Penny Oudheusden v. Peter Oudheusden

Summary

The Connecticut Supreme Court reviewed an appeal concerning a marital dissolution judgment that awarded permanent, nonmodifiable alimony of $18,000 per month and distributed half the value of the defendant’s closely held businesses to the plaintiff. The court held that the trial court abused its discretion by failing to adequately consider the defendant’s age, health, and future earning capacity before imposing the lifetime, nonmodifiable alimony obligation. The court also held that awarding a share of a business’s value and alimony based on income from that business does not constitute impermissible double counting, while affirming the remand for new financial orders.

Holdings

1. The trial court abused its discretion by awarding $18,000 per month in permanent alimony that was nonmodifiable as to duration and amount because the record did not show adequate consideration of the defendant’s age, health, future earning capacity, and the realistic possibility that illness, disability, retirement, or economic conditions could impair his ability to pay.
2. The trial court did not improperly double count because the rule against double counting does not apply when the distributed asset is the value of a business and alimony is based on the paying spouse’s actual income from that business.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the trial court abused its discretion by awarding permanent alimony of $18,000 per month that was nonmodifiable as to both duration and amount without adequately considering the defendant’s age, health, future earning capacity, and the possibility of a substantial change in circumstances.
2. Whether the trial court improperly double counted the value of the defendant’s businesses by using business value in the property distribution and the defendant’s actual income from those businesses in calculating alimony.

Disposition

reversed_and_remanded