Kendra Sidney Swallow

The applicant mother brought an urgent motion seeking primary residence, sole decision-making, and other relief in a family law matter involving two daughters.

The court declined to grant primary residence but made orders for parenting time and counselling.

In this costs endorsement, the court determined that the mother was entitled to costs despite not achieving complete success on the motion.

The mother had made two formal offers to settle and one informal offer that were similar to or better than the results achieved.

The father's conduct in denying the mother any parenting time until court-ordered, combined with his failure to make any settlement offers, warranted a costs award.

The court ordered the father to pay $20,000 in costs to the mother, inclusive of taxes and disbursements.

This judgment addresses the remaining issues in a family law dispute between parents concerning parenting time, child support arrears, and travel conditions for their young child.

The court primarily focused on the father's history of drug and alcohol addiction, lack of insight, and pattern of emotional abuse and harassment towards the mother.

The mother sought continued supervised parenting time and mandatory drug testing, while the father sought unsupervised access.

The court found the father's evidence lacked credibility and determined that supervised parenting time was necessary for the child's safety and well-being, imposing strict conditions for any future transition to unsupervised access, including a regimen of comprehensive drug and alcohol testing and participation in counselling and anger management programs.

The father brought a motion to change a 2014 joint custody order, seeking to remove the mother's tie-breaking authority for major decisions and establish an equal parenting time schedule.

The court applied the Gordon v. Goertz test for material change in circumstances.

While acknowledging ongoing parental conflict, the court found that the father failed to meet the threshold for a material change regarding decision-making authority, dismissing his request to remove the mother's tie-breaking power.

The court emphasized the importance of a clear decision-maker in high-conflict situations to prevent further power struggles and delays detrimental to the child's best interests.

However, the court did order a revised parenting schedule, transitioning to equal time sharing by summer 2024, and addressed other practical parenting issues.