Kimberley Rebecca Nicole Vinton

The applicant brought motions for leave to appeal two orders of the lower court.

The Divisional Court dismissed the motions for leave to appeal and ordered the applicant to pay costs of $5,000 to the respondent.

The court issued a costs endorsement following a successful motion by the applicant mother to strike the respondent father's pleadings for failure to provide financial disclosure in a child support matter.

The court awarded the mother $9,000 in costs, inclusive of fees, disbursements, and HST, payable monthly, and declared the award enforceable by the Family Responsibility Office as a support order.

While the mother was successful, the court found her counsel's time claimed somewhat excessive and noted her failure to serve a formal Rule 18 Offer to Settle, which precluded full cost recovery.

The father's unreasonable conduct and willful refusal to provide disclosure were significant factors in the award.

The applicant mother brought a motion to strike the respondent father's pleadings due to his ongoing failure to comply with a court order for financial disclosure.

The parties had a 2014 separation agreement requiring a review of child support after four years.

Since 2018, the father, who is the sole shareholder of a landscaping company, repeatedly failed to provide adequate corporate and personal financial disclosure.

Applying the framework from Mullin v. Sherlock, the court found the father's non-compliance to be deliberate and extensive, and his Answer to raise no reasonable defence.

The court struck the father's pleadings and permitted the mother to proceed to an uncontested trial for child support.