Opinion ID: 1115867
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Exclusivity of existing statutory procedures

Text: From this background it can be seen that the parents' duty of support in ORS 109.010 stated a legal obligation recognized by many American states. To the extent that the duty derives from common law, it was capable of enforcement even before some states codified it. Oregon took over that codification in what is now ORS 109.010. Father argues that the legal obligation, standing alone, is not enforceable in the absence of explicit enforcement procedures and that enforcement procedures that exist now by statute limit the duty of support. [16] This argument would only be correct if the legislature, when it enacted the obligation, prescribed a particular method of enforcement at the same time, or if the legislature later enacted enforcement procedures intended to be exclusive. As originally enacted, there was no statutory enforcement procedure included with the reciprocal duty of support. In Paxton v. Paxton, 150 Cal. 667, 89 P. 1083 (1907), an action by an invalid adult son against his father for support under the California equivalent of ORS 109.010, Cal. Civ.Code § 206, the court rejected an argument similar to father's with the following rationale: It will be observed that section 206 of the Civil Code does not provide any procedure or machinery for enforcing its provisions, and no special procedure is prescribed elsewhere. On account of this absence of procedure appellant contends that there is no method by which section 206 can be judicially enforced. According to this contention said section is merely an ornamental enunciation of a moral principle which ought to be observed by good people under the circumstances referred to in the section, but it is not a law in the sense of a rule of action which such people are legally bound to obey. We do not think that this conclusion is maintainable. It may be admitted that where a statute creates a right and also prescribes a particular remedy or procedure for its enforcement, such procedure can alone be invoked for such enforcement; but that is as far as the rule goes. In such case the special procedure may be considered as part of the right  limiting and conditioning it, but where the right is given by statute without any prescribed remedy, it may be enforced by any appropriate method recognized by the general law of procedure.    150 Cal. at 670, 89 P. 1083. The same analysis applies here. As enacted, the duty was not limited or conditioned by a particular method of enforcement. Whether the duty has been subsequently limited requires an examination of amendments to the domestic relations statutes. It was not until 1930 that statutes regulating the juvenile, county and domestic relations courts were included with the domestic relations statutes. 2 Oregon Code Annotated (1930) § 33-635. A new statute in this section authorized the juvenile courts to order a parent to support a neglected or abandoned child. In 1953, the domestic relations code assumed the structure it maintains today. Laws regulating marriage, dissolution, the relationship between husband and wife and parent and child, as well as provisions for the enforcement of support laws, were compiled in the same title. ORS chapters 106 through 110. Some of these provisions authorizing support were simply gathered from other sections of the code to be grouped under one title encompassing all of domestic relations law and procedure. See, e.g., ORS 107.095 authorizing support pending dissolution, ORS 107.105 authorizing future support, ORS 108.110 authorizing support to a married person. Newer provisions address the support obligation in specific instances. See, e.g., ORS 107.108 authorizing support for children over 18 but still in school, ORS 109.153 through 109.155, authorizing support in filiation proceedings, ORS chapter 110, the Revised Uniform Reciprocal Enforcement of Support Act. We find no indication, however, that either the process of collecting the law and procedure of domestic relations into one code section or enactment of newer provisions to address the obligation of support in specific instances was intended to preclude other remedies that already existed. This court's examination of the duty imposed in ORS 109.010 has occurred infrequently and often in dicta. In general, however, we have recognized that the statute imposes a legal obligation on parents to support their children. See Coastal Adjustment v. Wehner, 246 Or. 115, 423 P.2d 967 (1967); State v. Langford, 90 Or. 251, 259, 176 P. 197 (1918); Putnam v. Southern Pacific Co., 21 Or. 230, 240, 27 P. 1033 (1891); but see Carney v. Barrett, 4 Or. 171 (1871). We considered whether the duty of parental support could be enforced by a third person in Coastal Adjustment v. Wehner, supra . In that case, a creditor who supplied necessaries to minor children on the order of their divorced mother sought reimbursement from the divorced father. The trial court found for the creditor and this court reversed. We stated: Oregon statutes require parents to care for their children `who are poor and unable to work to maintain themselves,' and enjoin a reciprocal duty upon children. ORS 109.010. 246 Or. at 116, 423 P.2d 967. The court, however, found that the controlling statute was ORS 107.100, which deals with child support after divorce, and cited ORS 107.130 as a statute empowering the courts to modify a support provision in a divorce decree when necessary. The court refused to allow the creditor to recover directly from the divorced father because to do so would permit one parent to modify the decree merely by purchasing necessaries on credit. 246 Or. at 117, 423 P.2d 967. Where a statutory procedure exists by which to seek support, that is the method a litigant must pursue. However, nothing in Wehner nor the statutes themselves prohibits a child to whom the duty is owed from enforcing the duty of support through a direct action against his or her parent under ORS 109.010, where no other method is provided by statute.