Amy Voss

The appellant appealed a summary judgment order and a trial decision upholding a separation agreement.

The motion judge had found the agreement was signed but directed a trial on whether an escrow condition requiring corporate counsel's approval was met.

The trial judge found the appellant waived the condition by her conduct.

The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal, finding the appellant was out of time to appeal the motion judge's order and that the trial judge made no palpable and overriding error in finding waiver by conduct.

The applicant mother sought supervised parenting time for the respondent father, preservation of cottage sale proceeds, and temporary child and spousal support.

The respondent father cross-moved for unsupervised parenting time.

The court denied the applicant's request for supervised parenting, granting the respondent unsupervised parenting time with a specific schedule.

Issues regarding the cottage property were adjourned to a later date to allow the added respondent (the father's sister, legal owner of the cottage) to make submissions.

Temporary financial orders were made to maintain the status quo, requiring the respondent to pay certain household and vehicle expenses, and an uncharacterized amount of $6,000 per month to the applicant, pending full financial disclosure and a future case conference.

The respondent was also ordered to enroll in the Caring Dads program.

The appellant, Patrick Gregory Ellis, appealed support and related orders made after an uncontested trial, which was uncontested because his pleadings were struck due to wilful non-compliance and refusal to provide financial disclosure.

The respondent, Amy Dawn Lamothe, brought a motion to quash the appeal.

The Court of Appeal granted the motion on two bases: first, courts typically do not hear appeals from unopposed proceedings, and no exception was warranted; second, the appellant had chronically and wilfully breached numerous court orders, causing prejudice.

The appeal was quashed, and the appellant was barred from initiating further financial proceedings without paying outstanding amounts or obtaining leave.

Costs were awarded to the respondent on an elevated scale.

The applicant brought a motion to strike the respondent's pleadings under Rule 1(8) of the Family Law Rules due to his persistent failure to comply with multiple court orders.

The respondent had failed to pay two previous costs awards, failed to return to arbitration, failed to pay ordered child support, and breached terms regarding overnight access.

The court found the respondent's non-compliance to be willful, deliberate, and extreme.

Concluding that no lesser remedy would suffice, the court struck the respondent's Answer and allowed the applicant to proceed to an uncontested trial.

The appellant appealed a motion judge's finding of contempt on three access provisions in a custody and access order.

The motion judge had found the appellant in contempt for: (1) failing to provide the children's summer activity schedule by May 1 from 2012 to 2015; (2) denying access during Easter weekend in 2015; and (3) denying access to the son on his birthday in October 2015.

The Court of Appeal allowed the appeal and set aside all three findings of contempt, finding that the record did not support the motion judge's findings and that the motion judge's reasons were insufficient.

This ruling on costs followed a motion regarding custody and access.

The applicant sought costs on both full and partial indemnity bases, while the respondent sought partial indemnity costs.

The court dismissed the applicant's claim for costs for the period from September 11 to October 5, 2018, and entirely dismissed the respondent's claim for costs.

The applicant was awarded partial indemnity costs for the period from October 25 to December 15, 2018, totaling $14,048.28, finding the respondent's conduct unreasonable during that later period.