Dr. Marjorie Robb

This case involves a high-conflict family law dispute over a 13-year-old child.

The respondent mother unilaterally withheld the child from the applicant father, violating a final parenting order for an alternating week-about schedule, and subsequently filed a motion to change seeking sole decision-making.

The father brought a motion for contempt and enforcement of the existing order.

The court found that the mother knowingly refused to comply with the order and attempted to create a new status quo.

While the elements of contempt were met, the court opted for other avenues to ensure compliance.

The mother failed to prove a material and compelling change in circumstances to justify a temporary variation of the final order.

The court ordered a gradual reintroduction of the alternating week-about schedule, emphasizing that the mother's unilateral actions had negatively impacted the child's mental health and relationship with the father.

The applicant mother sought to suspend the respondent father's supervised access to their 12-year-old daughter and for security for costs.

The father had filed a Motion to Change seeking to enforce existing access orders or obtain unsupervised access, but failed to properly amend his pleadings or adhere to court timelines.

The court struck the father's Motion to Change as an abuse of process and, finding a material change in circumstances due to the father's harassing and threatening behavior and its detrimental impact on the child's mental health, granted the mother's request to suspend access.

The court also imposed conditions on the father for any future access motions and ordered him to pay outstanding and future costs.