Court of Appeal for Ontario
Judges: Doherty, Goudge and Hoy JJ.A.
Between:
Patricia Denis
Applicant (Respondent in Appeal)
and
Maurice Denis
Respondent (Appellant)
Counsel:
Sharon Sabourin, for the respondent (appellant)
Peter J. Doucet, for the applicant (respondent in appeal)
Heard: December 13, 2012
On appeal from the judgment of Justice Robert Riopelle of the Superior Court of Justice, dated February 6, 2012.
APPEAL BOOK ENDORSEMENT
1The parties are in agreement as to the standard of review. Deference is owed to the trial judge on these matters.
2The appellant’s submissions focused on the 2009 calculation and the retroactive aspect of the spousal support order.
3Counsel submitted that the trial judge failed to take into account the huge debt load being carried by the appellant in 2009. There were “family related” debts. In fact, the trial judge specifically took that factor into account (see para. 52). The weight to be assigned to that factor was for the trial judge.
4We also cannot accept the argument that the size of the retroactive award was so crushing as to impose an unreasonable hardship. Once again, the trial judge was alive to this concern. As the trial judge observed, much of the problem flowed from the appellant’s failure to make any spousal payments for a period of time and the making of inadequate payments for a further period of time. We cannot interfere with the trial judge’s exercise of his discretion absent an error in principle. We see no such error.
5The appeal is dismissed. Costs to the respondents in the amount of $6,500, “all in”.