The motion, W. (K.S.) v. W. (S.), was about whether the youngest of two children could have private counsel appointed. The motion was brought by the father who wanted a change in custody, access and the residential arrangements for the children ages 18, 15 and 12. This motion was also brought due to the mother’s [...]

This case canvasses the issue of non-lawyer representation for litigants in family law matters. BACKGROUND The parties were divorced in 2011, via a comprehensive court Order that also addressed custody and access, child support, spousal support and property division. In 2012, the Applicant Mother brought an application to change the support obligations under the said [...]

This case considers the interesting question of whether an Ontario court has the jurisdiction to order a South African family law litigant to deposit his passport with the court as security for his support obligations. BACKGROUND The parties met in Taiwan in 2003 and began cohabiting that year. The Respondent was originally from British Columbia [...]

This case considered whether an Ontario court had the jurisdiction to decide issues of spousal support and net family property where such issues had previously been decided by a court in Texas. BACKGROUND The parties were married in November 2009 in Ontario and lived apart until July 2010. Between July 2010 and September 2010 they [...]

This case is a perfect illustration of the dangers of representing yourself in your matrimonial matter. It is also a message to all lawyers who know that if they are getting a deal that looks too good to be true for their client – that it probably is. In the case at hand, the parties [...]

The following case is interesting as it discusses an important issue when the legal system and the public collide.  Family law cases often deal with sensitive information including the names of parties, the behaviour of the parties, as well as detailed financial disclosure, to name a few. The issue this case examines is the need [...]

Though we rarely blog about child protection cases, the matter of Children’s Aid Society of Ottawa v. M. (E.S.) raised an interesting issue that sometimes arises in cases outside the “child protection” realm.  The issue is whether a parent should be permitted to call his child as a witness at trial.  In this instance, however, [...]

Rule 31 of the Family Law Rules permits either party to an application to bring a contempt motion to enforce an order made by the court, despite another penalty being available.  Where a court finds a person in contempt of the court, it may issue a number of orders including: imprisonment for any period of [...]

This decision which was released by the Ontario Court of Appeal on February 7, 2012, affirms the long standing principle that appeal judges are not trial judges and, as such, they will rarely review and weigh fresh evidence or consider it when making a determination regarding an appeal.  Rather, appeal judges will defer to the [...]

On December 23, 2011, the Ontario Court of Appeal released a judgment regarding an appeal by Mr. Stergios in which he challenged the trial judge’s factual and credibility findings relating to Ms. Kim. More specifically, Mr. Stergios argued that the trial judge should’ve made adverse credibility findings against Ms. Kim arising from the following matters: [...]