Joseph Makari

This costs endorsement addresses a bitter parenting dispute between Jonathan Delbert Grant and Lindsay Marie Runciman regarding their two young daughters.

The court reviews the parties' conduct, the offers to settle, and the principles governing costs in family law, ultimately awarding the father $2,000 in costs due to his greater success on important issues and the mother's unreasonable positions, despite overall divided success.

The applicant father and respondent mother brought competing proposals for an interim parenting schedule for their two young children, aged 22 months and 6 months.

The father sought equal time and immediate overnights for the infant, while the mother sought to reduce the father's time with the older child and delay overnights for the infant.

The court strongly criticized the parents' high-conflict litigation approach.

Applying the best interests of the child test under the Divorce Act, the court maintained the father's existing overnight schedule for the older child and ordered a gradual implementation of overnights for the infant, commencing in February 2025.

The applicant father sought to resume parental access to his child following the respondent mother's suspension of access in January 2020.

The mother sought to maintain the suspension citing COVID-19 pandemic concerns.

The court found that the mother had not established legitimate medical reasons for the suspension and that she was using the pandemic as a pretext to withhold access.

The court ordered the resumption of access with modifications to comply with public health directives, including restrictions on third-party contact during exchanges and no additional household members during access visits.

The court also expressed concern about the escalating parental conflict and the mother's weaponization of the pandemic.