Zealand v. Balber

Citations

• 205 Conn. App. 376

Syllabus

The plaintiff sought a partition by sale, pursuant to statute (§ 52-500 (a)), of certain real property that she and the defendant had purchased as tenants in common. The parties, who never married, shared a principal residence in New York, where they were employed as attorneys. After the parties had a child together, the plaintiff left her employment to be the child's primary caregiver, after which the defendant was the sole source of support for her and the child. The parties thereafter purchased what they intended to be a country home that would accommodate them and their child as well as the defendant's other children when he had visitation with them. Although both parties were obligors on the note and mortgage, the defendant funded the purchase and carrying costs for the home. The parties made improvements and repairs to the property, many of which the plaintiff managed, and the defendant purchased artwork for the home, including an item referred to as ''punch- ing bag art.'' The trial court found that the plaintiff had a relatively minimal interest in the property as compared to that of the defendant and declined to order a partition sale because a lump sum payment by the defendant to the plaintiff in exchange for her quitclaim to him of her interest in the property would better promote the relative interests of the parties. The court rendered judgment, ordering, inter alia, that the plaintiff quitclaim her interest in the property to the defendant, at which time he was to pay her $25,000 and complete a sale or refinance of the home, or other transaction, that would relieve her of liability under the mortgage note and deed. Held: 1. The trial court did not abuse its discretion in determining the parties' respective interests in the property, as it reasonably could have deter- mined, in balancing the equities of the parties, that the plaintiff possessed a relatively minimal interest in the property as compared to that of the defendant: the evidence supported the