Section 25-5.Automatic Orders upon Service of Complaint or Application

These are the orders nobody has to ask for. They are served with the process, bind the plaintiff or applicant from the signing of the complaint or application and the defendant or respondent from service, and stay in place while the case is pending unless a judge terminates, modifies or amends them. An automatic order does not apply where a judicial authority has already made a contradictory order.

Where there are children, and whether or not the parties are married or in a civil union: neither party may permanently remove the children from Connecticut without written consent or a court order; a party who leaves the family residence must give the other party or their attorney a written address for communication within forty-eight hours; parents living apart must help the children have contact with both of them, consistent with the family’s habits, in person, by telephone and in writing; neither party may drop the children from medical, hospital or dental insurance, and each must keep the existing coverage in force; the parties must attend the parenting education program within sixty days of the return day or of the filing of the application; and none of this changes or replaces an existing criminal protective or civil restraining order.

Where there is a marriage or civil union, with or without children, the orders protect the estate. Neither party may sell, transfer, assign, remove or dispose of property without written consent or a court order, except in the usual course of business, for customary household expenses, or for reasonable attorney’s fees in the action. The section then carves out ordinary investing: securities may be bought or sold in the usual course of the parties’ investment decisions, held individually or jointly, provided the transaction is intended to preserve the estate, is made on an open market or at arm’s length, and leaves the securities or the proceeds in the same account. A further provision covers the urgent sale — where the parties usually discuss transactions first but delay would cost the estate, the selling party may act and must notify the other immediately.

Beyond that: neither party may conceal property; encumber it, except for filing a lis pendens, without consent or an order; move a jointly held asset into their sole name; incur unreasonable debts, including borrowing against a credit line secured by the family residence or unreasonably using credit cards; remove the other party from medical, hospital or dental insurance; change life insurance beneficiaries or let the existing life, automobile, homeowners or renters policies lapse; or, if the parties are living together when the orders are served, deny the other the use of the current primary residence without a court order.

The parties must also complete and exchange sworn financial statements on the form the chief court administrator prescribes within thirty days of the return day, and may then submit a stipulated interim order allocating income and expenses, including proposed child support orders under the guidelines.

Finally, the orders must be printed immediately after the requested relief in the complaint or application, in bold letters, together with a warning that disobedience may be punished as contempt and a statement of the right to a hearing before a judge within a reasonable time. The clerk may not accept a filing that leaves them out.