The mission of the Connecticut Judicial Branch is to serve the interests of justice and the public by resolving matters brought before it in a fair, timely, efficient and open manner.

Family Law Appellate Court Opinions

by Roy, Christopher

 

AC41312 - Almeida v. Almeida ("In this postdissolution matter, the defendant, Renato Almeida, appeals from the judgment of the trial court granting the motion for clarification filed by the plaintiff, Cristiane M. Almeida. On appeal, the defendant claims that the court improperly modified the dissolution judgment when it rendered its clarification. We agree and, therefore, reverse the judgment of the trial court.")

AC40108 - DeChellis v. DeChellis ("In this postdissolution matter, the defendant, Anthony DeChellis, appeals from the judgments of the Superior Court granting the motion of the plaintiff, Amber DeChellis, to confirm the arbitration award and denying his motion to vacate that award in part. On appeal, the defendant claims that: (1) the court improperly confirmed the award of attorney's fees because, to the extent that it was based on the efforts of Louise Truax, one of the plaintiff's attorneys, to comply with the orders of the arbitrator, the award does not conform to the submission; (2) the award of attorney's fees to Gary Cohen, another of the plaintiff's attorneys, does not conform to the submission and violates public policy because the court never approved an agreement to arbitrate Cohen's fees pursuant to General Statutes § 46b-66 (c); (3) the court improperly confirmed the award of attorney's fees related to motions to reargue the underlying judgment because the arbitrator exceeded his powers by issuing an award that was contrary to the dissolution judgment, which specified that each party should bear its own fees and costs, and thereby "effectively undid the carefully crafted financial mosaic rendered by the [dissolution] court in the underlying dissolution"; and (4) we should invoke our supervisory authority to provide guidance to the trial courts with respect to the proper application of § 46b-66 (c) and reverse the court's approval of the parties' agreement to arbitrate the plaintiff's motion for counsel fees, dated March 19, 2014.In response, the plaintiff contends that the defendant has not preserved any of the claims he raises on appeal and that our use of supervisory authority is not warranted in this case. We agree with the plaintiff and, therefore, affirm the judgments of the court.")

AC41284 - Maria W. v. Eric W. ("The self-represented defendant, Eric W., appeals from the judgment of dissolution and the court's order related to the postjudgment motion for contempt filed by the plaintiff, Maria W. On appeal, the defendant has raised numerous claims, which we have distilled to his claims that the court (1) abused its discretion by admitting evidence at the dissolution trial of his arrest and (2) with respect to the plaintiff's motion for contempt, improperly found him to be in arrears on his child support and alimony obligations and ordered him to make certain weekly payments to the plaintiff to cover his current and delinquent child support and alimony obligations. We affirm the judgment of dissolution and dismiss the appeal with respect to the motion for contempt for lack of a final judgment.")