If you have questions about divorce, legal separation, alimony pendente lite, or alimony in Connecticut, please feel free to call the experienced divorce attorneys at Maya Murphy, P.C. in Westport today at 203-221-3100 or email Joseph C. Maya, Esq. at JMaya@Mayalaw.com.

A Connecticut Superior Court recently ruled that an alimony provision in the parties’ dissolution contract was self-executing, so that alimony ended as soon as the wife began to cohabitate with a boyfriend.

The parties signed a separation contract and were divorced. It was undisputed that the wife’s boyfriend began to reside with the wife. In May 2015, the husband moved to modify alimony and argued that the alimony provision in the separation contract was self-executing and that the cohabitation statute in Connecticut General Statutes §46b-86(b) did not apply. The wife objected that the cohabitation statute applied and that the court should consider whether cohabitation changed the wife’s financial needs, prior to granting the husband’s motion to modify. The separation contract provided in pertinent part, “The Husband shall pay during his lifetime to the Wife, until the earlier of her death, remarriage, cohabitation with a male with which the Wife is involved in an intimate relationship or six and one half years from the date of the dissolution of the marriage of the parties, the sum of $300 per week.” The contract added, “Cohabitation shall be defined as the wife having someone as defined above move in with her or the Wife moves in with such individual at another location.”

The court found that the alimony provision clearly indicated when alimony would end. It treated cohabitation as an event similar to death or remarriage, both of which ended alimony. The alimony provision, which defined cohabitation and did not mention C.G.S. §46b-86(b), was clear, unambiguous and self-executing, and the court granted the husband’s motion to modify. “Where a divorce decree includes an alimony provision that specifies the terms of its termination and makes no reference to the cohabitation statute,” wrote the court, “Connecticut courts have found the provision to be unambiguous and self executing.” The husband’s motion to modify alimony was granted.

For a free consultation, please do not hesitate to call the experienced family law and divorce attorneys at Maya Murphy, P.C. in Westport, CT at 203-221-3100. We may also be reached for inquiries by email at JMaya@mayalaw.com.

Source: Bessette v. Bessette, No. LLIFA104010003S, 2016 Conn. Super. LEXIS 465 (Super. Ct. Mar. 1, 2016).