George Franz Brant

This endorsement concerns a review of supervised access for a father with a criminal conviction for sexual assault, with a view to transitioning to unsupervised access.

The court considered an updated assessment report, which found the risk of harm to the children from the father to be very low.

Despite the mother's objections, the court ordered a cautious, phased transition to unsupervised access, along with immediate unsupervised phone, Skype, and email contact.

The parties were directed to return to court after several months for further review and implementation of a regular unsupervised schedule.

The deceased died intestate, leaving a spouse and two sons from a previous marriage.

The spouse, acting as administrator, paid the sons a portion of their inheritance but did not finalize the estate.

Years later, a dispute arose over the valuation of the sons' one-third interests in the estate's residue, which primarily consisted of a residence that had significantly appreciated in value.

The application judge valued the sons' interests as of the date of death.

The Court of Appeal allowed the appeal, holding that while the preferential share is calculated at the date of death, the residue must be valued at the date of distribution, allowing the sons to share in the property's appreciation.

In a high-conflict custody trial between a mother and paternal grandparents, the court held that the children's best interests required their immediate removal from the grandparents' primary care and placement in the mother's sole custody.

The court found the grandparents had systematically interfered with and undermined the mother-child relationship, fostering irrational fear and unhealthy attachment dynamics in the children.

A jointly retained psychiatrist's opinion recommending removal from the grandparents' influence was accepted, while the respondents' critique evidence was rejected as unhelpful.

The father, who was recovering from addiction and unable to assume parenting responsibility, received supervised access.

The grandparents' claim for child support was reserved.