Matthew E. Wright

Following a 9-day family law trial, the court ruled on costs.

The applicant had claimed $450,000 and multiple extraordinary remedies but was only awarded $83,851.40 for an unequal division of net family property.

The court found the applicant had severely over-litigated the matter, unnecessarily extending a 1.5-day trial into 9 days.

Applying Rule 57.01, the court apportioned costs based on success, awarding the applicant 16% of her costs and the respondent 84% of his costs.

This resulted in a net costs award of $81,262.47 payable by the applicant to the respondent, which was set off against the trial judgment.

Following a four-year marriage and an eight-year relationship, the applicant sought an unequal division of net family property under s. 5(6)(h) of the Family Law Act.

The parties had engaged in a joint venture to purchase a dairy farm, for which the applicant contributed $230,000 from the sale of her home, while the respondent put up his solely-owned properties as collateral but had over $205,000 of his mortgages paid off.

The court found that an equal division would be unconscionable given the stark contrast in proportional loss and gain.

The applicant was awarded one-half of the increase in value of the respondent's properties during the marriage, resulting in a net payment of $83,851.40.