Gene C. Colman

The moving party brought a motion for leave to appeal from an order dated January 28, 2021.

The Divisional Court dismissed the motion for leave to appeal and awarded costs of $3,500 to the respondent.

The applicant husband brought motions to find the respondent wife in contempt for failing to provide timely disclosure, and for various other relief including the sale or winding up of their jointly owned companies and former matrimonial home, an advance on legal fees, and an extension of the limitation period to seek equalization.

The court dismissed the contempt motion, finding the wife's delay was not wilful or deliberate.

The court declined to order the sale of the companies or the home given the existence of separation agreements that dealt with those assets, but granted preservation orders restraining the wife from encroaching on corporate funds or the home's equity.

The request for an advance on legal fees was dismissed, and the limitation period extension was adjourned to trial.

The applicant father brought a motion for interim joint custody and equal parenting time of the parties' two-and-a-half-year-old daughter.

The respondent mother opposed the motion, seeking sole custody.

The court found that the high level of conflict between the parties, exacerbated by the paternal grandmother's interference and denigration of the mother, made joint custody or parallel parenting inappropriate.

The court granted sole custody to the mother, finding it in the child's best interests, and ordered a specified access schedule for the father.

The respondent father, a resident of France, brought a motion to strike the applicant mother's claim for child support in Ontario, arguing that an existing French court order already addressed the issue.

The court applied the Muscutt factors and found a real and substantial connection to Ontario, as the children habitually reside there.

Distinguishing previous case law, the court held that because custody and access were also being legitimately litigated in Ontario, it was appropriate to assume jurisdiction over child support to avoid a multiplicity of proceedings.

The motion to strike was dismissed.