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In honor of Thanksgiving, here are some holiday- related legal stories.

Presidential Turkey Pardoning

The presidential tradition of pardoning a turkey at Thanksgiving has an interesting history. You can read a full history of this tradition at the White House Historical Association’s website. Abraham Lincoln was not the first President pardon a turkey, as it is commonly thought. As it turns out, President George H. W. Bush was the first to use the term “pardon” after a turkey was presented to the president and was sent to live on a nearby children’s farm.

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So your loved one can no longer care for themselves. Now What?!

In October the Washington County Law Library hosted a webinar on the divorce process with Sara Kearsley from McKean and Knaupp Attorneys. The video of the presentation is now available on the county’s YouTube!

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A patron recently asked what something meant. They were pointing at a series of numbers and abbreviations at the end of a statute. It looked like this “[1957 c.448 §1; 1981 c.88 §2; 1983 c.330 §1; 1993 c.741 §110; 1993 c.796 §1; 2001 c.403 §1]” (ORS 776.015). I told them that is the history of the law.

When the legislature passes a law, it starts as a bill. That bill has a number, like HB 2001 or SB 101. That tells us if it’s a House Bill (HB) or Senate Bill (SB). Those bills that are approved by both houses and signed by the Governor become a session law. Those session laws are compiled after each legislative session. Those compilations are titled Oregon Laws.

The Oregon Revised Statutes are a compilation of all the session laws passed by the legislature that are currently in effect. To make it easier to find a law, they are organized by subject. But each statute has a list of the session laws that have impacted it, in brackets. That is the text our patron was asking about.

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In honor of Halloween today, here are some weird laws from around the world pertaining to the celebration of this spooky holiday.

Many locales have age restrictions on trick or treating, usually banning teenagers and adults. Some cities ban adults accompanying children trick or treating from wearing masks.

In the UK you could be fined and spend six months in prison for wearing a police officer costume.

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Tagged: Halloween and laws
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We often get asked about family law and divorce. There are a lot of variations – married or unmarried couples, with or without children. This is one topic the court has forms for. The trick can be finding the right form.

The Washington County Circuit Court’s forms page has several “Family Law” forms. Dissolution is the term they use for divorce, while legal separation leaves the parties married. There are also forms for unmarried parents. If you find forms that look right for you, read the instructions to be sure. There are other family law forms as well, for things like modification or custody enforcement.

A resource for information about family law in Oregon is OregonLawHelp – Family. This site from Legal Aid discusses a variety of topics including divorce, custody, child or spousal support, etc.

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If you’ve never had a document notarized before you might have questions on the process and what you need to know. Read on for answers to some of these questions.

How Do I Find a Notary Public?

The Oregon Secretary of State has a list of active notaries here, but there is no search function and it is basically a database of names and addresses. You could sort by city, but the interface is clunky and not user friendly. There are several websites that have notary directories and some of the notary associations have directories that you can search. Many banks and public libraries offer notary service for their customers.

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How did we answer that? Can I have a lawyer in Small Claims Court

I had someone come in a few days ago asking about suing someone in Small Claims Court and wanted to know if they could have a lawyer with them. They also wanted to know what was special about Small Claims Court.

Small Claims is a part of civil trial court where the amount claimed is $10,000 or less. Additionally, lawyers are not allowed, on either side, to participate in small claims hearings without the judge’s permission. People can talk to a lawyer at any time to help with the claim and to prepare for the hearing.

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How did we answer that? Public Records and Finding a Will

We received a public records request through the County’s online public records portal. The question was whether the County had a relative’s will. There are two questions here: what is a public records request for, and how can I find a relative’s will.

A public records request is any attempt to get access to a record of a government or public entity. In Oregon, state law provides a broad right of access to records generated by or for public entities. The Attorney General has a Public Records and Meetings Law Manual. That explains Oregon’s laws in greater detail. Many public entities have a portal where you can submit a public records request. If not, you should be able to contact the entity. Some records may already be easily available. For example, city or county codes or ordinances, or public meeting minutes, may already be on the organization’s website.

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Imagine this: A patron comes into the law library at 4:40 and says “I’m being sued, and I need to file a response before 5:00 today. Do you have the form for that? Oh, and I need help filling it out.” We would really like to help this person, but realistically this may not be possible. Unfortunately, patrons usually do not know what services we provide. Read on for information on what law libraries can and can’t do and how to get the most from your visit.

Don’t leave your research until the last minute. Leave enough time to handle any problems that might arise. In our example, the patron assumes that there is a fill-in-the-blank form that they can use, and that law library personnel can help them fill it out. Oregon does not have many fill-in-the-blank forms and law library employees cannot help patrons fill out forms. We would direct the patron to possible sources of templates that they can use to create their own document, and to resources that might help them to fill out the form. They probably wouldn’t have time to do all that in less than 20 minutes and get it to the court before they close.

Along those same lines, make sure you can devote time to research your questions. Law library personnel can’t do research for you. We can point you to resources that might be useful and show you how to do the research yourself.

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