Catherine Reid

The applicant mother sought to vary a 2017 final order to obtain primary care and sole decision-making responsibility for the parties' 9-year-old child, alleging the respondent father was abusive and uncooperative.

The court found that the ongoing high-conflict co-parenting relationship constituted a material change in circumstances.

However, the court maintained the week-on, week-off equal time-sharing schedule, finding the child was thriving and well-bonded with both parents.

To minimize conflict, the court allocated specific decision-making responsibilities to each parent and implemented a highly detailed parenting plan.

Child support was also adjusted retroactively.

The applicant father sought an order prohibiting the respondent mother from relocating with their two children from Ottawa to Cobourg, Ontario.

The mother proposed the move to live with her new partner, who resided in Stoney Creek, choosing Cobourg as a halfway point.

The court applied the Gordon v. Goertz framework and considered the Moving Ontario Family Law Forward Act, 2020.

Finding that the move would significantly disrupt the children's lives, impair their relationship with their father, and remove them from their established support systems, the court concluded the relocation was not in the children's best interests.

The application was granted, and the children were ordered to remain ordinarily resident in Ottawa.