Hanna Leah Kofman

The applicant mother brought a motion to enforce a consent order requiring the respondent father to comply with a court-ordered therapeutic reunification process and to provide photographs and weekly updates about the children.

Over 5.5 years of litigation, multiple clinicians found the father obstructed the children's relationship with the mother, while psychological assessments confirmed the mother posed no risk to the children.

The court found multiple breaches of the consent order, declined to exercise its discretion in favour of the non-complying father given his pattern of chronic non-compliance, and imposed monetary penalties under Rule 1(8)(a.1) of the Family Law Rules to incentivize future compliance with the therapeutic process.

In this family costs decision following trial, the court held the applicant was successful in all significant respects and entitled to costs under Family Law Rule 24(3).

The court found the applicant beat settlement offers dated October 21, 2025 and December 5, 2025, and assessed comparability on an overall basis rather than term-by-term precision.

Relying on subrules 24(12) and 24(14), the court emphasized the respondent’s unreasonable litigation conduct, including delay, non-compliance, and positions that increased trial complexity and expense.

The court awarded substantial indemnity costs up to the first offer and full recovery costs thereafter, including expert-related amounts, for a total all-inclusive award of $179,407 payable within 30 days.