Roberts v. Roberts

In Roberts v. Roberts, 32 Conn. App. 465, 629 A.2d 1160 (1993), the parties stipulated in the dissolution decree that they would sell the marital residence and divide the proceeds, but the defendant was impeding the sale by listing the property at too high a price and by refusing the Realtor reasonable access. In response to the plaintiff's motions for contempt and to expedite the sale by order to lower the asking price, the trial court ordered that the residence be sold by auction and appointed a committee to conduct that auction. Noting that the original decree unquestionably ordered that the property be sold and "recognizing that it is within the equitable powers of the trial court 'to fashion whatever orders are required to protect the integrity of its original judgment'"; id. at 471; the Court concluded that the trial court properly granted the plaintiff's motion "as it sought only an effectuation of the judgment rather than a modification of it." Id. at 472. "Both parties continued to be entitled to 50 percent of the proceeds of the sale"; id.; as contemplated by the original decree.