Swain v. Swain

Citations

• 213 Conn. App. 411

Syllabus

The plaintiff, whose marriage to the defendant previously had been dis- solved, appealed to this court from the judgment of the trial court granting in part the defendant's motion to modify the existing child support, custody, visitation and parental access orders with regard to the parties' four minor children. Pursuant to those orders, the plaintiff had sole legal custody and primary physical residence of the children, with a specific visiting and access schedule for the defendant and pay- ment of child support from the defendant to the plaintiff. The defendant's motion requested, inter alia, sole custody of the children and a suspen- sion of the support order. After a hearing, the court granted the defen- dant's motion to modify as to access and visitation, issued a revised parenting schedule and reduced her weekly support obligation. On the plaintiff's appeal to this court, held that the plaintiff could not prevail on his claim that the trial court improperly modified the orders as to visitation, the parental access plan and child support because the defendant's motion sought to modify only custody: the plain language of the defendant's motion placed before the court the issues of custody, visitation and the parental access schedule, the defendant testified at the hearing that she had difficulties complying with the orders as to child support and the parental access schedule and proposed a new visitation and access schedule, and the plaintiff declined to present rebuttal witnesses to the defendant's testimony; moreover, none of the requests by the plaintiff's counsel for clarifications of the court's oral ruling concerned the scope of the ruling compared to the motion to mod- ify. Argued February 1—officially released June 21, 2022