Paul Mongenais

The mother brought a motion seeking to relocate the parties' four-year-old child from Cochrane to Thunder Bay to pursue employment as a special constable.

The parties had a joint and shared custody arrangement.

The court applied the factors from Berry v. Berry for mobility cases involving two custodial parents.

The court found that the mother's financial difficulties were somewhat self-imposed and that she had not exhausted her search for employment in Cochrane.

The court concluded that the economic benefits of the move did not outweigh the significant and permanent disruption to the child's relationship with the father.

The motion to relocate the child was dismissed.

The moving party sought leave to appeal an interim support order requiring payment of child and spousal support.

The parties had previously executed a separation agreement that provided for child support and contained a spousal support waiver, and the responding party had not pleaded a claim to set aside that agreement.

The court held that it was improper to grant interim relief contrary to the agreement when no pleading challenged its validity, as parties must know the case they must meet.

The court also found potential legal error where the motions judge relied on the Family Law Act rather than the Divorce Act in a divorce proceeding.

Given these concerns and conflicting case law on interim support orders where a separation agreement exists, leave to appeal was granted and the interim order was stayed.

In a high-conflict parenting dispute, the respondent father brought a contempt motion alleging the mother failed to comply with an interim access order and sought additional interim relief including summer parenting time.

The court held that contempt requires strict compliance with procedural requirements, including specific allegations tied to an existing order.

Because the alleged breach related to informal arrangements rather than the precise terms of the operative order, the contempt motion was dismissed.

The court nevertheless addressed interim parenting issues, directing that the mother provide a schedule allowing three weeks of summer access and confirming that regular alternating weekend access would resume after the summer.

Other requested relief was adjourned.