USA – OKLAHOMA Law and Practice Contributed by: Danya Bundy and Aaron Bundy, Bundy Law
2.7 Enforcement Compliance with a financial order for child or spousal support may be enforced through the applicable provisions of the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act. The Act specifically recog - nises the Convention on the International Recov - ery of Child Support and Other Forms of Fam - ily Maintenance and the Hague Conference on Private International Law. It also provides for the registration and enforcement of foreign orders, including support orders issued by international courts. 2.8 Media Access and Transparency Except for cases heard by an arbitrator, divorce proceedings are open to the public. As a result, the media may be present in the courtroom. Local newspapers routinely publish the names of parties when marriage licences are issued and when divorces are granted. The scope of media reporting may be limited for sensitive matters, including the identity of minor children, domestic violence victims, and the presentation of medi - cal records. There are a few ways to remove matters from the public eye. Most courts permit the use of abbreviating first names to limit public searches. Venue may be waived by agreement, so filing a proceeding in a remote venue by agreement may be a strategy. Following a settlement, the decree may incorporate a settlement agreement by ref - erence that is not filed in the publicly accessi - ble court file. Properly done, unfiled settlement agreements may remove most of the details of a settlement from the public record, while retaining all the enforceability and weight of a court order. 2.9 Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Oklahoma’s civil statutes include a Dispute Res - olution Act and a Uniform Arbitration Act. Parties to a dispute, including a divorce, may agree for
of marriage proceeding is underway. The factors to be considered by the court may be truncated at an interlocutory hearing simply owing to the limitations of time at such a hearing and because discovery may be incomplete. 2.5 Prenuptial and Postnuptial Agreements Prenuptial agreements are briefly referred to in Oklahoma’s statutes as “valid antenuptial contract[s] in writing”. That reference has led to a body of case law upholding prenuptial agree - ments in a variety of circumstances. Antenup - tial agreements are characterised as “favoured by the law” by Oklahoma’s appellate courts. Antenuptial agreements remain the most effec - tive way to deviate from the subjective nature of spousal support awards and the uncertainty of the “just and equitable” property division stand - ard. Oklahoma law is not clear concerning the validity of postnuptial agreements, as there is a split in authority. Appellate courts have confirmed that spouses may contract with one another, transfer property to one another, and even modify a pre - nuptial agreement after the marriage. However, at least one appellate decision has held that there is no legal basis for a postnuptial agree - ment. 2.6 Cohabitation Unmarried couples with assets must look to property law and contract law to determine and enforce their rights. An unmarried individual does not acquire a legal or equitable interest in the property of their romantic partner or significant other simply by virtue of cohabitation. Unmarried cohabitants do not acquire any property rights simply by virtue of length of cohabitation, shared children, or otherwise.
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