E. Moaveni

Following a family law trial, both parties sought costs.

The applicant claimed costs of $133,961.20, while the respondent claimed costs of $379,454.26.

The court found that the parties had spent between $500,000 and $600,000 litigating issues where they were only marginally apart in their settlement offers.

Concluding that both parties engaged in unreasonable litigation behaviour and incurred expenses grossly disproportionate to the value of the disputed issues, the court ordered each party to bear their own costs.

Following a lengthy custody and mobility trial where the applicant mother was largely successful, she sought costs of $276,850.

The respondent father, who was self-represented after having four different lawyers, failed to file costs submissions despite multiple extensions.

The court found the father's behaviour throughout the litigation to be highly unreasonable, unnecessarily prolonging the trial.

Applying the Family Law Rules, the court awarded the applicant costs at the mid-to-high end of partial recovery, fixing the total amount at $97,745 inclusive of disbursements and HST.

Following a 27-day family law trial where the mother was permitted to relocate to England with the children, the self-represented father requested a further 30-40 day extension to file his costs submissions.

The father had already delayed the process through multiple changes of counsel and had missed a previous peremptory deadline.

The court noted the need for finality and the prejudice to the mother.

The court granted one final, peremptory extension of just over two weeks for the father to file his submissions, and ordered that he bring no further motions without leave.