Carter v. Carter

Summary

The Connecticut Appellate Court reviewed a dissolution judgment in which the trial court awarded the plaintiff limited periodic alimony, certain stock-sale proceeds, and medical-expense relief. The court held that the trial court did not abuse its broad discretion in dividing property, awarding alimony, determining the cause of the marital breakdown, or conditioning postjudgment relief on the plaintiff's consent to pension withdrawals.

Holdings

1. The trial court did not abuse its broad discretion in dividing the property and awarding alimony. Connecticut law does not require alimony or property awards to be divided equally, and the financial award was reasonable and supported by the evidence.
2. The appellate court would not disturb the trial court's credibility determinations or its acceptance or rejection of expert medical testimony because those matters are primarily within the province of the trier of fact.
3. The trial court did not abuse its discretion by declining to increase temporary alimony from $150 to $250 per week or by conditioning payment of medical expenses on the plaintiff's release of the defendant's 1985 pension withdrawal.
4. The plaintiff could not obtain appellate relief based on the alleged procedural defect because her counsel knew of the asserted impropriety, failed to object, and thereby acquiesced in the procedure.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the trial court improperly attributed the irretrievable breakdown of the marriage to the plaintiff's conduct.
2. Whether the trial court's division of property and award of alimony were unreasonably disproportionate or inadequate.
3. Whether the trial court abused its discretion by refusing to increase temporary alimony pending appeal from $150 to $250 per week.
4. Whether the trial court improperly required the plaintiff to release the defendant's 1985 pension withdrawal.
5. Whether the plaintiff preserved an objection to the procedure used in entering the pension-release order.

Disposition

affirmed