Clement v. Clement

In Clement v. Clement, 34 Conn. App. 641, 643 A.2d 874 (1994), the Court concluded that in ordering the plaintiff to pay the defendant $ 29,500, the trial court did not improperly modify the terms of a prior property distribution, but rather was enforcing it. As part of the dissolution decree, the defendant was awarded the entire interest in the family residence, and the plaintiff was required to hold the defendant harmless on two of three outstanding mortgages on the residence. When the plaintiff failed to make the mortgage payments, a judgment of strict foreclosure entered against the defendant, and the plaintiff no longer was required to make mortgage payments. In response to the defendant's motion for contempt, the trial court ordered the plaintiff to pay her $ 29,500, an amount which represented the defendant's lost equity in the residence. The Court concluded that the trial court acted properly and within its jurisdiction because its order did not change the property assignment but, rather, preserved the integrity of the original judgment. Id. at 646.