Posts Tagged ‘case law’
COVID-19 case: Urgent or case conference?
In Edwards v Robinson 2020 ONSC 2956, the mother brought an urgent motion on May 1st for the return of the parties’ two youngest children (the oldest is 20 years old) to her by the father, who had had them since March 25th. The mother made allegations of domestic violence, which the father disputed, alleging in response…
Read moreRecent Court Decision: “In the long run, self-help will turn out to be a big mistake”
McNeil v McGuinness 2020 ONSC 1918 In this case, which was identified by the court as having “a long history of conflict and litigation since the parties separated in 2012,” Justice Pazaratz declined to find the father’s motion to be urgent as set out in the March 15, 2020 Notice to the Profession. In his…
Read moreTwo recent COVID-19 family law decisions
Court says no to “self-help” remedy In Burton v Woods 2020 ONCJ 158, Justice Pugsley was quick and clear in his response to a father who decided not to return the 10-year-old child to the mother at the end of his access time. The existing order, issued after a trial, was for the mother to…
Read moreRecent Case Summaries: April 17, 2020
Child protection issues There have been a few child protection cases that the courts have deemed urgent. A number of them deal with arranging some kind of contact between children in care and their parent(s) because agencies are not offering in-person supervised access at this time. Others address issues of appropriate face to face contact…
Read moreRecent COVID-19 related decisions: Restraining orders, access to children
Rankin v Rankin (March 19, 2020): In this case, the wife brought an urgent motion for a restraining order against the husband. He was served late the day before the motion was heard but did not file responding materials or contact the wife’s lawyer. Justice Fitzpatrick found that the matter was urgent and that an…
Read moreCase Law: Scion v White
Scion v White 2020 ONSC 1915: Neither party in this case had a lawyer. On March 24th, Justice Pazaratz issued a triage endorsement allowing the father’s access request to proceed as possibly urgent, but found that his financial and property issues were not urgent and so would not continue at the present time. Nonetheless, the…
Read moreCase Law: Skuce v Skuce
Skuce v Skuce (2020 ONSC 1881): The Skuces separated in May 2019, with three young children. The children have lived with their mother since then, spending time with their father in informally supervised settings. The father is a recovering addict who has been clean and sober for various periods of time, most recently since…
Read moreCase Law: Douglas v Douglas
In Douglas v Douglas (so far unreported), the father brought a motion to have the status quo access arrangements with the 6 ½ year old child reinstated. The parents have been separated since December 2018, and there are no court orders in place dealing with parenting time. Since February 2019, the father has had regular…
Read moreRecent case: Sole custody order replaces joint custody
In the case of S.S. v S.K. 2013 ONCJ 432, the court imposed a sole custody order in a situation where the parents had previously had joint custody of their 8-year-old daughter. The child’s primary residence was with the mother and saw her father for a single overnight visit every other weekend and Sunday day…
Read moreUnequal division of property: Recent case law
In a recent decision, the Ontario Court of Appeal has upheld a trial court decision, which granted an unequal division of net family property. The parties in the case of Stetco v Stetco, 2014 ONCA 370, had been married for 32 years. At trial, the judge found the husband’s abusive conduct during the marriage to…
Read more