Tutalo v. Tutalo
| Decision Date | 01 June 1982 |
| Citation | 187 Conn. 249,445 A.2d 598 |
| Court | Connecticut Supreme Court |
| Parties | Lucille M. TUTALO v. Frank A. TUTALO. |
Joseph F. Keefe, Torrington, for appellant (plaintiff).
Gary I. Cohen, Waterbury, with whom, on the brief, was John C. Bullock, Waterbury, for appellee (defendant).
Before PETERS, HEALEY, PARSKEY, ARMENTANO and SHEA, JJ.
In this action for dissolution of marriage, the sole issue before us is whether the trial court abused its discretion in its award of lump sum alimony to the plaintiff, Lucille M. Tutalo. The plaintiff and the defendant, Frank A. Tutalo, stipulated in court to the irretrievable breakdown of their marriage. The plaintiff contends that she was entitled either to permanent periodic alimony or to greater lump sum alimony than the court awarded to her.
The trial court's finding of fact is unchallenged on this appeal. At the time of the dissolution of their twenty-six year long marriage, the parties were both in their late forties. The defendant was in good health, and the plaintiff's health, despite her complaints of migraine headaches, was not so poor as to prevent her employment as a secretary or a bookkeeper. The parties had no children.
The parties had the divergent employment records that are often encountered in marital cases of this kind. Since 1960, the plaintiff has worked only by assisting the defendant in his business through the performance of typing services at home for about fifteen hours a week. The defendant, on the other hand, has become the sales manager of an established company, where he earned, in 1979, a salary of $34,000 and had vested fringe benefits totalling $176,000. In addition, his employment furnished him with an expense account and access to a company car.
During their marriage, the parties had acquired a jointly owned family home, now free of encumbrances, having a value between $53,000 and $65,000. They owned jointly 220 shares of Tenneco, Inc. stock, worth $8000. The defendant owned a 1977 Thunderbird car that was being used by the plaintiff at the time of the dissolution action.
The court made no specific findings about the causes for the marital breakdown, although it noted that there had been recurrent marital difficulties before the present dissolution action. Divergencies in the parties' life style and complaints about their relative sexual behavior apparently were contributing factors. The court found that the plaintiff had been a faithful wife and the defendant a good provider.
The court acknowledged the disparity in the parties' ability to procure and to hold gainful employment. Relying, however, on the plaintiff's own testimony that she had been gainfully employed in the past at a specific hourly rate and that she would seek employment in the future, the court, in its award, evidently considered the plaintiff to have a present earning capacity. The court's award gave the plaintiff: the defendant's share in the jointly owned home and stock; the furnishings in the house except for a desk and two chairs; the Thunderbird car; full title to all jewelry received from the defendant; lump sum alimony of $35,000 payable at the rate of $100 a week; and counsel fees in the amount of $2000.
Since the plaintiff takes no issue with any of the facts found by the trial court, the only question we must address is whether the court's award constitutes an abuse of its discretion. As we have repeatedly held, the trial court's orders in matrimonial matters will be presumed correct because the trial court is in a clearly advantageous position to assess all of the circumstances surrounding a dissolution action, in which personal factors such as the demeanor and the attitude of the parties are so significant. McPhee v. McPhee, 186 Conn. 167, 177, 440 A.2d 274 (1982); Yontef v. Yontef, --- Conn. ---, ---, ---, 440 A.2d 899 (1981); McGuinness v. McGuinness, --- Conn. ---, ---, ---, 440 A.2d 804 (1981); Jacobsen v. Jacobsen, 177 Conn. 259, 262-63, 413 A.2d 854 (1979). The record rebuts the plaintiff's contention that, in exercising its discretion, the trial court failed to consider the relevant statutory criteria. The court expressly referred to the relevant statutory provisions, General Statutes §§ 46b-81 and 46b-82. Our case law is clear that a trial court is free to weigh the relevant statutory...
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Simmons v. Simmons, 15658
...(1983). Accordingly, "it is only in rare instances that the trial court's decision will be disturbed." Id.; accord Tutalo v. Tutalo, 187 Conn. 249, 252, 445 A.2d 598 (1982); McPhee v. McPhee, supra, at 177, 440 A.2d 274. Our statutory scheme, specifically §§ 46b-81 and 46b-82, 10 "set[s] fo......
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Weinstein v. Weinstein
...as the demeanor and attitude of the parties are so significant. Leo v. Leo, 197 Conn. 1, 4, 495 A.2d 704 (1985); Tutalo v. Tutalo, 187 Conn. 249, 251, 445 A.2d 598 (1982). In determining whether the trial court could reasonably conclude as it did on the basis of the evidence before it, ever......
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Sands v. Sands
...Conn. 19, 22, 437 A.2d 819 (1980), quoting Valante v. Valante, 180 Conn. 528, 531, 429 A.2d 964 (1980); see also Tutalo v. Tutalo, 187 Conn. 249, 252, 445 A.2d 598 (1982); McPhee v. McPhee, supra, 186 Conn. 172, 440 A.2d 274. Therefore, consistent with the provisions of the statute, the rel......
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Ashton v. Ashton, 11009
...a manifest abuse of discretion that we should find error in the trial court's [division of the parties' assets]." Tutalo v. Tutalo, 187 Conn. 249, 252, 445 A.2d 598 (1982). "It is often the case that the appellant, in arguing abuse of discretion, would in reality have this court vary either......