Dawn Myrtle Melville

This decision concerns a costs order following a motion where the parties reached a consent order on all issues except costs.

The respondent father sought full indemnification costs, alleging the applicant mother's conduct was vexatious and in bad faith due to her non-acquiescence to access requests based on unsubstantiated allegations of sexual abuse.

The applicant mother argued that the allegations were untested and that a last-minute settlement offer should not result in a costs award.

The court found that it could not make findings of bad faith without tested evidence and that awarding costs after a last-minute amended offer acceptance would undermine settlement negotiations.

Consequently, the costs of the resolved motion were reserved to the trial judge.

The applicant father brought a motion to change a final custody and access order, seeking expanded and unsupervised access to his child.

The respondent mother sought a more limited expansion of access and a change to child support obligations.

The court found a material change in circumstances since the original 2009 order, as the child had grown from a toddler to nine years old with significantly changed developmental needs.

The court rejected both parties' proposed access arrangements, finding that the father's proposal was too expansive given the child's current comfort level, while the mother's proposal perpetuated an arrangement that had not fostered the father-child relationship as expected.

The court implemented a graduated access schedule with decreasing supervision over a six-month period, designed to allow the child to develop a more secure relationship with his father while respecting the child's current anxieties and the father's demonstrated behavioral concerns during access.