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Is it illegal to get a divorce "on paper" for financial reasons and still stay/live together?
Anonymous3 views4 answers
Say everything was in the wife's name and they defaulted and were getting sued right and left. Now they are still together and are buying cars, remodeling their house etc. etc. Is it illegal and would anyone even be bothered to pursue it?
When you file for divorce in Oregon you have to state that there are "irreconcilable differences that have caused the irremediable breakdown of your marriage." People can certainly change their minds or work things out later, but I would never advise someone to make a false statement in a court pleading if you do not meet the standard for divorce (irreconcilable differences). Whether the District Attorney would bother to pursue it? I doubt it, but you never know. A divorce may not necessarily resolve this, anyway. Just because the debts are in one parties' name does NOT mean the other can't be ordered to be responsible for any of them in a divorce. Perhaps you should talk to a bankruptcy lawyer about your options with regard to the debts being pursued.
Ronald Allen JohnstonFamily Law AttorneyBeaverton, OROR licensed ·
Is is "legal" to cohabitation after divorce? Yes. If the parties went through a sham divorce to defraud creditors, then the creditors have right to pursue a claim for fraudulent transfer (or some other creditors remedy).
In addition to what has been posted, I would add that divorcing and then deciding to live together after the divorce is generally not the problem when it comes to creditors. The problem is a general judgment that awards all of the assets to the spouse with none of the debts, leaving the spouse with all of the debts totally without assets and then (just to make the scam more painfully obvious) the former spouses continuing to live together. As has been pointed out, creditors have remedies to deal with these kinds of situations, remedies which, if successful, can be painful to the debtors involved. You want to pursue a solution where the law works with you. You do not want to pursue a solution that could potentially blow up in your face. If you want to stay together, but have financial problems that you cannot manage, you should confidentially consult an attorney experienced in Oregon debtor/creditor law and federal bankruptcy law to review your situation and to determine your best options.
