Aley v. Aley
Aley v. Aley
Opinion of the Court
The defendant, William Aley, appeals from the judgment dissolving his marriage to the plaintiff, Susan Aley. He claims that the trial court (1) improperly proceeded to judgment in his absence, without adequate notice to him or an opportunity to be heard, (2) lacked jurisdiction to order a certain home equity payment obligation to be characterized as spousal support and nondischargeable in bankruptcy and that the home equity order lacked clarity, and (3) improperly entered certain financial orders without evidentiary support.
The parties were married in July, 1996, and there was one minor child issue of the marriage, who was six years old at the date of dissolution. In November, 2004, the plaintiff commenced her action seeking dissolution of the marriage. The court held a hearing on July 28, 2005, at which the pro se defendant was not present. The plaintiff testified that the defendant was vacationing in Romania and had indicated that he would not be present for the divorce proceeding. Ruling orally, the court stated that it was adopting paragraphs one through twelve, inclusive, of the plaintiffs claims for relief, making them the orders of the court and incorporating them by reference into the judgment.
I
The defendant first claims that the court improperly proceeded to judgment in his absence, without adequate notice to him or an opportunity to be heard. We are not persuaded.
At the outset, we note the principles underlying the necessity for adequate and proper notice. “It is the settled rule of this jurisdiction, if indeed it may not be safely called an established principle of general jurisprudence, that no court will proceed to the adjudication of a matter involving conflicting rights and interests, until all persons directly concerned in the event have been actually or constructively notified of the pendency of the proceeding, and given reasonable opportunity to appear and be heard.” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Hasbrouck v. Hasbrouck, 195 Conn. 558, 559-60, 489 A.2d 1022 (1985). “It is a fundamental premise of due process that a court cannot adjudicate a matter until the persons directly concerned have been notified of its pendency and have been given a reasonable opportunity to be heard in sufficient time to prepare their positions on the issues involved.” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Roberts v. Roberts, 32 Conn. App. 465, 475, 629 A.2d 1160 (1993).
Our review of the record reveals that the defendant was given more than three months notice of the July
II
The defendant next claims that the court did not have jurisdiction to order that certain second mortgage payment obligations were in the nature of spousal support and nondischargeable for bankruptcy purposes. We conclude that the court had jurisdiction. The defendant has not cited any legal authority or provided us with any analysis as to why he claims the court did not have jurisdiction. Generally, “[w]e are not required to review issues that have been improperly presented to this court through an inadequate brief. . . . Analysis,
It is axiomatic that jurisdiction “involves the power in a court to hear and determine the cause of action presented to it and its source is the constitutional and statutory provisions by which it is created.” Connecticut State Employees Assn., Inc. v. Connecticut Personnel Policy Board, 165 Conn. 448, 456, 334 A.2d 909 (1973). General Statutes § 46b-82 (a) grants the Superior Court the power “[a]t the time of entering the decree” to “order either of the parties to pay alimony to the other . . . .” General Statutes § 46b-82 (a). Additionally, General Statutes § 46b-l grants the Superior Court the power to order support of minor children. We therefore reject the defendant’s claim that the court lacked the power to enter as part of its support orders at the time of the dissolution of the marriage an order of payment of a home equity loan. See also Larson v. Larson, 89 Conn. App. 57, 872 A.2d 912, cert. denied, 274 Conn. 915, 879 A.2d 892 (2005).
We next address the defendant’s claim that the court improperly entered certain financial orders without evi-dentiary support. We deem it necessary for the proper disposition of this case to remand for further articulation on two points. First, we direct the court to articulate the value of the marital home, which it found upon the entry of the dissolution decree. Second, we direct the court to articulate the defendant’s gross and net earnings, which it found upon the entry of dissolution.
The case is remanded with direction to articulate the value of the parties’ marital home and the defendant’s gross and net earnings.
In this opinion DiPENTIMA, J., concurred.
The defendant withdrew his challenge to the court’s postjudgment award of attorney’s fees.
The court further ordered, with respect to the marital residence, that the defendant pay or make satisfactory arrangements with the utility companies within twenty days of the date of judgment.
Dissenting Opinion
dissenting in part. The majority concludes that it is necessary, for proper disposition of the claim by the defendant, William Aley, that the trial court was without sufficient evidence to render its financial orders for asset distribution and payment obligations, to remand the case for the court to articulate on two points, the value of the marital home and the defendant’s gross and net earnings. Although I agree with the analysis set forth in parts I and II of the majority’s opinion, I write separately because I respectfully disagree with the majority’s decision to remand the matter for articulation.
“An appellate court will not disturb a trial court’s orders [financial or otherwise] in domestic relations cases unless the court has abused its discretion or it is found that it could not reasonably conclude as it did, based on the facts presented. ... In determining whether a trial court has abused its broad discretion in domestic relations matters, we allow every reasonable presumption in favor of the correctness of its action.
Although a court must consider all of the statutory factors for determining alimony and property distribution set forth in General Statutes §§ 46b-81 and 46b-82, respectively, our Supreme Court has emphasized that a court need not make explicit reference to the statutory criteria that it considered in making its decision or make express findings as to each statutory factor. Dom-browski v. Noyes-Dombrowski, supra, 273 Conn. 137. “It is axiomatic . . . that [t]he trier [of fact] is free to accept or rej ect, in whole or in part, the evidence offered by either party.” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Cushman v. Cushman, 93 Conn. App. 186, 195, 888 A.2d 156 (2006); see also Olson v. Olson, 71 Conn. App. 826, 833, 804 A.2d 851 (2002).
The majority’s decision to remand suggests its concern either that the court had no evidence of valuation and earnings, or that whatever evidence did exist was insufficient for the entry of its financial orders. That is not the case.
Regarding the distribution of the marital home, the court had before it the defendant’s financial affidavit, which showed the value of the home, on which it was entitled to rely in awarding the home to the plaintiff, Susan Aley. The court was not required to make explicit reference to the value it assigned to the marital home. Because only one estimate of value was presented to
Moreover, the court had before it the defendant’s financial affidavit and a child support guidelines worksheet showing the defendant’s gross and net earnings and the child support to be paid by the defendant in accordance with those earnings. The court was entitled to accept whatever evidence was before it in determining net and gross income. The defendant’s financial affidavit, which was a few months old, represented the defendant’s gross weekly earnings as $846.16 and net weekly earnings as $657.16. The child support guidelines worksheet, in contrast, represented the defendant’s gross weekly earnings to be $904 and his net weekly earnings to be $676. The court ordered the sum of $139 to be paid by the defendant, which was the exact figure shown on the support guidelines worksheet. Although the court did not explicitly state that it found the gross and net earnings to be $904 and $676, respectively, it is clear from the court’s orders that it chose to adopt the figures set forth in the child support worksheet because the amount of child support ordered, $139, was identical to that set forth in the worksheet.
“When faced with the constraints of incomplete information, a court cannot be faulted for fashioning an award as equitably as possible under the circumstances.” Commissioner of Transportation v. Larobina, 92 Conn. App. 15, 32, 882 A.2d 1265, cert. denied, 276 Conn. 931, 889 A.2d 816 (2005); see also Brycki v. Brycki, 91 Conn. App. 579, 591-92, 881 A.2d 1056 (2005). I believe that no articulation is necessary in the present case and that there was sufficient evidence in the record to support the court’s orders. For the reasons previously discussed, I respectfully dissent only as to the majority’s remand for articulation and would affirm the judgment of the trial court.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Susan Aley v. William Aley
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- Published