the Eastern
Oregon landscape?
Surely some does and that’s good, but
in the future, the legislature needs to be
aware that the need in Eastern Oregon for
funds is acute and will remains so. That
means when major upgrade projects are
considered those that can help residents in
Eastern Oregon should be at the front of
the line in terms of consideration.
By virtue of its size, the Portland area
will always be a place where the state
invests dollars and that is understandable.
Yet the seemingly far off places in Eastern
Oregon should never be forgotten either.
The Democrat-led Legislature should be
aware that there is more to Oregon than the
Willamette Valley and Bend. In fact, there
is a whole section of the state that has little
in common with Portland but is as valuable
and as important.
We should all welcome the money
coming from the Legislature this year,
but we should also remember that Eastern
Oregon deserves to be considered in the
future when it’s time to start divvying
out cash.
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What should be asked for during a divorce?
BLAINE
CLOOTEN
ASK AN ATTORNEY
Q. How do I protect myself financially
from a spouse? What should I ask for
in a divorce?
A. This is a great question that could
take hours to discuss, depending on the
facts of your situation. Circumstances
vary so much, that all I can really give is
some broad strokes and general guide-
lines.
The simplest thing to do is to is
discuss concerns with a spouse (assum-
ing you aren’t already planning to file for
divorce) and come up with a post-nup-
tial agreement that guides the division of
your property and decisions about spou-
sal support should you get divorced.
In any divorce case, the first thing
that you need to do is go and get your
hands on every single financial docu-
ment that exists that you have access to.
Every account, every debt, every title.
This means retirement accounts, bank
accounts, anything that has numbers on
it and has a value. If you are not able to
get the information before filing the only
other way for you to get at that documen-
tation is through the discovery process
once the case is filed.
You’ll never really understand what
a fair settlement is until you know what
property exists.
Oregon has a requirement that there
be an equitable distribution of property.
Assuming we know all the property that
exists, and we’ve gathered our docu-
ments we can begin going through the
analysis of a fair settlement or fair reso-
lution.
So what is fair? A fair settlement is
going to roughly be an equal distribution
between the assets and the liabilities of
each person.
What does this mean?
It is important to note that while the
court has jurisdiction to distribute all
property of both spouses, generally
the court will equally divide “marital
assets.” That is the assets or accrual on
prior assets that either party acquired
during the marriage.
Premarital assets or assets like inher-
itance require a fairly complex analy-
sis to determine whether and how they
should be divided.
On one side of the ledger, we’re going
to have the assets. On the other side of
the ledger, we’re going to have all the
liabilities.
Let’s consider a large debt as a
liability. Maybe it’s a credit card debt
for a hundred thousand dollars. The
person taking on that debt is also going
to receive an asset of equal value to
zero out the balance sheet. You have
to receive roughly the same amount of
liabilities and assets as the other person
for the settlement to be fair.
What should you ask for in a divorce?
From a property perspective, this is
going to depend primarily on whether or
not the person is paying spousal support.
Let’s take the common example where
one person has been mostly a home-
maker in raising the children while the
other has worked during a long-term
marriage. And now they’re getting a
divorce. Let’s assume the homemaker
spouse doesn’t have the skillset to reen-
ter the workforce immediately and will
require training or education.
Depending on things like, age, dura-
tion of the marriage, the education and
work experience of the parties, the court
may require the working spouse to
pay spousal support to the homemaker
spouse. The court will decide on the
length and the amount of support neces-
sary in each situation depending on the
facts of the case. Unlike child support,
there is not a set formula for calculating
the amount owed to the other spouse.
Depending on income and the prop-
erty, that support may need to counter-
balance against what type of property
division the wife is going to get. It’s a
possibility in this hypothetical that the
homemaker spouse might receive more
property rather than spousal support,
or might receive less spousal support
in consideration of the extra property
portion received.
So perhaps the homemaker spouse
will receive the house that is free and
clear, so they don’t have to make any
payments on it rather than receiving
spousal support payments every month.
What’s a fair divorce settlement for
the working spouse in this case? What’s
fair for the working spouse is going
to depend primarily on what are the
remainder of the assets at stake, what are
the liabilities and whether or not they’re
paying spousal support. And the inverse
of that is also true for the homemaker
spouse.
What should the homemaker spouse
ask for in a divorce settlement is also
then going to depend on, do they need a
house for the children, are they going to
be the custodial parent or have they been
working?
Based on the question, I’d recom-
mend these tips:
1) Initial steps
• Collecting documents and things
(gather up all documents and make
copies).
• Change your passwords (social
media, financial accounts, etc.).
• Consider getting a therapist (but
do discuss with an attorney the rules of
discovery).
• Make sure you have a safe place to
go, once you decide to leave (especially
with children).
• If there is abuse, research a restrain-
ing order (FAPA — Family Abuse
Prevention Act).
• Reach out to local domestic violence
services.
• Do some financial planning to
ensure independence.
• Take anything of sentimental value
with you (or put them in a safe place).
2) Throughout divorce
• Understand the legal process takes
time especially because a narcissist will
not compromise.
• Reflect on the bottom line for what
you want from divorce regarding prop-
erty and parenting time.
• Consult with attorney, know your
rights.
• Take measures to protect your pets.
• Change phone plan, and lock phone
down.
• Do not post on social media.
• Close social media accounts but do
not erase because it is “discoverable.”
• Find online communities for deal-
ing with divorce and/or other support
groups.
———
Blaine Clooten is an attorney serving
Umatilla County with a focus on family
law, estate planning and personal injury
cases. Questions answered do not create
an attorney-client relationship. Facts and
law may vary; talk to an attorney for more
information.
in Oregon. Under this foolish law, how
could I possibly stay in business?
If I have 600 or 6,000 acres of wheat
to be harvested, my crew and I would
work 12 hours a day until the crop was
safely in storage. I personally always
paid over minimum wage and gave a
bonus for finishing the harvest. Let’s
stop and look at an example: Seven days
at 12 hour days comes to 84 hours. The
first 40 hours would come to $600. The
next 44 hours at $22.50 (time and half)
would add $990 for a total $1,650 a
week. The reality of weather fluctuations
required me to get the harvest completed
in a timely way. Farmers don’t set the
selling price of their wheat. The going
rate is set by world demand.
Just stop and think of me going to a
grain dealer and saying I need an addi-
tional $5 a bushel just to make ends
meet. The reason is my wonderful state
of Oregon has more than doubled my
expenses by micro-managing how I
personally operate my farm. I would
receive nothing but laughter.
Kenneth Parsons
La Grande
YOUR VIEWS
House Bill 4002 is why
Eastern Oregon
should join Idaho
Do you really wonder why Eastern
Oregon wants to join with Idaho?
Here’s a big hint. House Bill 4002
has to be one of the most “irresponsi-
ble” regulations passed. Why not just
pass a law that all farmers should sign
their property over to the liberal West
side? I have farmed in Washington and
then starting in 1991 for several years