Sec. 46b-45. (Formerly Sec. 46-36). Service and filing of complaint.
Sec. 46b-45. (Formerly Sec. 46-36). Service and filing of complaint. (a) A proceeding for annulment, dissolution of marriage or legal separation shall be commenced
by the service and filing of a complaint as in all other civil actions in the Superior Court
for the judicial district in which one of the parties resides. The complaint may also be
made by the Attorney General in a proceeding for annulment of a void marriage. The
complaint shall be served on the other party.
(b) If any party is an inmate of a mental institution in this state, a copy of the complaint shall be served on the Commissioner of Administrative Services personally or
by registered or certified mail. If any party is confined in an institution in any other
state, a copy shall be so served on the superintendent of the institution in which the party
is confined.
(P.A. 73-373, S. 4; P.A. 74-169, S. 3, 18; P.A. 77-614, S. 70, 610; P.A. 78-230, S. 21, 54; 78-280, S. 2, 127.)
History: P.A. 74-169 clarified provisions, substituting "service and filing of a complaint as in all other civil actions"
for "making a complaint"; P.A. 77-614 replaced commissioner of finance and control with commissioner of administrative
services; P.A. 78-230 divided section into Subsecs. and restated provisions; P.A. 78-280 deleted reference to counties, a
change effected as well in P.A. 78-230; Sec. 46-36 transferred to Sec. 46b-45 in 1979.
See Sec. 46b-10 re reconciliation attempts ordered by court in action for dissolution of marriage, legal separation or
annulment.
Annotations to former sections 46-14 and 46-36:
Proceedings are civil throughout, though crime must be proved if plaintiff is to succeed. 30 C. 107. Petition for divorce
is purely statutory. 35 C. 54. Filing supplemental bill not to be sanctioned, but if respondent is present and makes no
objection, he waives any error. Id., 54. Conveyance by husband to prevent attachment as fraudulent. 68 C. 580; 78 C. 414.
Judgment for alimony as a judgment debt. 80 C. 609; 218 U.S. 1. Remarriage does not affect the obligation of husband to
support former wife. 116 C. 636. Since this section does not provide any special mode of service of process, section 52-57 governing service of process in civil actions is applicable. The same is true for legal separation. In all ordinary situations,
service on a person domiciled in, but absent from, the state by leaving a copy of the process at his usual place of abode in
the state is reasonably calculated to give notice and therefore meets the requirements of due process of law for an in
personam judgment. 150 C. 15. A motion to dismiss or erase reaches only defects appearing on the face of the record.
Since nothing about the Nevada proceeding was apparent on the face of the record, the claimed fact that the plaintiff
obtained a divorce under counterclaim in those proceedings did not furnish a ground for erasing the present action. Id.
Cited. 173 C. 161.
Cited. 16 CS 443. The marriage of a minor resulting in his emancipation does not permit him to sue in his own name
in a divorce proceeding. 21 CS 376. Right of wife to an allowance to defend a divorce action discussed. Id., 497. Defendant's
claim for support may properly be joined with her claim for divorce in cross complaint to plaintiff's action for divorce. 23
CS 352. Where parties gave no proof of Nevada divorce decree, nor of ground on which it was granted, court refused to
make Nevada judgment its own by stipulation of parties. Also refused to award alimony to wife where Nevada divorce
was obtained because of her misconduct. Id., 368. Divorce will not be granted where both parties are equally in the wrong,
nor have we adopted a policy of comparative guilt. Id., 495. The mode of procedure in obtaining a legal separation and a
divorce is identical. 26 CS 284. Cited. 31 CS 188.
Annotations to present section:
Cited. 181 C. 225. Cited. 185 C. 249; Id., 491. Cited. 208 C. 329. Cited. 224 C. 749.
Cited. 35 CA 449.