Megan Lepage

The applicant father brought an urgent motion regarding the school registration of the parties' child, which was dismissed.

The respondent mother subsequently sought costs of $8,460.16 for both the urgency and substantive motions.

The court found that the applicant's initial response to the school registration decision, which included threats of litigation and allegations of fraud, constituted unreasonable behaviour.

The court awarded the respondent her costs for both motions, fixing the quantum at $7,500 inclusive of fees, disbursements, and HST, after deducting clerical work and costs related to preparing the costs submissions.

The father brought an urgent motion seeking an order for the child to remain enrolled in a private academy, arguing that a prior consultative process had superseded the mother's sole decision-making authority regarding education.

The mother, who had sole decision-making authority, had registered the child in a public school closer to her new home in Richmond and brought a cross-motion for the child to remain there.

The court found no change to the mother's sole decision-making authority and determined that the transfer to the public school was in the child's best interests, considering practical factors such as proximity to the new home, social opportunities, and elimination of after-school care.

The father's motion was dismissed, and the mother's cross-motion was granted.

The court addressed a father's interim motion to relocate with the children from Ottawa to Hamilton for university, which was opposed by the mother.

The decision emphasizes the court's reluctance to disrupt the status quo on an interim basis, particularly in mobility cases, without a comprehensive child-focused inquiry.

The motion to relocate was dismissed, and the children were ordered to remain in their current city pending a final adjudication.

No interim custody order was made, but the children's primary residence remained with the father, and the mother's existing access schedule was maintained.