- Court: Oregon Court of Appeals
- Area(s) of Law: Family Law
- Date Filed: 07-10-2013
- Case #: A149165
- Judge(s)/Court Below: Nakamoto, J. for the Court; Armstrong, P.J.; and Egan, J.
Wife appealed a judgment dissolving the parties' marriage. Wife assigned error to the award of indefinite maintenance spousal support to her and contended that the award was too low to enjoy a standard of living similar to husband's, or to what she had during the parties' marriage. Under ORS 107.105(1)(d) spousal support awards must be just and equitable. The trial court based its decision on the circumstances as it found them at the time of trial, specifically that wife would continue to work and that her annual income was within several thousand dollars of that of husband. However, under ORS 107.135(4), a court must consider whether change in circumstances justifies reconsidering a spousal support award. Accordingly, the Court of Appeals found that the award of spousal support was affirmed, but that wife's ultimate retirement from work would meet her burden of demonstrating the kind of substantial, unanticipated change in circumstances that is the prerequisite to modification of spousal support. Affirmed.