3 total
Interim primary residence and sole decision-making awarded to mother; father's unilateral removal of child condemned.
The applicant mother and respondent father brought urgent cross-motions regarding parenting arrangements for their four-year-old daughter.
The child had resided primarily with the mother since separation.
The father unilaterally removed the child from school, prompting the mother to seek an emergency order.
The court found that the father's actions and history of family violence raised serious concerns about his judgment.
The court maintained the status quo, granting the mother interim sole decision-making authority and primary residence, while awarding the father unsupervised parenting time on alternate weekends and mid-week overnights.
The court also strongly condemned the practice of parents video-recording access exchanges.
Court declined jurisdiction and ordered the immediate return of the children to their mother.
The applicant father brought an urgent motion to change a long-standing final parenting order, seeking to retain the three children in Hamilton, Ontario, after a summer visit, rather than returning them to the respondent mother in St. Louis, Missouri, where they had habitually resided for seven years.
The father cited concerns including the oldest child's sexual orientation, homeschooling, housing, the mother's responsibilities, dental care, and COVID-19 risks in Missouri.
The respondent mother cross-moved to dismiss the father's motion and for the Ontario court to decline jurisdiction.
The court dismissed the father's motion, finding no material change in circumstances or urgency, and declined jurisdiction under the Children's Law Reform Act, ordering the immediate return of the children to the mother in St. Louis.
Motion to change residency schedule granted; child to reside primarily with father due to mother's unstable living conditions.
The applicant father brought a motion to change a previous order regarding the residency schedule of the parties' child.
The father raised concerns about the mother's living conditions, including bedbugs, garbage, an impending eviction, and the mother's work schedule requiring various caregivers.
The court found it was in the best interests of the child to spend more time at the father's stable residence and ordered that the child reside primarily with the father, with the mother having alternate weekend and mid-week access.
