John G. Farrington, Jr. v. Carol A. Farrington (2010)

MEMORANDUM OF DECISION RENDERING JUDGMENT

The plaintiff (hereafter referred to as the husband) filed a Complaint in this court on February 22, 2010, for dissolution of his marriage to the defendant (hereafter referred to as the wife).   The husband seeks dissolution of the marriage and an equitable division of property and debts.   The wife appeared through counsel on February 18, 2010.   The Return Date was March 2, 2010.   The wife filed an Answer and Cross-complaint on March 22, 2010, seeking dissolution of the marriage and an equitable distribution of their assets and liabilities.   After status conferences, pre-trials, mediations, special master's conferences, and pendente lite hearings, none of which were successful, the matter was continued and assigned to this trial court for a limited contested final hearing.   The husband appeared at trial with counsel who represented him throughout.   The wife appeared at trial with counsel who represented her throughout.   The hearing commenced and concluded on November 24, 2010.   The husband testified;  he called no other witness.   The wife called the husband as a witness;  she did not testify or call any other witness.   Several exhibits were introduced by each of the parties.

FINDINGS:

After hearing, and a careful review of the credible and relevant evidence offered during the trial, and a review of the judicially noticed court records, the court finds the following:

The husband resided continuously in the State of Connecticut for at least twelve consecutive months immediately preceding the filing of the Complaint.   He was married to the wife by her birth name of Carol A. Zebrowski on September 29, 1973, in Bridgeport, Connecticut.   They have no minor child, or child under the age of 23.   There is no reasonable hope of reconciliation.   The marriage of the parties has broken down irretrievably.   The state of Connecticut has not contributed any financial assistance for the support or maintenance of either party.   The state of Connecticut did not appear in this case.   The allegations of the Complaint are found to be true.   This court has jurisdiction over the marriage of the parties.

This is the first marriage for each of the parties.   They have been married to each other for 37 years.   They have two adult sons;  each of them is over 23 years of age.   The husband vacated the marital home in March of 2008;  they have lived apart since then.   The husband completed 4 years of college;  has a Bachelor's degree;  is 60 years of age;  and is in good health.   He has been gainfully employed throughout most of the marriage.   He was unemployed for 3 brief periods during their 37 years of marriage;  in 1981 for less than a year;  in 1983 for less than a year;  and in 2004 for about a year.   During each period of unemployment, he received unemployment benefits which he used to help support the family.   He is currently full-time as a Department Store Manager for Lowe's Home Center.   His earned gross weekly income is $599.65.   His average earned net weekly income is $462.02.   In addition, he receives an average of $52.64 a week in gross commission with average net weekly commission of $45.01.   His total net weekly income is $507.03.   The wife completed high school and 1 year of college;  she appears to be approximate in age to the husband and in reasonably good health.   She was employed when they married and has been gainfully employed throughout all of the marriage.   She is currently employed full-time as a Dealer and Direct Care Administrator for Neopost USA. Her earned average gross weekly income is $771.37.   Her average earned net weekly income is $595.14.   Each of them has health insurance available to them through their employment at a reasonable cost.

The husband claims the marriage irretrievably broke down in 2006.   The wife managed the families' finances.   He purports that the breakdown occurred due to his disagreement with decisions by the wife concerning certain payments from their joint bank account.   Specifically, he claims that 10 to 15 years ago he objected to their son attending the University of Rhode Island;  despite his objection, the son enrolled in school at the University of Rhode Island and the wife paid his tuition of $10,000 a year with their joint funds;  and secondly, that she would only pay the interest on their home equity loan and not remit additional money to reduce the principal.   He admittedly, never complained or brought these issues up with the wife and never sought to manage the families' finances himself.   Instead he regularly remitted an additional payment equal to the interest payment to reduce the principal, without informing the wife.   The wife withdrew funds from their $50,000 home equity loan line of credit to pay more than $22,000 of their consolidated credit card bills.   It is undisputed that 70% of the credit card charges were incurred by the wife and were for reasonable family, household, and their joint needs and purposes.   The majority of the 30% of the credit card charges incurred by the husband were also for reasonable family, household, their joint needs and purposes and to buy a boat that he wanted for the family.   The court does not give much weight to the husband's claims as the substantial reason for the marital breakdown.   In November or December 2005, the husband met and befriended Karen Crawford at Home Depot where they were both employed.   They became friends and lovers and by August of 2006, they were having sexual relations.   In March of 2008, he moved out of the marital home and into the home of Karen Crawford.   He has continuously resided with her since then.   Not until March of 2010, did he file this action for a divorce.   The court does not find that the wife caused the breakdown but concludes that it was the husband's behavior that led to the marital breakdown.

The parties have jointly owned the marital home at 58 Overton Avenue in Milford, Connecticut, since 1976.   Its current fair market value is $195,000.   There is no first mortgage, only a home equity loan secured by a mortgage, encumbering the property.   After the parties separated, the husband drew $30,000, in November of 2009, on the home equity loan line of credit.   He used $3,000 to pay his individual credit card debt and deposited the remainder of the funds into a money market account in his individual name.   He has maintained the funds in the money market account.   The current balance of the home equity loan is $97,525.   There is $97,475 of equity in the property.

After they married the husband inherited some stock from his mother.   It is currently valued at $21,966.   He also inherited a one-tenth interest in the land and building located at 56 Woodcreek Road in New Fairfield, Connecticut.   He jointly owns 56 Woodcreek Road with his siblings.   It is used by them and his family as a summer vacation home.   The actual value of the husband's one-tenth interest is determined by the court to be $38,986, based on the husband's testimony that $27,290 is 70% of its actual value.   After the parties separated in March 2008, the husband jointly purchased with Karen Crawford in November of 2009, a timeshare in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, valued at $4,000.   There is still $4,000 due and owing on the timeshare.   It has no equity.

The parties have some household china of undetermined value and some collectibles known as the “Cat's Meow” which they jointly purchased over many years during the marriage.   The husband valued the “Cat's Meow” collection at $10,000.   Upon vacating the home, the husband took with him a coin and stamp collection.   He continues to possess the coin and stamp collections.   The coin and stamp collections were started by him when he was about 22 years of age, about one year or less prior to the marriage.   He added to it throughout the 37 years of their marriage using their joint funds to build up the collections.   The court finds the coin and stamp collections to be marital property.   The value of the collections at the time of their marriage and presently was not evidenced.   The husband acquired during the marriage deferred compensation in the form of Columbia Management, Van Guard, Putnam and Lowes stocks, valued at $122,377.   He also owns 43 shares of Prudential Insurance Company stock (not disclosed on his financial affidavit) currently valued to be worth $2,176.   The wife accrued during the marriage her 401K account valued at $139,653.97 and Putnam investments valued at $1,717.98.   The parties received pendente lite, the sum of $2,919.40 from their automobile insurance carrier as reimbursement for the theft of their jointly owned 1997 Honda Accord car, which was primarily driven by the husband.   The proceeds were ordered to be held in escrow by the wife's attorney pending further order of the court.

In entering the following decree the court has taken into consideration among other things, the length of the marriage, the causes of the breakdown of the marriage, the age of the parties, their health, skills, employability, amount and sources of income, distribution of the marital assets, their resources, and their respective ability to acquire work and future income.   The court has considered all of the evidence in the light of the statutory factors in Connecticut General Statutes § 46b-81 and § 46b-82 and hereby enters the following orders:

ORDERS

DISSOLUTION OF MARRIAGE:

1. The marriage is hereby dissolved on the ground of irretrievable breakdown.

ALIMONY:

3. The husband is awarded periodic alimony in the amount of one ($1.00) dollar per year for a term of seven (7) years.   Alimony to the husband shall terminate on November 30, 2017, upon the death of either party, remarriage of the husband, or pursuant to Connecticut General Statute § 46b-86(b), whichever occurs first.   The term of the alimony is non modifiable;  the amount of the alimony may be modified pursuant to Connecticut General Statute § 46b-86(b).

4. The wife is awarded periodic alimony in the amount of one ($1.00) dollar per year for a term of seven (7) years.   Alimony to the wife shall terminate on November 30, 2017, upon the death of either party, remarriage of the wife, or pursuant to Connecticut General Statute § 46b-86(b), whichever occurs first.   The term of the alimony is non modifiable;  the amount of the alimony may be modified pursuant to Connecticut General Statute § 46b-86(b).

HEALTH INSURANCE:

5. The wife shall be responsible for her own medical, dental, and vision health insurance.

6. The husband shall be responsible for his own medical, dental, and vision health insurance.

LIFE INSURANCE:

7. The husband shall maintain his existing life insurance policy, insuring his life.   He shall designate the wife as a beneficiary of the policy for at least twenty thousand ($20,000.00) dollars for as long as he has an obligation to pay alimony to her.   He shall provide periodic proof to the wife, upon her request, of the continued existence of the policy and the amount of insurance.

8. The wife shall maintain an existing life insurance policy, insuring her life.   She shall designate the husband as a beneficiary of the policy for at least twenty thousand ($20,000.00) dollars for as long as she has an obligation to pay alimony to him.   She shall provide periodic proof to the husband, upon his request, of the continued existence of the policy and the amount of insurance.

BANK ACCOUNTS:

9. The husband shall retain all monies deposited in the Wachovia checking accounts and the Wachovia Money Market account listed on his financial affidavit dated November 17, 2010, free and clear of any claim by the wife.

10. The wife shall retain all monies deposited in the People's Bank and the Bank of America accounts listed on her financial affidavit dated November 16, 2010, free and clear of any claim by the husband.

AUTOMOBILES:

11. The husband shall retain and have sole possession and ownership of the 1983 Honda Accord.   The wife shall execute any and all documents that may be necessary to confirm his ownership of the vehicle.   He shall indemnify and hold her harmless for any liabilities and expenses associated with the use, maintenance, and ownership of the vehicle.

12. The wife shall retain and have sole possession and ownership of the 1997 Plymouth Voyager.   The husband shall execute any and all documents required to confirm her ownership of the vehicle.   She shall indemnify and hold him harmless for any liabilities and expenses associated with the use, maintenance, and ownership of the vehicle.

ESCROW:

13. The parties shall share equally the escrowed proceeds of $2,919.40 from their automobile insurance carrier as reimbursement for the theft of their jointly owned 1997 Honda Accord.

PERSONAL PROPERTY:

14. If the parties cannot mutually agree upon a division of the stamp collection, coin collection and the “Cat's Meow” collectibles, they shall meet with a Family Relations Counselor to mediate a division of the collections;  if the mediation is not successful, the collections shall be sold and the net proceeds divided equally between the parties.

15. Each party may retain all of the remainder of the personal property currently in their possession free and clear of any claim by the other.

STOCK:

16. The husband shall retain the 43 shares of Prudential Insurance Company stock (not disclosed on his financial affidavit) currently valued to be worth $2,176.

17. The wife shall retain the 44 shares of Met Life Trust stock, listed on her financial affidavit, dated November 16, 2010, and currently valued to be worth $1,723.48.

RETIREMENT ACCOUNT:

18. The wife shall retain sole ownership of her 401K account valued at $139,653.97 and her Putnam investments valued at $1,717.98, as listed on her financial affidavit, dated November 16, 2010, free and clear of any claim by the husband.

19. The husband shall retain the Columbia Management, Van Guard, Putnam and Lowes stocks, valued at $122,377, which he acquired during the marriage as deferred compensation, as listed on his financial affidavit, dated November 17, 2010, free and clear of any claim by the wife.

REAL PROPERTY:

20. The husband shall retain his one-tenth interest (valued at $38,986) in the land and building which he inherited from his mother and jointly owns with his siblings, located at 56 Woodcreek Road in New Fairfield, Connecticut, free and clear of any claim by the wife.

21. The husband shall retain his one-half interest in the timeshare, jointly owned with Karen Crawford, (with no equity value) on Cape Cod in Massachusetts, free and clear of any claim by the wife.

22. The husband shall immediately quitclaim all of his rights, title and interest in the marital home at 58 Overton Avenue to the wife.   She shall be solely responsible for payment of the home equity loan, taxes, insurance, utilities, capital improvements or repairs and all other expenses and liabilities associated with the property;  she shall indemnify and hold the husband harmless thereon.   In awarding the marital residence to the wife, the court has taken into consideration its award to the husband of the $38,986 equity in 56 Woodcreek Road and the responsibility the court has imposed solely upon the wife to repay the home equity loan, including the $30,000 which the husband drew on the home loan, deposited into his money market account and still retains.

23. The wife shall refinance the property within six (6) months from the date of judgment so as to release the husband from liability on the existing home equity loan and mortgage.   Should she be unable to refinance the property, she shall list the property for sale.   She may solely retain any net proceeds derived from the sale and she shall be solely responsible for any deficiency that may exist after the sale of the property.

DEBTS AND LIABILITIES:

24. The wife shall be responsible for paying all of the debts set forth on her financial affidavit, dated November 16, 2010.   She shall indemnify and hold the husband harmless against any claims brought against him arising from such debts.

25. The husband shall be solely responsible for paying the debts set forth on his financial affidavit, dated November 17, 2010.   He shall indemnify and hold the wife harmless against any claims brought against her arising from such debts.

26. Any debt incurred post-judgment is the sole responsibility of the party incurring the debt.

COUNSEL FEES AND COSTS:

27. Each party shall be responsible for payment of their costs and attorneys fee.

By the Court,

John Turner,

Judge of the Superior Court

Turner, John, J.