Courtney Palmer

A non-party brought a motion to be added as a respondent or, alternatively, to be granted leave to intervene in a family law application concerning parenting time and decision-making authority for a child.

The non-party is the biological father of the respondent's older child and has developed a close relationship with the subject child through his co-parenting arrangement with the respondent.

The court dismissed the motion, finding that the non-party did not meet the statutory criteria under the Children's Law Reform Act or the procedural requirements under the Family Law Rules for being added as a party or for intervention.

The court held that the non-party had no legal interest in the application and that his presence was not necessary to determine the issues between the applicant and respondent.

The Court of Appeal for Ontario dismissed a motion by Rajinder Singh Rathee to amend a previous appellate decision regarding the quantum of lump sum spousal support.

The court held that the alleged error was not a clerical or accidental slip within the meaning of Rule 59.06(1) of the Rules of Civil Procedure, but rather a substantive disagreement with the court’s reasoning.

The motion was dismissed and costs were awarded to Noelle Heen-Lune Rathee.

The Court of Appeal for Ontario heard an appeal concerning spousal support.

The husband appealed a Superior Court decision that significantly increased his lump sum spousal support obligation to the wife from an arbitration award.

The Court of Appeal found that both the appeal judge and the arbitrator erred in their application of the Spousal Support Advisory Guidelines (SSAGs).

The appeal judge failed to give deference to the arbitrator's findings and ignored relevant factors, while the arbitrator failed to adequately explain the departure from SSAGs.

The Court of Appeal substituted its own award, increasing the lump sum spousal support to $678,888 (from the arbitrator's $250,000, but less than the appeal judge's $1,893,603) and awarded the wife $100,000 in arbitration costs.

The husband brought a motion to correct the calculation of a spousal support award previously set aside and substituted by the court on appeal.

He argued for a "netting-down" of the retroactive sum to account for after-tax costs and benefits, or to address an undecided issue.

The court dismissed the motion, finding that present-value calculations were inappropriate for arrears and that the income tax implications did not warrant a reduction.

The judge emphasized that the husband had deliberately avoided paying spousal support and should not benefit from tax advantages he forewent, citing public policy against rewarding such conduct.