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A father's motion for leave to bring an urgent access motion was dismissed without prejudice due to updated COVID-19 court protocols.
The applicant father brought a motion seeking leave to have an urgent motion heard regarding in-person access to the parties' child, which the respondent mother had been refusing since March 20, 2020, citing COVID-19 related facility closures.
The court noted that a new Central East Region protocol eliminated the requirement for leave on urgency grounds if a case conference had already been held, which was the case here.
Consequently, the father's motion for leave was dismissed without prejudice.
Hague Convention application dismissed due to grave risk of harm and children's refugee status.
The father applied under the Hague Convention for the immediate return of his three children from Canada to Israel, alleging wrongful removal by the mother.
The mother opposed the application, asserting that returning to Israel would expose her and the children to a grave risk of physical and psychological harm, and would place them in an intolerable situation, thereby invoking exceptions under Article 13(b) and Article 20 of the Hague Convention.
The court found a history of domestic abuse by the father against the mother, suspicious circumstances surrounding a grenade attack at the grandparents' home, and the father's use of intimidation.
The court also considered the mother and children's status as Convention Refugees in Canada, which created a rebuttable presumption of persecution risk if returned.
The court concluded that the mother had discharged her burden to prove the exceptions applied, and therefore dismissed the father's application for the children's return to Israel.
Mother granted sole custody and retroactive child support based on father's imputed income of $335,400.
The applicant mother sought sole custody, child support, and section 7 expenses in an uncontested trial after the respondent father left her and their two children in Canada and obtained a foreign divorce without her knowledge.
The father failed to provide meaningful financial disclosure regarding his gas station businesses in Louisiana.
The court imputed the father's income at $335,400 CAD based on the mother's evidence of his businesses and their lavish lifestyle.
The court granted the mother sole custody, ordered supervised access for the father, and ordered the father to pay ongoing and retroactive child support, section 7 expenses, and $15,000 in costs on a substantial indemnity basis due to his bad faith conduct.
