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.

The defendant in Profetto v. Lombardi, 164 Conn. App. 658, appealed to the Connecticut Court of Appeals from the judgment of foreclosure by sale of a judgment lien that had been placed on his property by the plaintiff to secure an order in the parties prior dissolution judgment. In the dissolution judgment, the court had ordered the defendant to repay the plaintiff with interest for certain loans that she made to him during the marriage. No alimony support or alimony was awarded to either party. To secure the loan, the plaintiff filed in the land records a certificate of judgment lien against the defendant’s property, and upon defendant’s failure to pay, commenced the present foreclosure action.

The trial court concluded it had subject matter jurisdiction over the foreclosure action, that the judgment was not a “family support judgment” as defined by statute §52-320a(7) but rather a “money judgment” as defined by § 52-350a(13). The final judgment could be enforced providing that a money judgment may be enforced by the foreclosure of real property lien on any nonexempt property of the debtor.

The defendant brought appeal, arguing that the order in the dissolution judgment was a family support that could not be enforced by § 52-350f enforcements of money judgment in respect to costs, fees and interest.

The Appellate court affirmed the decision of the trial court, that the court properly determined that it had jurisdiction over the foreclosure action because the order to repay the loan during the marriage fell within a money judgment. “The fact that a court’s ruling is issued during the course of a dissolution does not automatically make such a ruling a family support judgment.” Id. at 664. The order was not a family support judgment due to the overall absence of alimony or child support, as well as other family support obligations.

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: Profetto v. Lombardi, 164 Conn. App. 658 (Conn. App. Ct. April 19, 2016)