Connecticut divorces are family matters in the Superior Court, filed with the clerk of the Superior Court for the judicial district, and the Department of Public Health confirms that the decree is held by the Superior Court where the divorce was granted. The family file is open at the clerk's office unless the court has sealed it or a document in it, except that sworn financial affidavits are sealed automatically, and the sealing of documents in family matters, financial affidavits included, is governed by section 25-59A of the Connecticut Practice Book.
The sworn money form
Connecticut's form is the Financial Affidavit, Judicial Branch form JD-FM-6 in a short and a long version, which Practice Book section 25-30 requires before a hearing on alimony, support or counsel fees, when a dissolution, legal separation, annulment, custody or visitation case is scheduled for a hearing and, unless the court orders otherwise, from every appearing party within thirty days before the decree. It is sworn and sets out weekly income and deductions, weekly expenses, assets including bank accounts, real estate, vehicles, retirement accounts and other property, and liabilities. Although it is a filed court document, section 25-59A(h) places it under seal automatically, open only to the court, court personnel, the parties and their attorneys and any guardian ad litem or attorney for a minor child unless the court orders otherwise, and the automatic sealing ends when a hearing is held at which financial issues are in dispute or when the court grants a motion to unseal it; the judgment of dissolution, the separation agreement incorporated in it and the financial orders are in the public file unless the court seals them.
Finding and reading the file
The Judicial Branch's Case Look-up for civil and family matters lists Superior Court cases by name and docket number, and the file is read at the clerk's office of the judicial district where the case was heard, where certified copies of the decree are issued. A party who wants a document withheld moves under Practice Book section 25-59A, and a sealed document is not shown to the public.
Bankruptcy files for Connecticut residents
Connecticut is one bankruptcy district, the District of Connecticut at ctb.uscourts.gov, with divisions in Hartford, New Haven and Bridgeport. Its schedules name each deposit account by institution and the employer by name and are public under 11 U.S.C. 107.
After the file: postjudgment interrogatories and the examination of the judgment debtor
Chapter 906 of the General Statutes, Postjudgment Procedures, gives a judgment creditor interrogatories under section 52-351b, served on the judgment debtor or a third party on form JD-CV-23 and answered within thirty days about the debtor's assets, the judgment debtor signing under penalty of false statement, and an examination of the judgment debtor on oath before a judge or a committee under section 52-397. The Connecticut judgments and liens page covers the procedure.