Chartier v. Valliere

Citations

• 234 Conn. App. 1

Syllabus

The defendants appealed from the trial court's judgment admitting to probate the purported will of the decedent, which named the plaintiffs as executors of the decedent's estate. The defendants claimed, inter alia, that the court improperly denied their motion to dismiss the action on timeliness grounds because the action, which had been brought by the plaintiffs as an appeal from a decree of the Probate Court pursuant to statute (§ 45a-186 (b)) was not filed within thirty days. Held: The trial court improperly denied the defendants' motion to dismiss, as the plaintiffs failed to file their appeal of the Probate Court's decree within the thirty day appeal period set forth in § 45a-186 (b), and the plaintiffs' claim that the appeal period ran from the date the Probate Court issued a second decree was unavailing, as that decree, which merely added a statutory reference and elaborated on the factual findings made in the first decree, was issued pursuant to the Probate Court's inherent power to correct its records and was not a modification of the first decree, and, thus, the trial court lacked subject matter jurisdiction over the appeal. Argued March 12—officially released July 29, 2025