Joan Connelly v. Laureen Pidge (2010)

MEMORANDUM OF DECISION

This matter comes before the Court by way of short calendar on a Motion for Intervention (filing # 104) November 23, 2009 by the Petitioner, Joan Connelly, the grandmother to the minor child Brittaney Connelly-Pidge.   The Petitioner also requests a hearing to contest the validity of the registered judgment (# 103).

The pertinent background in this case involves a custody dispute between the biological father, Charles Pidge, who resides in New Mexico, and the biological mother, Laureen Connelly Pidge, a resident of Alaska.   The Superior Court for the State of Alaska entered a “Final Child Custody Order” on September 10, 2009.   On November 3, 2009, the mother, through counsel, filed with this court the Alaskan decree as a foreign judgment under Connecticut General Statutes 46b-115w.   The minor child has since moved to the State of Connecticut and is currently in the custody of the Connecticut Department of Children and Families.

This Court finds that the petitioner lacks standing in this case because no controversy presently exists in this court concerning custody.

The fundamental flaw in the petitioner's argument is that it ignores the language of the statute which conditions the exercise of the court's authority to award custody to a third party on the existence of a controversy before the Superior Court as to the custody or care of the minor children or a complaint for annulment, dissolution of marriage or legal separation under Section 46b-45.   That language requires that there already be pending before the court a controversy involving custody of the minor children before a third party can request custody.  Greco v. Greco, 2001 WL 706965 (Conn.Super.)

Likewise, as in this case, the registration of a foreign custody determination adjudicated in the State of Alaska and duly registered with the State of Connecticut pursuant to General Statutes § 46b-115w does not constitute an existing controversy within the meaning of Connecticut General Statutes § 46b-57.

Accordingly, the petitioner, Joan Connelly's, Motion for Intervention (filing # 104) and Request for Hearing to Contest the Validity of the Registered Judgment (filing # 103) are hereby denied.

Markle, J.

Markle, Denise D., J.