Olson v. Mohammadu
Annotate this CaseMother, who resided in Connecticut, and Father, who resided in Florida, were divorced pursuant to a decree that awarded primary physical custody of the parties' child to Mother and ordered Father to pay alimony and child support. Father later filed a motion to modify the alimony and child support order, alleging that his relocation from Florida to Connecticut in order to be closer to his son resulted in his decreased income, which constituted a substantial change in circumstances. The trial court denied Defendant's motion, and the appellate court affirmed. The Supreme Court reversed, holding (1) in deciding whether to grant a motion for modification, a court must first determine whether the moving party has established a substantial change in circumstances, and in making this determination, if a party's voluntary action gives rise to the alleged substantial change in circumstances, the court must assess the motivations underlying the voluntary conduct in order to determine whether there is culpable conduct foreclosing a threshold determination of a substantial change in circumstances; and (2) the trial court in this case improperly denied Father's motion for modification solely on the basis that Father's voluntary relocation gave rise to the alleged substantial change in circumstances warranting modification. Remanded.
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