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MELINDA CREWS v. STEPHEN CREWS (SC 18176)
Norcott, Katz, Palmer, Vertefeuille and Zarella, Js. Argued October 22, 2009--officially released March 16, 2010

Charles D. Ray, with whom was Matthew A. Weiner, for the appellant (plaintiff). George J. Markley, with whom was Michael A. Meyers, for the appellee (defendant). Jane K. Grossman, Kevin M. Barry and Jyll L. Lyone, certified legal intern, filed a brief for the Connecticut Women's Education and Legal Fund et al. as amici curiae.

Opinion

VERTEFEUILLE, J. In this certified appeal, the plaintiff, Melinda Crews, appeals from the judgment of the Appellate Court reversing in part the judgment of the trial court with regard to certain financial orders included in the dissolution of her marriage to the defendant, Stephen Crews. Crews v. Crews, 107 Conn. App. 279, 945 A.2d 502 (2008). On appeal to this court, the plaintiff first claims that the Appellate Court improperly applied a plenary standard of review to the trial court's conclusion that the antenuptial agreement between the parties was unenforceable. Rather, the plaintiff claims that the Appellate Court should have applied an abuse of discretion standard to review the trial court's judgment. The plaintiff further claims that even if the Appellate Court correctly employed a plenary standard, it improperly applied that standard to the facts of the present case. The defendant responds that the Appellate Court correctly applied plenary review in concluding that the parties' antenuptial agreement was enforceable. We agree with the defendant, and, accordingly, we affirm the judgment of the Appellate Court. The Appellate Court majority opinion summarized the following relevant facts as found by the trial court: ``The parties met at a corporate outing when they both were employed by the General Electric Corporation (General Electric). At the time, the defendant was the divorced father of three children. The plaintiff had not been married previously. The defendant holds a bachelor's degree; the plaintiff has bachelor's and master's degrees. The defendant was then residing in the future marital home, a house that he had purchased from his mother in an arm's-length transaction on December 31, 1986. The plaintiff owned a condominium unit in Bridgeport. At the time, each of the parties had bank accounts, pension plans and investments. ``The parties became engaged in January, 1988, and were married on June 25, 1988. About one year prior to their wedding, the defendant raised the subject of an antenuptial agreement. The defendant believed he had been `burned' in his previous divorce and declared: `No agreement; no wedding!' The plaintiff told the defendant that she was `no fan [of an antenuptial agreement], but agreed with him in concept.' The defendant described the agreement as a precondition to the wedding itself and presented the plaintiff with a draft of the agreement on May 31, 1988. The parties signed the agreement on June 24, 1988, one day before they were married. ``Following their marriage, the parties resided in the marital home and had two children, a daughter born in May, 1989, and a learning disabled son born in May, 1992. Both parties were employed during their marriage, and initially each of them traveled extensively in con-

nection with his or her employment. At the time of [the dissolution] trial, the defendant had been employed by General Electric for thirty-nine years, where he earned an annual base salary of $131,000 and regularly received annual bonuses. His annual net income was $98,540 at the time of dissolution. The [trial] court made no finding that the nature of the defendant's employment changed during the marriage from what it had been prior to the marriage. During the marriage, he also acquired General Electric stock and stock options, some of which was encumbered by margin loans. He also participated in two executive compensation plans in the 1990s. ``The plaintiff was fifty-three [years old] at the time of dissolution [in 2005]. From 1981 through 1986, she was a technical writer for General Electric, earning $50,000 per year. She left General Electric to join Practice Media and later the NYNEX Corporation. She worked steadily during the marriage, except for a three month maternity leave she took following the birth of each child. After the birth of the parties' children and an automobile accident, the plaintiff decided that corporate travel was too much for her in addition to her responsibilities at home. In 1993, she formed her own business known as M. Crews & Company, LLC, which she operated out of the marital home until just prior to trial. The value of the plaintiff's business then was about $96,000, and she had an annual net income of $69,056.'' Id., 282

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