Yontef v. Yontef

• Decision Date: 11 August 1981
• Citation: 185 Conn. 275,440 A.2d 899
• Court: Connecticut Supreme Court
• Parties: Harriet C. YONTEF v. Stewart YONTEF.

Page 899

440 A.2d 899

185 Conn. 275

Harriet C. YONTEF v. Stewart YONTEF.

Supreme Court of Connecticut.

Argued June 11, 1981.

Decided Aug. 11, 1981.

William F. Gallagher, New Haven, with whom were Elizabeth A. Dorsey, New Haven, and Randy L. Cohen, law student intern, for appellant (plaintiff).

Charles G. Albom, New Haven, with whom, on the brief, were Morton Kaplan and Elaine A. Braffman, New Haven, for appellee (defendant).

Before BOGDANSKI, C. J., and PETERS, HEALEY, PARSKEY and ARMENTANO, JJ.

PETERS, Associate Justice.

This is an appeal from a judgment in an action for dissolution of marriage in which custody of the minor children and ownership of the family home were awarded to the former husband. The plaintiff, Harriet C. Yontef, initiated the action seeking dissolution of her marriage to the defendant, Stewart Yontef, and asking for custody of the minor children, child support, alimony, a property assignment and counsel fees. The defendant counterclaimed, acknowledging the irretrievable breakdown of the marriage, but, in addition, charging the plaintiff with adultery. ¹ The defendant also sought custody of the children, a property assignment, and counsel fees. After a hearing, the trial court, Reynolds, J., rendered a judgment for the defendant, from which the plaintiff appeals. Before the plaintiff filed her timely appeal, the defendant obtained custody of the children and possession of the family home, in accordance with the judgment but in disregard of pendente lite orders predating the judgment. The plaintiff appeals also from the denial of several post-judgment motions arising out of these changes in custody and possession.

Because the appeal from the underlying judgment and the appeal from the post-judgment proceedings raise fundamentally different issues, we will deal separately with the factual background and the legal principles that relate to each. Separate memoranda of decision were filed, although all the proceedings were heard by the same trial court judge.

I

With regard to the dissolution proceedings, the following facts were found by the trial court in its memorandum of decision. The parties were married in 1966; by 1978, there was ample evidence that their marriage had irretrievably broken down. The court made no express findings on the charges of adultery.

On the issue of custody of the parties' two minor children, ² the court first found that both the plaintiff mother and the defendant father were proper, fit and good parents. Having to choose between them, the court concluded that the defendant father was in a better position, with the aid of his parents, to provide a stable home life for his children. The court's determination was based in part on its finding that the plaintiff's testimony lacked credibility, and that this lack of credibility weighed against her in the court's concern for the best interests of the children. The court found unreasonable her allegations of financial deprivation, her recurrent complaints to the police, her employment of adolescent babysitters, her nocturnal activities, and her " 'I'll have it my way' " attitude. Upon the basis of all of these considerations, the court awarded the defendant custody and the plaintiff specified visitation rights.

Once it determined that the defendant should have custody, the court concluded that the defendant should also be awarded the marital residence so that the children would not be subjected to traumatic changes in their living arrangements and would be able to continue to attend their present school. The court found the defendant financially unable to maintain two homes, despite his excellent background in the real estate business, because of the depressed state of the real estate market. The plaintiff was therefore ordered to convey her interest in the marital home to the defendant, in return for lump sum alimony in the amount of $52,000 payable over ten years. ³

The court made no other alimony award to the plaintiff, although it did order the defendant to pay $2500 as one half of her attorney's fees. The court took into account "her age, good health, station, occupational training, potential earning capacity, (and the) excellent market for employment with her educational background." The plaintiff, born in 1944, has a master's degree in elementary education. She worked as a full-time elementary school teacher until the birth of the parties' first child, and as a substitute teacher starting in the fall of 1978.

In her appeal from the judgment in the dissolution action, the plaintiff argues that the trial court abused its discretion in its award of custody and of the family home to the defendant. The plaintiff recognizes, as we have repeatedly held, that decision-making in family disputes requires "flexible, individualized adjudication of the particular facts of each case without the constraint of objective guidelines." Seymour v. Seymour, 180 Conn. 705, 709, 433 A.2d 1005 (1980); Joy v. Joy, 178 Conn. 254, 255, 423 A.2d 895 (1979). Because the trial court must take into account both subjective and objective evidence of the causes of the breakdown of a marriage and of the various factors that go into a determination of the best interests of the children upon the dissolution of their parents' marriage; General Statutes §§ 46b-56(b), 46b-81 and 46b-82; ⁴ our review of trial court determinations is perforce limited. "(T)rial courts have a distinct advantage over an appellate court in dealing with domestic relations, where all of the surrounding circumstances and the appearance and attitude of the parties are so significant." Jacobsen v. Jacobsen, 177 Conn. 259, 262, 413 A.2d 854 (1979); Hardisty v. Hardisty, --- Conn. ---, pp. ---, ---, 439 A.2d 307 (42 Conn.L.J., No. 36, pp. 1, 4) (1981); Koizim v. Koizim, 181 Conn. 492, ---, 435 A.2d 1030 (42 Conn.L.J., No. 3, pp. 9, 11) (1980). It is a rare case in which a disappointed litigant will be able to demonstrate abuse of a trial court's broad discretion in family matters.

In mounting her attack on the trial court's exercise of its discretion, the plaintiff points to four considerations which, she claims, demonstrate error in the trial court's custody order. The plaintiff asserts that the trial court: (1) failed to give sufficient weight to a family relations division report which recommended that she retain custody; (2) failed to give sufficient weight to its own finding, and the supporting testimony of witnesses other than the defendant, that she was a good mother and the children's primary psychological parent; (3) gave excessive weight to evidence concerning the plaintiff's life style; (4) and failed to seek independent advice through the appointment of an attorney to represent the minor children. Neither taken singly nor taken conjointly do these considerations demonstrate an abuse of discretion in the circumstances of this case.

It is true that the family relations division report, which was an exhibit in the proceedings before the trial court, recommended that custody of the minor children be awarded to the plaintiff. That report also noted, however, that both the plaintiff and the defendant had at times used poor judgment and exhibited manipulative and coercive behavior in their misguided efforts to involve the children in the marital dispute. To some extent, the custody recommendation reflected the defendant's inability, at the time the report was prepared, to provide suitable living accommodations for his children. Finally, the report discredited testimony by the defendant, which the trial court was free to credit, regarding the plaintiff's behavior and its effect on the children. We have never held, and decline now to hold, that a trial court is bound to accept the expert opinion of a family relations officer. As in other areas where expert testimony is offered, a trial court is free to rely on whatever parts of an expert's opinion the court finds probative and helpful. Johnson v. Healy, --- Conn. ---, p. ---, 440 A.2d 765 (42 Conn.L.J., No. 42, p. 33) (1981); F. P. Carabillo Construction Co. v. Covenant Ins. Co., 172 Conn. 564, 566, 375 A.2d 1029 (1977); Morgan v. Hill, 139 Conn. 159, 161, 90 A.2d 641 (1952). In family cases in particular, it would be anomalous to require a trial court to assign particular weight to a report which is based on statements that the trial court may evaluate differently and on circumstances that may have changed. See Seymour v. Seymour, 180 Conn. 705, 709, 433 A.2d 1005 (1980). The best interests of the child, the standard by which custody decisions are measured, does not permit such a predetermined weighing of evidence. Stewart v. Stewart, 177 Conn. 401, 408, 418 A.2d 62 (1979); Spicer v. Spicer, 173 Conn. 161, 162, 377 A.2d 259 (1977); Simons v. Simons, 172 Conn. 341, 348, 374 A.2d 1040 (1977).

The plaintiff's second and third claims can best be addressed together, since they represent two faces of the same coin. The plaintiff maintains that the court failed to recognize her role as the children's primary psychological parent and overly emphasized her independent life style. No one denied that the plaintiff had been the children's primary caretaker during their early years, and the court in fact found her to have been a proper and fit parent at the time of the dissolution action. The court also found that the defendant had been a good father, within the limits of his responsibilities as the primary wage earner for the family. There was also evidence, however, that, as the marriage began to deteriorate, the plaintiff's involvement in activities outside of the home resulted in neglect of the children's personal needs.

Inquiries into psychological parenting and into life style are relevant insofar as they shed light upon the effect that a parent's behavior is having on a child's well-being. Although we have recognized the useful role that psychological evaluation can play in the determination of the best...