Opinion ID: 2711556
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: parents’ child support obligations

Text: Parents have a legal duty to support their children. ORS 109.010 (“Parents are bound to maintain their children who are poor and unable to work to maintain themselves; and children are bound to maintain their parents in like circumstances.”); ORS 109.015 (“It is the public policy of this state that dependent children shall be maintained, as much as possible, from the resources of both parents   .”); Haxton and Haxton, 299 Or 616, 632, 705 P2d 721 (1985) (statutory duty of parental support exists and may be enforced in a direct action by a child against a parent). Parents cannot, by contract, avoid that obligation. See Jackman v. Short, 165 Or 626, 109 P2d 860 (1941) (court modified divorce decree to require payment of child support even though original divorce decree was silent); Gibbons v. Gibbons, 75 Or 500, 503, 147 P 530 (1915) (because “[t]he welfare of these infants is paramount to the rights of any other person[,]” an agreement that makes no provision for the care of the children cannot be binding when it deprives the children of their right to maintenance). In Hess v. Hess, 115 Or 595, 239 P 124 (1925), the court explained: “The stipulation did not bind the mother to exclusively support the child, but if it had, it would not have been binding upon the child or those having the custody of it, for the obligation of a parent to support a dependent child is one imposed by law and arises from the relationship 6 Mother also makes various preservation arguments, which we reject. Cite as 353 Or 446 (2013) 453 of the parties and the requirements of the child, and this responsibility neither parent can shirk.” Id. at 598-99. The Oregon legislature has enacted various statutes that, taken together, protect a child’s right to parental support. First, the statute that governs suits for dissolution, annulment, or separation authorizes courts to enter child support awards in such proceedings. ORS 107.105(1)(c). ORS 107.106(b) recognizes that those awards “are designed for the child’s benefit and not the parents’ benefit” and requires that judgments entered in such proceedings include a statement so informing parents. Second, other statutes give children and the state independent rights to seek or enforce child support awards. ORS 109.100 allows a child to seek an award of child support by filing his or her own petition for support. ORS 107.108 makes a “child attending school” a party to proceedings between parents and creates safeguards to ensure that the child benefits from orders intended to provide support or maintenance.7 ORS 25.080(4) authorizes the Department of Justice to establish and enforce child support obligations and to initiate and respond to child support modification proceedings when support is assigned to or provided by the state.8 7 ORS 107.108 provides, in part: “(3)   [A] child attending school is a party to any legal proceeding