K. S. v. C. S.

Citations

• 232 Conn. App. 163

Syllabus

The plaintiff appealed from the trial court's judgment dissolving her marriage to the defendant and granting the defendant's motion for contempt. She claimed, inter alia, that the court improperly entered an order into the judgment of dissolution prohibiting contact between the parties' minor child and the plaintiff's boyfriend, A. Held: The trial court did not abuse its discretion in ordering, as part of its custody and visitation orders, that the plaintiff shall not allow the child to have contact with A, as the court weighed the evidence before it in finding that contact with A was not in the child's best interests. The trial court did not abuse its discretion in awarding the defendant final decision-making authority with respect to medical and educational issues for the parties' child. The trial court did not abuse its discretion in finding the plaintiff in contempt of its order prohibiting contact between the parties' child and A, as the court found that the plaintiff was aware of the order and had wilfully violated it, its finding having been supported by the unrebutted documentary evidence that A was living at the marital residence with the plaintiff and the child. The trial court abused its discretion in awarding attorney's fees to the defendant in connection with the defendant's motions for contempt, as portions of those fees were for counsel's time spent on other motions and proceedings, and, accordingly, the awards were vacated and the matter was remanded for further proceedings. The trial court's factual findings underlying its child support and marital property division orders were clearly erroneous, and, because those orders were not severable from its alimony orders, the case was remanded to the trial court to refashion all of its financial orders. Argued February 3—officially released April 22, 2025 In accordance with federal law; see 18 U.S.C. § 2265 (d) (3) (2018), as amended by the Violence Against Women Act Reauthorization Act of 2022, Pub. L. No