Your state’s pack. New issues arrive periodically on Mondays. Bookmark it. I built this for the Oregon T&E solo who knows its own probate code (ORS ch. 111–117) rather than the UPC cold but still loses an afternoon a week hunting the current homestead number, the the Oregon Health Plan (OHA / DHS APD) slot posture, whether the latest Oregon State Bar opinion changes how you scope an engagement, or whether a recent Oregon Court of Appeals decision just moved the law on capacity, undue influence, or a trustee’s duties. What’s below is what mattered in Oregon lately — the week’s developments and the recent rulings from the bench.
For licensed attorneys. This pack is general legal information and professional commentary for practicing attorneys — it is not legal advice, does not apply to any specific matter, and creates no attorney-client relationship. Verify every authority against the cited primary source before relying on it with a client. Published by Mike Moss, a Utah-admitted attorney, as an AI-enablement information product; it is not an offer of legal services and is not a representation that the author is admitted to practice in your jurisdiction.
Three developments from the last seven days that I think actually matter to an Oregon T&E solo. Each one has a read that lands on your practice specifically — and each one comes with the citation so you can verify the detail yourself before you use it with a client.
SB 405 (2025), which would have raised the exemption to roughly $13.61 million for decedents dying on or after Jan. 1, 2026, remains “In Senate Committee” (Finance and Revenue) with no chapter number — it was not enacted. The $1 million threshold under ORS 118 is the live rule going into mid-2026 — one of the lowest exemptions in the country, unindexed since 2011.
This is the distinctive Oregon fact: the estate-tax conversation starts far earlier here than in most states. For estates above $1 million, credit-shelter/bypass trusts, lifetime gifting, and the Oregon Special Marital Property election stay squarely in play. Do not advise off the $13.61 million figure — that was a failed bill, not current law. Watch for renewal next session.
Or. SB 405 (2025 Reg. Sess.) · olis.oregonlegislature.gov
Approved by the Board of Governors in February 2025, OSB Formal Opinion 2025-205 permits Oregon lawyers to use AI subject to competence (RPC 1.1), confidentiality and informed consent for open models (RPC 1.6), supervision (RPC 5.1/5.3), reasonable fees, and a duty to verify any GAI output citing case-specific facts, citations, quotations, or conclusions (RPC 3.3/4.1).
If you use AI-assisted drafting in an Oregon estate or probate matter, 2025-205 is the floor: confirm an open model’s data handling before any client information goes in, and independently verify every authority an AI tool produces. Note the controlling number is 2025-205 — the “2024-197” figures in some secondary write-ups are conflations.
Or. State Bar Formal Op. 2025-205 (Feb. 2025) · osbar.org
The CPI-indexed ORS 18.395 homestead exemption stepped to $158,300 (single) / $316,700 (two or more same-household judgment debtors) for garnishments and executions issued or in effect on or after July 1, 2026 and before July 1, 2027, per the State Court Administrator’s adjustment table. The $154,200/$308,400 figures expired June 30, 2026; the July 2027 step is not yet published.
Asset-protection worksheets, Medicaid spend-down projections, and creditor-exposure advice that quote the old figures are now off by $4,100/$8,300 — swap the numbers and re-date the citation in your templates before the next client letter goes out.
ORS 18.395 · Or. Judicial Dept., Homestead Exemption Annual Adjustment table (eff. July 1, 2026) · courts.oregon.gov
Decisions that bind a Oregon practitioner — Oregon’s appellate courts and the federal courts covering Oregon, including the U.S. Ninth Circuit — read for what actually changes how you draft, advise, and plan. Trusts and estates broadly, not Medicaid alone: wills and capacity, undue influence, fiduciary duty, trust construction, and estate recovery. One read, the holding, and the official cite.
This lane reads each new opinion from Oregon’s appellate courts and the federal courts covering Oregon (Ninth Circuit) before anything lands here, and reads-and-discards matters that aren’t trusts-and-estates — criminal, family, commercial/LLC fiduciary, tax, and cases where an estate or trust is only a party. For this period’s trailing window, no new verified trusts-and-estates or estate-recovery decision from those courts was identified in the sources reviewed.
Nothing to re-paper from the bench this period; controlling authority is unchanged. When the next verified T&E ruling issues, it lands here with the holding and the official cite.
Controlling authority unchanged · Oregon appellate courts · U.S. Ninth Circuit.
This week in Oregon for the T&E solo with Oregon Health Plan clients: the developments from the Oregon State Bar (Estate Planning and Administration Section) and the Oregon Health Authority (Oregon Health Plan) that actually moved your practice this period — each one primary-source verified.
Bar and Medicaid changes land on different schedules and aren’t indexed by practice focus. Every item here was checked against its primary source, with the link, so you can verify before relying on it.