WomensLaw serves and supports all survivors, no matter their sex or gender.

Legal Information: Oregon

Statutes: Oregon

View all
Updated: 
February 2, 2024

25.501. Definitions

As used in ORS 25.501 to 25.556, unless the context requires otherwise:

(1) “Adjudicated youth” has the meaning given that term in ORS 419A.004.

(2) “Court” means any circuit court of this state and any court in another state having jurisdiction to determine the liability of persons for the support of another person.

(3) “Court order” means any judgment or order of any Oregon court that orders payment of a set or determinable amount of support money by the subject parent and does not include an order or judgment in any proceeding in which the court did not order support.

(4) “Department” means the Department of Justice of this state or its equivalent in any other state from which a written request for establishment or enforcement of a support obligation is received under ORS 25.511.

(5) “Dependent child” means any person under the age of 18 who is not otherwise emancipated, self-supporting, married or a member of the Armed Forces of the United States. “Dependent child” also means a child attending school as defined in ORS 107.108.

(6) “Office” means the office of the Division of Child Support or the office of the district attorney.

(7) “Parent” means:

(a) The natural or adoptive father or mother of a dependent child or adjudicated youth;

(b) A person whose parentage has been established under ORS 109.065; or

(c) A stepparent when the person has an obligation to support a dependent child under ORS 108.045.

(8) “Past support” means the amount of child support that could have been ordered and accumulated as arrears against a parent for the benefit of a child for any period of time during which the child was not supported by the parent and for which period no support order was in effect.

(9) “Public assistance” means any money payments made by the state that are paid to or for the benefit of any dependent child or adjudicated youth, including but not limited to payments made so that food, shelter, medical care, clothing, transportation or other necessary goods, services or items may be provided, and payments made in compensation for the provision of the necessities. “Public assistance” does not include money payments made by the state to or for the benefit of a dependent child as the result of the child’s removal from the parent’s home against the wishes of the parent, if the Department of Human Services determines after completion of a child protective services assessment that the report of abuse is unfounded according to rules adopted by the Department of Human Services.