E. Gamus

At a Trial Management Conference for a family law dispute involving custody and mobility issues, the court reviewed the parties' extensive witness lists which estimated 24 to 25 days of trial time.

The court had previously set a tentative 15-day trial date.

To ensure the trial proceeds efficiently and maximizes judicial resources, the court exercised its discretion under the Family Law Rules to impose strict time limits, allocating 37.5 hours per party, and ordered counsel to reduce oral evidence.

The trial date remained tentative pending a supplementary TMC.

The respondent father brought a motion seeking to vary an interim access order requiring a nanny to accompany the child during access visits.

The nanny had resigned, leading to a stalemate in which the applicant mother refused unsupervised access while the father refused supervision, resulting in the child not seeing the father for several weeks.

The court interpreted the earlier order and held that the term “accompany” did not mean supervision.

In the child’s best interests, the court ordered temporary unsupervised access for the father, with supervised transitions between the parents.

The court also permitted the mother to travel temporarily with the child to California for a limited visit with her family.