Rome v. Album

Argued June 10 Opinion This case involves the court's dissolution of the marriage of the plaintiff, Lisa Rome, to the defendant, Michael Album. The defendant filed a motion to clarify within four months after the court rendered the judgment of dissolution. The plaintiff appeals from the court's granting of the defendant's postjudgment motion as to certain property which the court found in its initial memorandum of decision should be awarded to the plaintiff but was not awarded in the court's original judgment. 1 The plaintiff claims that the court modified rather than clarified the property distribution after the time of rendering the dissolution decree, thus violating General Statutes § 46b-81 (a). The plaintiff argues that the court did not have the authority to modify the distribution of property in the absence of a motion to open or set aside the judgment. The issue on appeal is whether the court properly exercised authority based on a motion to clarify to timely correct a judicial omission in the judgment to effect a prejudgment written finding as to the disposition of certain assets. We affirm the judgment of the trial court. The following facts are relevant on appeal. The plaintiff and the defendant were married on June 2, 1982. On January 7, 1997, the plaintiff instituted the present action requesting dissolution of the marriage. A trial commenced on September 6, 2000, and the court rendered judgment dissolving the marriage and dividing the marital estate pursuant to § 46b-81 (a) pursuant to a written memorandum of decision dated October 27, 2000 (Decision I).