Courts · Answer
Do we need a court order to sell the house during a divorce?
The short answer
Not if you both agree. Once divorce papers are served in Oregon, ORS 107.093 lets a spouse transfer property the other has an interest in only with that spouse's written consent or a court order. Written consent is enough on its own. A court order becomes the route when one spouse won't consent, and your attorney can tell you how to ask for one.
- 01
Consent or an order
ORS 107.093 names two ways past its restraint, and you need only one. If the two of you sign a written consent to the sale, you don't also need a judge's permission under that statute. If one of you won't sign, the other spouse can ask the court for an order instead. Before papers are served, that particular restraint hasn't started yet. That's the whole test. Because the restraint covers property the other spouse has an interest in, the consent has to come from the other spouse, and your attorneys will know whether your consent needs anything more for the closing to go through.
Your attorneys should write the consent, because the wording matters and I'm not a lawyer. A good consent names the property and says the sale may go ahead. It may also say where the net proceeds wait until the property is divided.
- 02
When the court steps in
Either party can ask for a hearing on the ORS 107.093 restraint. Separately, ORS 107.095 lets the court make temporary orders while the case is pending about who uses and possesses property and who pays the liens, which includes the mortgage. Those orders can shape a sale even when they don't order one. A judge who decides who lives in the house until closing, or who keeps the payments current, has a big say in how the sale runs.
Going to court takes time and money. It's worth it when there's no other way, and an attorney can tell you whether you've reached that point. Before you decide, ask what a hearing would cost compared with what a delay costs you each month in mortgage, taxes and upkeep.
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After the judgment
The ORS 107.093 restraint lasts until the judgment, a dismissal, or a court order. Once there's a judgment, what it says about the house is what you follow. Some judgments set out a sale in detail, and some leave the timing open, which is its own problem covered in the judgment says sell but gives no deadline. Read it with your attorney before you call me. Keep a copy handy. If the judgment awards the house to one of you instead of ordering a sale, the pages on does a quitclaim deed take me off the mortgage and can I keep the house and buy out my spouse pick up from there.
Sources · checked 23 Oct 2026
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