Szegda v. Szegda

904 A.2d 1266, 97 Conn. App. 426, 2006 Conn. App. LEXIS 404
CourtConnecticut Appellate Court
DecidedSeptember 12, 2006
DocketAC 26565
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 904 A.2d 1266 (Szegda v. Szegda) 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
Szegda v. Szegda, 904 A.2d 1266, 97 Conn. App. 426, 2006 Conn. App. LEXIS 404 (Colo. Ct. App. 2006).

Opinions

Opinion

HARPER, J.

The plaintiff, Janet L. Szegda, appeals from the judgment of the trial court dissolving her marriage to the defendant, Ronald H. Szegda. The plaintiff takes issue with the court’s financial orders and awards, claiming that (1) the court abused its discretion by entering financial orders in this case, (2) the court’s distribution of marital assets and alimony award were not supported by the evidence, and (3) the court’s financial awards on her behalf generally were insufficient. We affirm the judgment of the trial court.

The parties were married on June 12, 1971. They are the parents of three children, none of whom are minors. Claiming an irretrievable breakdown in the marital relationship, the plaintiff brought this dissolution of marriage action by complaint dated October 23, 2002. The [428]*428plaintiff sought a dissolution of the marriage, a conveyance of the defendant’s interest in certain real property, and an equitable division of the parties’ assets, counsel fees, alimony and other “just and proper” relief. The defendant admitted the allegations of the plaintiffs complaint and filed a cross complaint in which he sought a dissolution of the marriage, an equitable division of the parties’ assets, an equitable division of “family income” in the form of alimony and other “reasonable and equitable” relief. By memorandum of decision filed April 4, 2005, the court dissolved the parties’ marriage and issued financial orders. The plaintiff timely filed a motion to reargue, which the court denied on April 28, 2005. This appeal followed.

I

The plaintiff first claims that the court abused its discretion by entering financial orders in this case. We disagree.

Our rules of practice require parties in a marital dissolution action to file “a sworn statement substantially in accordance with a form prescribed by the chief court administrator, of current income, expenses, assets and liabilities. . . .” Practice Book § 25-30 (a). “Practice Book § 13-15 imposes a continuing duty, during trial, to correct or supplement discovery responses. With respect to dissolution proceedings, [our Supreme Court] has established that the value of the parties’ assets must be determined as of the time the judgment of dissolution is rendered. . . . Therefore, it is clear that the duty to update pertinent discovery responses and to disclose facts relevant to that determination necessarily must extend until the judgment is rendered. Indeed, the sole purpose of disclosing pertinent financial information and mandating updated financial affidavits is to value the parties’ assets properly, and it would completely thwart that purpose if the duty to [429]*429disclose were to end before the asset valuation date.” (Citations omitted.) Weinstein v. Weinstein, 275 Conn. 671, 696-97, 882 A.2d 53 (2005).

The plaintiff claims that the two financial statements submitted by the defendant, one dated March 2, 2005, and another dated December 2, 2004, were “by the [d]efendant’s own admission” not reflective of his income. In both statements, the defendant represented that his weekly income as a “[s] elf-employed dairy fanner” was $190. In his March 2, 2005 affidavit, the defendant explained this figure as follows: “Exclusive of depreciation, profit of as much as $35,000 and loss of $37,000 going back to 2000. Current figure based on best estimate, with income from the sale of milk, hay, calves, timber and stone, and largely offsetting expenses.” The plaintiff argues that, at least by the time that he filed his financial statement dated March 2,2005, the defendant was in a position to provide the court accurate financial information concerning his farming business and that he did not do so. The plaintiff claims that the financial statements submitted by the defendant contradicted his testimony at trial as well as his income tax returns. The plaintiff claims that the court “abused its discretion by entering financial orders” because, she argues, the defendant’s statements were inaccurate and incomplete. The plaintiff claims that the court “could not possibly have been able to fashion fair and equitable orders regarding alimony or property settlement [and that] the fact that it did so was an abuse of discretion.”

The plaintiff did not object to the defendant’s financial statements at the time of trial. The plaintiff did not ask the court to reject the matters asserted in the defendant’s statement. We are unable to see how the fact that the court later entered financial orders, after it had received the defendant’s statements as well as other evidence relating to the finances of the parties, [430]*430implicates the court’s discretion. The sworn financial statements submitted by the parties were evidence of the matters represented therein. “A court is entitled to rely on sworn financial statements filed in dissolution actions, and when it finds it cannot, is entitled to draw adverse inferences which go to the core of the entire proceeding.” Voloshin v. Voloshin, 12 Conn. App. 626, 628-29, 533 A.2d 573 (1987).

Apart from the fact that the plaintiff did not preserve this claim, she also has failed to brief it properly. In her brief, the plaintiff states in a conclusory manner that the defendant admitted at trial that his financial statements were inaccurate. In an equally conclusory manner, the plaintiff also states that the court relied on the statements when it entered the financial orders of which she now complains. The plaintiff has not attempted to demonstrate, by citation to the record or otherwise, the validity of either of these assertions. On the basis of our review of the court’s memorandum of decision, we are not persuaded that the court relied on the financial information in the defendant’s financial statements to the exclusion of the other evidence that also was properly before it. To the extent that the plaintiff challenged the accuracy of the defendant’s financial statements at trial, the issue of whether to rely on the statements was a matter for the finder of fact, the court, to resolve. The plaintiff has not substantiated her claim that the court abused its discretion by entering financial orders in this case.

II

The plaintiff next claims that the court’s distribution of marital assets and its award of alimony to her were not supported by the evidence. Generally, the plaintiff argues that the evidence reflects the defendant’s inability to comply with these orders. We disagree.

[431]*431The court described the relevant marital assets. The parties’ ownership interest in real estate was valued, before taxes owed, at $1,068,633. After taxes, this ownership interest was valued at $1,051,173. This real estate included the Robinson farm, in which the parties held an ownership interest valued at $702,000; the Szegda farm, in which the parties held an ownership interest valued at $201,633; and the Palmer farm, in which the parties held an ownership interest valued at $165,000. Mortgages in the amounts of $335,367 and $58,000 encumbered the Robinson and Szegda farms, respectively.

The court ordered that the defendant retain sole ownership of the Szegda and Palmer farms, and ordered the plaintiff to convey to the defendant her ownership interest in the Robinson farm.

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Bluebook (online)
904 A.2d 1266, 97 Conn. App. 426, 2006 Conn. App. LEXIS 404, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/szegda-v-szegda-connappct-2006.