Rule 8.120.Informal Domestic Relations Trial

An informal domestic relations trial trades the usual adversarial machinery for a conversation with the judge. It is available on the consent of both parties, and it can resolve any or all issues in original actions or modifications for dissolution of marriage, separate maintenance, annulment, child support, and child custody filed under ORS chapter 107, ORS chapter 108, ORS 109.103, and ORS 109.701 through 109.834.

Parties may select the informal trial at any time before trial commences. They do it by filing a Domestic Relations Trial Process Selection form, in substantially the form provided at www.courts.oregon.gov/forms, or by making the selection orally on the record. If the choice is oral, the judicial officer accepting it must make sure the parties agree to the items identified on that form. Every judicial district must accept the form. SLR 8.121 is reserved for districts that want to make the format mandatory or set a different filing time that fits their case management and calendaring practices.

The trial itself follows a set sequence. The parties affirm that they understand the process, that they are consenting freely and voluntarily, and that nobody threatened them or promised them anything. The court may ask for a brief summary of the issues. The moving party then speaks to the court under oath about all the issues in dispute. No attorney questions that party, though the court may ask questions to develop evidence a statute or rule requires, such as what the Oregon Child Support Guidelines call for when child support is at issue. There is no cross-examination, but the court asks the nonmoving party or their attorney whether other areas should be explored, and inquires into those that are relevant. The same steps then run for the other party. Expert reports come in as exhibits, and on request the expert is sworn and questioned by the parties, their attorneys, or the court. The court receives the exhibits offered, decides what weight each deserves, and may order the record supplemented. Each side gets a brief response and a brief legal argument, and the court renders judgment at the conclusion, and may take the matter under advisement, though best efforts will be made to issue prompt judgments. The court may modify these procedures as justice and fundamental fairness require.

Nobody is locked in. A party who agreed to the informal trial can opt out by notifying the parties and the court at any time before trial commences, though a change in the type of trial may move the trial date. The court has its own exit: it may refuse to allow the informal procedure at any time, and it may direct that a case proceed in the traditional manner even after an informal trial has started, as long as judgment has not been entered.