Harinder Dhaliwal

The respondent mother unilaterally removed the parties' child from Ontario to British Columbia under the guise of a visit and commenced proceedings there.

The applicant father brought an urgent motion for the child's return and parenting time, while the mother sought temporary permission to relocate.

The court found the mother's resort to self-help and denial of contact with the father concerning.

Applying the best interests of the child test under the Divorce Act, the court ordered the child returned to Ontario to restore the pre-separation status quo pending a full hearing, granting temporary decision-making to the father and primary residence to the mother provided she returns to Ontario.

The respondent father brought a motion to retroactively terminate child support effective June 1, 2012, arguing the child was no longer a child of the marriage after completing her undergraduate degree.

The applicant mother brought a cross-motion to strike the respondent's motion for failure to comply with previous court orders.

The court dismissed the mother's motion to strike.

The court also dismissed the father's motion for retroactive termination to 2012, finding he failed to provide effective notice and delayed seeking a variation while accumulating significant arrears.

On consent, child support was varied to end September 1, 2013.

The defendants brought a motion to strike portions of the plaintiff's Statement of Claim, which alleged breach of contract, fraud, and negligence regarding legal services provided in India.

The defendants sought to strike claims for punitive damages and allegations that they conducted an illegal business in Canada.

The court granted the motion, finding that the pleadings lacked sufficient particulars to support the claims for punitive damages and the allegations of illegal business operations.

The impugned paragraphs were struck with leave to amend.

Following a 24-day family law trial regarding child custody, both parents sought costs.

The respondent father, who was awarded sole custody, sought substantial indemnity costs of approximately $389,000 based on an offer to settle.

The court found the father was entitled to substantial indemnity costs but significantly reduced the quantum to approximately $107,000 due to his unreasonable behaviour which prolonged the trial.

Unusually, the court also ordered the Office of the Children's Lawyer to pay $20,000 of those costs jointly and severally, finding that the OCL's adversarial stance and failure to seek court assistance regarding the father's non-cooperation protracted the litigation.

The applicant mother and respondent father both sought sole custody of their 13-year-old son.

The child had been living primarily with the father and paternal grandparents since separation.

A Section 30 assessment recommended shared parenting or sole custody to the mother if the father did not move away from his parents, but the court found the assessors favoured the mother.

Following a judicial interview where the child expressed a strong preference to live with his father and fear of his mother, and considering the father's ability to provide a stable environment, the court awarded sole custody to the father.

The mother was granted access every other weekend, with overnight visits conditional on OCL approval of sleeping arrangements, and both parties were ordered to attend counselling.