Janik v. Janik

In Janik v. Janik, 61 Conn. App. 175, 179, 763 A.2d 65 (2000), cert. denied, 255 Conn. 940, 768 A.2d 949 (2001), the plaintiff sought to modify custody. Janik v. Janik, supra, 61 Conn. App. at 176-77. The court ordered a change from joint legal custody and visitation rights in the plaintiff to sole legal and physical custody with the plaintiff and visitation rights to the defendant. Id. In addition, the court ordered a psychiatric evaluation of the defendant. Id., at 177-78. On appeal, this court stated that although the trial court had authority to order a psychiatric or psychological evaluation for the purpose of determining the best interests of the child and disposing of a family matter in a modification of custody case, the court did not have authority to order the evaluation after it modified custody. Id., at 180. "We noted in Savage that the statutory provisions, 46b-6 and 46b-3, refer to pending family relations matters only and, moreover, that the utility of such evaluations lies in their ability to shed light on the facts of a particular case so that it may be disposed of properly. . . . Once a case has been disposed of by the rendition of a final judgment and there is nothing further pending . . . there is no longer a reason for ordering an ongoing evaluation." Id., at 179.