Y. H. v. J. B.

Citations

• 224 Conn. App. 793

Syllabus

The defendant appealed to this court from the judgment of the trial court dissolving his marriage to the plaintiff and entering certain financial orders. Following a trial, the court granted the parties joint legal custody of their minor son, with the defendant having primary physical custody, and stated that ''[n]either party has asked for alimony or child support, so the court will order none.'' The court also granted three motions for contempt filed by the plaintiff based on its conclusion that the defendant wilfully had disobeyed court orders regarding the finances of the parties' business. As a result of the contempt, the court ordered the defendant to pay the plaintiff $40,000 in attorney's fees. Held: 1. The trial court abused its discretion in the manner in which it addressed child support: although the trial court stated that it declined to award child support on the ground that it was not requested by either party, a review of the trial court file revealed that the defendant consistently had requested child support before, during, and after the dissolution trial as evidenced by his filing of completed child support guidelines worksheets, his compliance with trial management orders requesting child support and arrearage, and his motion for reconsideration after the court issued its memorandum of decision in which he pointed out that he had requested child support previously; moreover, even if child support had not been requested, the court improperly declined to award child support without considering the applicable statutes and child sup- port guidelines, and did not discuss whether the parties' son was a ''child . . . in need of maintenance'' pursuant to the criteria set forth in the relevant statute (§ 46b-84 (d)), or make a finding on the record, as required by statute (§ 46b-215b), that the application of the guidelines would be inequitable or inappropriate as determined under the deviation criteria established by the Commission for Child Support Guide