13 Conn. App. 433 | Conn. App. Ct. | 1988
The defendant appeals the postjudgment orders entered by the trial court in an action for dissolution of marriage. The marriage of the parties was dissolved by the court on May 4, 1983. The judgment mandated that the plaintiff former husband pay to the defendant former wife the sum of $87.50, per week, for child support.
On April 30,1985, the plaintiff filed a pro se appearance and a motion to modify child support which contained a certification that a copy of the motion was
On July 15, 1985, pursuant to the continuance contained in the order of June 10,1985, the plaintiff again appeared before the court and again the defendant failed to attend the proceedings. The July 15, 1985 court order stated in part: “The plaintiff shall pay the sum of $30 per week as child support. The order is permanent as of today’s date and until such time as the Plaintiff obtains employment. As soon as the Plaintiff is employed he shall notify the Defendant and the amount of child support shall return to $87.50 per week.” On this order, there is a notation initialed by the clerk of the court that a copy was sent to the defendant on July 25, 1985.
The defendant filed a pro se appearance on August 1, 1985. She took no further action, however, and continued to accept the $30 per week payments of child support for the next year. On April 15, 1986, counsel filed an appearance on behalf of the defendant. On
The trial court, W. Sullivan, J., conducted a hearing and took evidence as to whether the defendant had actual notice of the earlier hearings held before Judge Moraghan, and, finding that the defendant had indeed received notice, refused to vacate the previous order. The court did find that the plaintiff was employed and pursuant to the order of July 15,1985, found that the plaintiff owed an arrearage of $1495 in his support payments. The defendant has appealed that order.
The defendant claims that the trial court erred (1) in finding that she had notice of the May 13, 1985 or July 15, 1985 hearings on the plaintiff’s motion to modify, (2) in refusing to open and vacate the order of May 13,1985, and (3) in determining the amount of the arrearage.
Regarding the first claimed error, the question of whether the defendant had notice of the hearings is one of fact to be determined by the trial court. Our review of the record and transcripts amply supports the trial court’s finding of notice. The defendant is asking us to retry that issue. On appeal, the function of this court is limited solely to the determination of whether the
The defendant’s final claim, that the court erred in computing the amount of arrearage owed by the plaintiff, is also meritless.
There is no error.
In this opinion the other judges concurred.
The court computed the arrearage by taking into consideration the period of time between June of 1985 and May of 1986 that the plaintiff was employed — approximately twenty-six weeks — and assessed a $57.50 per week charge to account for the discrepancy between the $30 the plaintiff had paid, and the $87.50 that he should have paid. Because the plaintiff had again become temporarily unemployed for approximately three weeks in early 1986, the court did not assess the $57.50 charge for those weeks. It is this portion of the calculation that the defendant claims is erroneous.