Carey Speirs

This case involved a motion and cross-motion for interim custody of a child.

The applicant father sought sole or shared custody, while the respondent mother sought sole custody with supervised access for the father.

The court considered the father's extensive criminal record, history of drug involvement, and relapse, as well as his derogatory comments about the mother to the child.

Given the child had been in the mother's primary care for approximately five years, the court found it in the child's best interests to maintain the status quo.

The mother was awarded interim primary parenting time and sole decision-making responsibility.

The father was granted supervised parenting time on alternate weekends at his parents' residence, with his parents acting as supervisors to ensure the child's safety and prevent emotional harm.

Child support was also ordered based on the father's imputed income.

Both parents brought urgent motions during the COVID-19 pandemic seeking sole custody of their two children.

The respondent father withheld the children from the applicant mother following his access time on May 4, 2020, contrary to an interim order dated December 23, 2019.

The father alleged various concerns including the mother's alleged drug use, housing instability, poor school attendance, and the presence of a potentially dangerous individual in the mother's sister's home.

The court found that urgency was established based on the father's breach of the court order and the need for a structured arrangement to prevent further upheaval.

However, the court determined that the father failed to establish sufficient evidence of immediate risk to the children's safety to justify the change in custody.

The court ordered the children returned to the mother's primary care with an expanded and structured access schedule for the father.