Ian Vallance

The Husband brought a motion to amend his application to withdraw admissions regarding the interpretation of a marriage contract.

The Wife brought a cross-motion seeking disclosure of counselling records for a section 30 assessment, interim sole decision-making responsibility for healthcare, and disclosure of rental platform records.

The court refused to allow the Husband to withdraw his admissions but permitted him to plead an alternate interpretation.

The court ordered the Husband to sign consents for the release of counselling records if requested by the assessor, declined to grant the Wife interim sole decision-making responsibility but made specific orders for the children's healthcare, and ordered the Husband to sign consents for the release of rental platform records.

The applicant father sought the return of his three-year-old child to Dubai after the respondent mother removed the child to Ontario without his consent.

The mother argued that Ontario should assume jurisdiction under the Children's Law Reform Act, alleging a history of family violence and claiming the child would suffer serious harm if returned.

The court found the mother's evidence lacked credibility and determined that the child's habitual residence was Dubai.

The court declined to assume jurisdiction, finding no risk of serious harm, and ordered the immediate return of the child to Dubai.

The applicant father brought a motion for interim in-person parenting time with his two-year-old daughter pending a trial on jurisdiction and wrongful removal.

The father sought to exercise parenting time in Turkey, where he was residing, while the respondent mother opposed any travel outside Canada due to fears the father would abduct the child to Dubai.

The court granted the father's request for a four-week parenting time period in Turkey, finding it in the child's best interests to maintain a relationship with her father.

To mitigate the risk of abduction, the court imposed stringent safeguards, including requiring the father to post $200,000 in security, surrender his passports, and consent to a UAE court order granting the mother sole custody.

The moving party brought a motion to strike the responding party's pleadings and for costs due to her failure to comply with a prior disclosure order.

The court found that the responding party had disobeyed the order and that her non-compliance was willful, despite her claims that her former lawyer was responsible.

However, the court concluded that striking pleadings is a remedy of last resort and the non-compliance was not egregious enough to warrant such a drastic measure.

The court dismissed the request to strike pleadings but ordered the responding party to pay $5,000 in costs and to produce the remaining outstanding disclosure forthwith.

Following the dismissal of the respondent mother's motion to suspend the applicant father's parenting time based on unverified allegations of abuse, the court determined the issue of costs.

The father, who was wholly successful, sought costs for the motion and numerous related appearances.

The court applied the factors under Rule 24 of the Family Law Rules, finding the father's behaviour reasonable and his time spent proportionate to the serious nature of the allegations.

The court also found the father's offer to settle was as favourable or more favourable than the motion's outcome, triggering Rule 18(14).

Costs were fixed at $35,000 payable by the mother, subject to a set-off against previous costs owed by the father.

The mother brought a motion to suspend or restrict the father's access to their two children, alleging physical and sexual abuse by the father.

The court reviewed the admissibility of various hearsay statements, children's disclosures, and business records, including Children's Aid Society files.

The court found that the mother failed to demonstrate a material change in circumstances, as the abuse allegations were inconclusive following police and CAS investigations.

The court noted that supervised access visits had been positive and the children were safe in the father's care.

The mother's motion was dismissed, and the court ordered a gradual reintegration of the father's unsupervised access in accordance with a prior order.