Following a four‑day family law trial concerning custody, access, and child support, the successful party sought costs including partial indemnity costs and full indemnity costs based on an offer to settle.
The court applied s.131(1) of the Courts of Justice Act and Rule 24 of the Family Law Rules, emphasizing that costs must be fair and reasonable and generally follow the event.
Although the successful party prevailed on the main issues of custody and access, the offer to settle did not meet the requirements to trigger full recovery costs.
After adjusting the bill of costs to remove improperly included conference and motion fees and correcting billing errors, the court fixed costs on a partial indemnity basis.
The court also permitted the costs award to be set off against existing child support arrears.
