Syragakis v. Syragakis

829 A.2d 885, 79 Conn. App. 170, 2003 Conn. App. LEXIS 388, 2003 WL 22035856
CourtConnecticut Appellate Court
DecidedSeptember 2, 2003
DocketAC 23021
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 829 A.2d 885 (Syragakis v. Syragakis) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Connecticut Appellate Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Syragakis v. Syragakis, 829 A.2d 885, 79 Conn. App. 170, 2003 Conn. App. LEXIS 388, 2003 WL 22035856 (Colo. Ct. App. 2003).

Opinion

Opinion

FOTI, J.

The defendant, John Syragakis, appeals from the trial court’s postjudgment modification of child support in favor of the plaintiff, Renee Syragakis. The defendant claims that (1) the plaintiff failed to meet her burden of proof to warrant a postjudgment modification of child support as provided by General Statutes § 46b-86 (a)1 and (2) the court improperly deviated from the [172]*172child support guidelines in § 46b-215a-l et seq. of the Regulations of Connecticut State Agencies in ordering a modification of the child support award.2 We affirm the judgment of the trial court.

The following facts and procedural history are relevant to our resolution of the defendant’s appeal. The court dissolved the parties’ marriage on February 14, 1997, and incorporated the parties’ separation agreement3 into its judgment of dissolution. The separation agreement included a parenting plan in which the parties agreed that they would share custody of their minor child and that the plaintiff would have primary physical custody of the child. Regarding child support, the agreement states: “[The defendant] shall pay the sum of $260.00 per week as child support which is in accord with the guidelines of the State of Connecticut.” On March 13, 2002, the plaintiff filed a motion to open the February 14, 1997 judgment of dissolution and to modify the order of child support. The court held a hearing on the motion on April 15, 2002. The defendant appeared pro se. Both parties submitted updated financial affidavits and testified subject to cross-examination. At the close of the hearing, the court granted the plaintiffs motion to open the dissolution judgment and modified the February 14, 1997 child support upward to $650 per week.4 This appeal followed.

[173]*173As a preliminary matter, we set forth our well settled standard of review in domestic relations cases. We will generally not disturb an order unless the court has “abused its legal discretion or its findings have no reasonable basis in the facts.” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Ignacio v. Montana-Ignacio, 57 Conn. App. 647, 647-48, 750 A.2d 491 (2000). “In determining whether there has been an abuse of discretion, the unquestioned rule is that great weight is due to the action of the trial court and every reasonable presumption should be given in favor of its correctness. . . . [W]e do not review the evidence to determine whether a conclusion different from the one reached could have been reached.” (Citation omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.) Hathaway v. Hathaway, 60 Conn. App. 818, 819, 760 A.2d 1280 (2000). Further, we must accept the factual findings of the court unless they are clearly erroneous in light of the evidence presented in the record as a whole. See Prial v. Prial, 67 Conn. App. 7, 10, 787 A.2d 50 (2001). With that deferential standard in mind, we now turn to the specific claims raised on appeal.

I

The defendant first claims that the court’s modification of child support was improper because the plaintiff failed to meet her burden of proof in seeking a postjudgment modification. We disagree and conclude that there was sufficient evidence of a substantial change in the defendant’s financial circumstances to warrant the court’s modification.

“General Statutes § 46b-86 governs the modification of a child support order after the date of a dissolution judgment.” Hayward v. Hayward, 53 Conn. App. 1, 9, 752 A.2d 1087 (1999). “[A] child support order cannot be modified unless there is (1) a showing of a substantial change in the circumstances of either party or (2) a [174]*174showing that the final order for child support substantially deviates from the child support guidelines absent the requisite findings. . . . The party seeking modification bears the burden of showing the existence of a substantial change in the circumstances. ... In these matters, as in other questions arising out of marital disputes, this court relies heavily on the exercise of sound discretion by the trial court.” (Citations omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.) Santoro v. Santoro, 70 Conn. App. 212, 218-19, 797 A.2d 592 (2002).

“Both the ‘substantial change of circumstances’ and the ‘substantial deviation from child support guidelines’ provision establish the authority of the trial court to modify existing child support orders to respond to changed economic conditions. The first allows the court to modify a support order when the financial circumstances of the individual parties have changed, regardless of their prior contemplation of such changes. The second allows the court to modify child support orders that were once deemed appropriate but no longer seem equitable in the light of changed social or economic circumstances in the society as a whole . . . .” Turner v. Turner, 219 Conn. 703, 718, 595 A.2d 297 (1991).

The defendant claims that the plaintiff failed to provide the court with sufficient evidence either that a substantial change of circumstances had occurred since the February 14,1997 order of support or that the February 14, 1997 order was a substantial deviation from the child support guidelines. We first address the evidence of substantial change of circumstances.

In his appellate brief, the defendant acknowledges that the record reflects “changes in the nature of the assets owned by the [defendant] . . . ,”5 He argues, [175]*175however, that for the court properly to have found a substantial change of circumstances, it would have had to review those changes in light of the prior support order and that the court did not do so. The defendant’s only support for his argument is, as he argues, that “the April 15, 2002 hearing is entirely devoid of reference to the financial affidavits or financial situation of the parties at the time of the prior order regarding payment of child support.” We find that argument unavailing.

First, the financial affidavits and any other relevant documents that the parties filed at the time of the dissolution, as well as financial affidavits subsequently filed by the parties, are in the court’s case file. The court may take judicial notice of the contents of that file. See Hryniewicz v. Wilson, 51 Conn. App. 440, 444, 722 A.2d 288 (1999). Because we give every reasonable presumption in favor of the correctness of the court’s decision, we must assume, contrary to the defendant’s argument, that the court properly considered the parties’ financial circumstances as they were at the time of the prior child support order.

Second, the defendant has failed to provide evidence that the court improperly exercised its discretion in ruling as it did.

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Bluebook (online)
829 A.2d 885, 79 Conn. App. 170, 2003 Conn. App. LEXIS 388, 2003 WL 22035856, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/syragakis-v-syragakis-connappct-2003.