Overley v. Overley

Citations

• 209 Conn. App. 504

Syllabus

The defendant appealed to this court from the judgment of the trial court dissolving his marriage to the plaintiff and making certain orders regard- ing the parties' finances and custody of the parties' three minor chil- dren. Held: 1. This court declined to review the defendant's claim that the trial court improperly awarded the marital home to the plaintiff without first award- ing him a credit for the separate property he contributed to its purchase: the defendant failed to distinctly raise at trial the claim that the funds he withdrew from a trust to pay for the home were his separate property, and, instead, had maintained that the funds were a marital liability, and that the court was required to allocate that liability and the marital home between the parties; moreover, although the plaintiff did not argue that the defendant failed to preserve this claim, it would have been manifestly unjust to both the plaintiff and the trial court to have permit- ted the defendant to pursue this claim on appeal. 2. The trial court improperly ordered that the defendant may not, under any circumstances, deduct alimony payments from his income for tax purposes, which was consistent with recently enacted federal tax laws but contravened the parties' prenuptial agreement; contrary to the plain- tiff's argument, the defendant's claim that this order was improper was, in part, preserved for appeal, because, although the defendant could have articulated more fully to the trial court how it could have reconciled the apparent conflict between the parties' agreement and the new federal tax laws, both the plaintiff and the trial court had notice of the defen- dant's claim, he consistently sought enforcement of the alimony provi- sion of the parties' prenuptial agreement as written, he explained to the court that alimony payments remained deductible in Puerto Rico where he resided, and the plaintiff addressed the issue in her posttrial brief; moreover, the defendant's additional, related