30 Conn. App. 821 | Conn. App. Ct. | 1993
The plaintiff appeals from the trial court’s denial of his motion to open and modify by vacating a child support order entered as part of a 1986 California divorce that was filed pursuant to General Statutes § 46b-70 et seq.
The following undisputed facts are relevant to this appeal. On February 27, 1986, the marriage of the named parties was dissolved in the Superior Court of California, county of Solano. The judgment granted the parties “joint legal custody of the minor child, Brian Mirabal, [with] sole physical custody to [Deanne Mirabal], with reasonable visitation to [Marty Mirabal].” The plaintiff was ordered to pay $288 per month as child support. Although the defendant, Deanne Mirabal, had been served with notice by mail, she did not appear in that proceeding. The plaintiff was represented by counsel.
Subsequently, the plaintiff moved to Connecticut and filed the judgment with the Superior Court in Connecticut. At some point in 1991, the plaintiff obtained information that the child was not his son. Thereafter, on October 9,1991, the plaintiff moved to open and modify the judgment. The plaintiff asked the court to terminate the support order, to give the defendant sole custody and to order that the child was not issue of the mar
The trial court held that because Deanne Mirabal had been served with notice of the divorce action and the motion to modify, and both she and the plaintiff appeared before the court at the initial modification hearing, it had jurisdiction to decide the matter. We disagree.
“ ‘Jurisdiction over the person, jurisdiction over the subject-matter, and jurisdiction to render the particular judgment are three separate elements of the jurisdiction of a court. Each element of jurisdiction is
General Statutes § 46b-71 (b) consigns to the courts of this state the power to enforce, satisfy, modify, alter, amend, vacate, set aside or suspend a foreign matrimonal judgment that has been properly filed in a Connecticut court. This subject matter jurisdiction is circumscribed, however, by General Statutes § 46b-70, which defines a foreign matrimonial judgment as “any judgment, decree or order of a court of any state in the United States in an action for . . . divorce ... or dissolution of marriage, for the custody . , . or support of children . . . in which both parties have entered an appearance.” (Emphasis added.) The requirement of the entry of an appearance by both parties is a “threshold requirement for enforcement” of a foreign matrimonial judgment. Morabito v. Wachsman, 191 Conn. 92, 101, 463 A.2d 593 (1983). The language of § 46b-70 differs from that of other uniform enforcement of judgment acts; it “reflects the intent of the legislature to ensure that both parties have actual notice of an out-of-state proceeding, and to preclude adoption of foreign judgments obtained by a default in
It is clear in this case that at the time of the dissolution proceedings, the defendant never filed an appearance in accordance with the California rules of civil procedure.
The judgment is reversed and the case is remanded with direction to render judgment dismissing the matter for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.
In this opinion the other judges concurred.
General Statutes §§ 46b-70 through 46b-75 govern the enforcement of foreign matrimonial judgments. Section 46b-71 (a) provides that “[a]ny party to an action in which a foreign matrimonial judgment has been rendered, shall file, with a certified copy of the foreign matrimonial judgment, in the court in this state in which enforcement of such judgment is sought, a certification that such judgment is final, has not been modified, altered,
The parties to this appeal are the plaintiff, Marty Mirabal, and the minor child, Brian Mirabal, through his court-appointed counsel.
The record indicates that while the defendant may have been present at this original modification hearing, she never filed an appearance and has not appeared subsequently.
Under the full faith and credit clause United States constitution, art. IV, § 1, the judicial proceedings of a state must be given full faith and credit in every other state. The judgment rendered in one state is entitled to full faith and credit only if it is a final judgment, not subject to modification in the state in which it was rendered. Krueger v. Krueger, 179 Conn. 488, 490, 427 A.2d 400 (1980). The full faith and credit clause does not automatically transform a foreign judgment into a valid judgment in this state; in order for a foreign judgment to constitute a valid judgment, it must be made a judgment in this state. Cahn v. Cahn, 26 Conn. App. 720, 730, 603 A.2d 759, cert. granted, 221 Conn. 924, 608 A.2d 688 (1992).