Glen A. Cook

The moving party, the nephew of the respondent mother, brought a motion to be appointed as her litigation guardian and to set aside a default judgment granting a divorce and corollary relief to the applicant father.

The court found the mother was mentally incapable of representing herself due to schizophrenia and appointed the nephew as litigation guardian.

The court declined to set aside the divorce itself but set aside the corollary relief (custody, access, property) because the mother had a plausible explanation for her default, moved promptly once her nephew became involved, and had an arguable case on the merits.

Following a six-day family law trial regarding custody, access, residency, and equalization, both parties sought costs.

The applicant sought partial and substantial indemnity costs based on an unsigned offer to settle, while the respondent sought costs claiming he was the more successful party.

The court found that the applicant's unsigned offer did not comply with Rule 18(4) of the Family Law Rules.

Concluding that success at trial was almost equally divided, the court ordered each party to bear their own costs.

The respondent husband brought a motion for summary judgment to dismiss the applicant wife's claims for divorce, spousal support, and property equalization, arguing that their religious marriage ceremony was legally invalid because no marriage licence was obtained.

The wife argued she entered the marriage in good faith, intending to comply with the Marriage Act, and relied on the husband's representation that a licence could be obtained later.

The court dismissed the summary judgment motion, finding that the conflicting factual assertions regarding the validity of the marriage and the parties' intentions created a genuine issue requiring a trial.