Powers v. Hiranandani

Citations

• 197 Conn. App. 384

Syllabus

The defendant appealed to this court from the judgment of the trial court dissolving his marriage to the plaintiff and issuing certain orders. Prior to the parties' marriage, the defendant and his brother, M, purchased two pieces of real property together, property L and property B. The defendant owned 99 percent of property L and one percent of property B, whereas M owned 1 percent of property L and 99 percent of property B. Property L was the marital home of the defendant and the plaintiff. M died in April, 2014 and, in his will, M devised his interest in both pieces of real property to the defendant. During the dissolution proceedings, the trial court ordered the defendant to transfer his rights, title, and interest in property L to the plaintiff and to retain ownership of property B, free and clear of any claim by the plaintiff. On appeal, the defendant raised several claims regarding the trial court's orders concerning certain real property and its financial orders. Held: 1. The trial court did not lack subject matter jurisdiction over the real property awarded as part of the parties' marital estate; the trial court has plenary and general subject matter jurisdiction over legal disputes in family relations matter pursuant to statute (§ 46b-1 (c)) and has authority to transfer property germane to a dissolution proceeding pursu- ant to statute (§ 46b-81), including title to real property; moreover, to the extent that the defendant's argument is construed as a challenge to the trial court's authority to order the defendant to transfer his rights, title, and interest in property L to the plaintiff, the court did not lack the authority to do so; the court is required by § 46b-81 to divide the marital assets of the parties at the time of dissolution and, therefore, properly ordered the defendant to transfer his rights, title, and interest in property L, which was listed on his financial affidavit, indicating it was part of the marital property to be divided. 2. The d