M. S. v. P. S.

Citations

• 203 Conn. App. 377

Syllabus

The defendant appealed to this court from the judgment of the trial court dissolving his marriage to the plaintiff and from the order of that court awarding the plaintiff pendente lite attorney's fees. In the judgment dissolving the marriage, the court, inter alia, ordered the defendant to pay alimony to the plaintiff for a maximum term of six years and modified a relocation provision in the parties' agreed on pendente lite custody and parenting access plan to permit the plaintiff to relocate across state lines but within thirty-five miles of her current residence. Held: 1. The trial court did not abuse its discretion in fashioning its support orders; although the support orders account for approximately 90 percent of the defendant's net weekly income, the orders were not excessive in light of an essentially even distribution of the marital property, leaving the defendant valuable assets that he would be able to use to comply with the support orders and sustain his basic welfare, and the six year term for alimony, which was appropriate in light of the facts and circum- stances of the case, and which could not be extended. 2. The trial court did not abuse its discretion or deprive the defendant of due process when it permitted the plaintiff to relocate across state lines to within thirty-five miles of her then current residence: the court determined that it was in the children's best interests to allow the plaintiff to relocate in order to establish residency in the state of New York so that she could afford and attend a doctorate program, which would provide her a necessary opportunity for meaningful employment and income, and the court reasonably tethered the distance for the relocation to the plaintiff's home as she was the party seeking permission to relocate; moreover, the court's order did not deviate from the parties' expressed belief and agreement that it was in the children's best interests that the parties live within thirty-five miles of each other unless