Simms v. Zucco

Citations

• 214 Conn. App. 525

Syllabus

The defendant, whose marriage to the plaintiff previously had been dis- solved, appealed to this court from the judgment of the trial court opening the judgment of dissolution and modifying his alimony obliga- tion. The defendant, who resided in Pennsylvania at the time the plaintiff filed her motion to modify alimony, claimed that the court improperly determined that the plaintiff's service of the notice of the motion to modify, which consisted of a certified mailing by a state marshal to his residence in Pennsylvania, was legally sufficient. He further claimed that the trial court erred in opening the judgment of dissolution following the automatic stay imposed by the defendant's petition for chapter 13 bankruptcy pursuant to federal law (11 U.S.C. § 362) and in ordering retroactive alimony resulting in a substantial arrearage. Held: 1. The trial court properly concluded that the plaintiff's service on the defendant of the notice of her motion to modify was legally sufficient: the trial court granted the plaintiff's motion for order of notice permitting her to serve the defendant with notice of her motion to modify by certified mail, the plaintiff served the defendant with a copy of the motion to modify through a state marshal pursuant to statutory require- ments (§§ 52-50 and 52-52), as the state marshal made service on the defendant by certified mail, the receipt for which was signed by the defendant's stepdaughter, who resided with the defendant, and this court declined to hold that certified mail service by a state marshal was legally insufficient to comply with §§ 52-50 and 52-52; moreover, the signature by the defendant's stepdaughter at his residence was sufficient to confer actual notice on the defendant, the defendant's counsel conceded at oral argument that the defendant did not dispute that he received actual notice of the plaintiff's service, and none of the defendant's filings in the trial court contested the manner of the plaintiff's notice of servic