ONTARIO
SUPERIOR COURT OF JUSTICE
A RESTRICTION ON PUBLISHING ANY INFORMATION THAT COULD DISCLOSE THE IDENTITY OF THE CHILDREN IN THIS MATTER IS IN EFFECT
NEWMARKET COURT FILE NO.: FC-08-029284-00
DATE: 20130125
BETWEEN:
N.S.
Applicant
– and –
C.N.
Respondent
A. Rosen, for the Applicant
R. Shawyer, for the Respondent
G. van Hoogenhuize, for the Office of the Children’s Lawyer
HEARD: December 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 11, 12, 13, 17, 18, 19, 20, 2012
AMENDED PARAGRAPH 137
TO THE REASONS FOR DECISION RELEASED JANUARY 24, 2013
HOWDEN J.:
[1] Paragraph 137 of my Reasons for Decision released January 24, 2013 is hereby amended following submissions by counsel. Paragraph 137 as amended shall replace the present paragraph 137 in the Reasons for Decision.
[2] The following are the terms of the order as amended to be issued in this matter.
N.S. and C.N., who were married at the City of Toronto on July 10, 1994, shall be divorced and the divorce shall take effect 31 days after the date of this order. All prior orders are vacated and have no further effect. The children’s care and custody shall be subject only to the terms of this order until the review by this court before July 31, 2013 on a date to be set in the week of July 22.
A.V.N., born […], 2001 shall remain in the care and custody of the Respondent C.N. until review of this order by July 31, 2013, subject to the supervision of the Children’s Aid Society of Durham Region (where she has been residing) and provided that the Society consents to supervision as required by section 34 of the Children’s Law Reform Act. The respondent shall allow the Society to attend at his home or at W.C.S. without prior notice to him or to the school and to interview A.V.N. and supervise her custody. The school is subject to the same condition.
A.S.N. (known as A.N.), born […], 1998 shall remain in the care and custody of the respondent until review of this order by July 31, 2013, subject to the supervision of the Durham Region Children’s Aid Society (where he has been residing) provided that the Society consents to providing supervision as required by section 34 of the Children’s Law Reform Act. The Society shall have the power and authority to visit the respondent’s house without prior notice to him and to interview A.S.N. and the respondent and to carry out supervision of this order.
A.S.N. is permitted to transfer to the public high school for the area where he resides forthwith, provided he and the respondent and the applicant are provided with information as to the effect of such transfer at this time on his level of credits, and provided that he retains the choice to return to W.C.S. in future if he, in consultation with Dr. Holloway, decides to do so and the school authorities can accommodate it.
The respondent shall be authorized to make all decisions regarding the children’s medical care, school and extra-curricular activities but he shall only do so after communicating to the applicant by email the nature of the issue, the treatment or activity under consideration, and the cost, and allowing wherever realistically possible one day for her response, also by email which he shall consider before making the decision.
A. During the six-month period from the date of this order until review of this order, the Applicant shall have reasonable access to A.V.N. which shall be as follows, to be implemented as Dr. Collins of the Willow Centre shall in his sole discretion determine that A.V.N. and the applicant are prepared for more frequent contact with each other, provided that the applicant’s access to A.V.N. may be extended in length and number of visits as are deemed beneficial to mother and daughter by Dr. Collins:
i. every other weekend, from Friday immediately after school until the beginning of school on the following Monday morning, to commence the weekend of February 1 to 3, 2013, subject to Dr. Collins’s direction;
ii. during the intervening week before the off - weekend, access by the mother shall occur from Wednesday after school until the beginning of school the next morning;
iii. on Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, A.V.N. shall spend time with her mother from 9:30 am until 7 pm on Mother’s Day and with her father on Father’s Day for the same time period;
iv. during July and August vacation, A.V.N. shall reside with each parent on a two weeks on, two weeks off basis from July 1 until August 31 each year.
B. Subject to the recommendations of Dr. Collins and Dr. Holloway of the Willow Centre, the Applicant shall have reasonable access to A.S.N., not to commence until the Willow Centre therapists recommend it and within such conditions as they deem medically and psychologically necessary.
The Applicant or her designate shall be responsible for picking up and dropping off A.V.N. at school or at the respondent’s residence.
The parties will share with one another by email all information necessary and related to significant events in the daily life of A.S.N. and A.V.N. to ensure that the other parent is equipped and informed to be able to meet the needs of either child.
Counselling pending the review of this Order before July 31, 2013 shall occur at the Willow Centre, 45 Sheppard Ave. East, Suite 202, Toronto, ON M2N 5W9 as follows:
(a) The Applicant, the Respondent, and A.V.N. and A.S.N. shall be involved in counselling and psycho-therapy in varying combinations, as directed by the therapist of the Willow Centre; the process will include meetings between therapist and each of the parents individually and jointly as directed by the therapist, psychological testing as deemed appropriate by the Willow Centre professionals, and may include interviews with other family members as deemed necessary by the therapist.
(b) The therapist will assist in implementing the court ordered access and parenting plan.
(c) The therapist may make recommendations and referrals to another therapist as needed, for the parents, children, or any extended family who are involved in the process, and the parents and the children shall cooperate and proceed as directed by the therapist.
(d) Both parents will overtly support the therapy and the therapist to the children; the children have the right not to discuss their sessions with either applicant or respondent and the parties will respect their right.
(e) The applicant and the respondent will not schedule desirable activities for A.V.N. during scheduled therapy time.
- The applicant and the respondent shall continue the engagement of Dr. Rex Collins and the Willow Centre professionals during the entire period until the review of this order before July 31, 2013 in accordance with the above terms in clause 9. The cost shall be paid by each on a 50-50% basis and they shall at all times keep their payment schedule up to date. They acknowledge the following as the goals of the treatment/therapy and will support those goals and the directions of the therapist from time to time:
(i) to foster healthy child adjustment;
(ii) to facilitate the implementation of any agreed to or court-ordered parenting time schedule;
(iii) to restore adequate parental functioning and roles;
(iv) to restore and/or facilitate contact between mother and the children A.S.N. 14 and A.V.N., 11, but only within the parameters of this court order and any succeeding order;
(v) to work toward identifying and separating the children’s needs and views from each parent’s needs and views;
(vi) to try to fully understand the needs of the children and the negative repercussions for the children of a severed or compromised relationship with a parent;
(vii) to correct the children’s distortions and replace with realistic perceptions to reflect the children’s actual experience with both parents;
(viii) to assist the children to differentiate self from others and exercise age-appropriate autonomy;
(ix) to help each parent to distinguish valid concerns from overly negative , critical and generalized views relating to the other parent;
(x) to assist parents to resolve relevant parent-child conflicts;
(xi) to improve parenting skills and communication skills; and
(xii) to stay within the requirements of this order while working toward these goals.
The Willow Centre shall forward, and the parties shall so instruct the Centre, to send to my Barrie chambers to my attention reports on the 24th day of each of March and May and the final interim report by July 15, 2013, indicating how the parties and the children are progressing, or not, towards the goals in clause 10.
This order shall be the subject of a review before me before July 31, 2013, to commence on a date to be set in the week of July 22, 2013 to determine if any gains toward the goals set out above have been made and to determine any necessary changes to this order. The expected gains are to include:
i. the father shall have transformed his past projection of the children’s mother from a person to be disrespected and feared to someone who is a safe and loving mother who is to be respected and trusted;
ii. the mother shall have ceased attributing to the respondent motives or actions that suspect the father of continuing efforts to alienate the children against her; the findings in this judgment relate to the mother’s and father’s roles as parents in the past based on all the evidence and do not include any findings of conduct and roles in the future;
iii. negative actions by one parent that lead to negative reactions by the other parent must cease now;
iv. both parents shall work with the Willow Centre therapists and with the Children’s Aid Society toward the goal of complete reconciliation and reunification between mother and children, equal time with their mother and a full understanding of the needs of the children as distinct from those of each parent;
v. to assist each of the children to the extent possible within the terms of this order to develop a healthy and positive attitude to life and its problems rather than one of persecution by one parent or the other or by external forces and to develop age-appropriate autonomy.
The father shall not speak negatively about the mother and shall promote the mother positively at all times to the children, and shall not permit the children to be subjected to any negative comments or actions of anyone.
The Respondent shall continue his individual counselling at least once per month, including his underlying anger issues, his understanding of alienating behaviour, and how to face difficult issues in life rather than avoid them. His therapist Dr. W. Le Doux or any successor shall be provided with a copy of the assessor’s report dated March 14, 2009, his update dated July 19, 2010, and a copy of these reasons for Judgment. The children’s re-unification therapist with the Willow Centre shall have full access to and be authorized to speak with the respondent’s therapist as deemed necessary by the re-unification therapist.
The applicant shall seek and commence immediate personal counselling to supplement the counselling with the Willow Centre and that therapist shall be provided with the assessor’s report and update and a copy of these reasons for Judgment. That counselling shall include issues pertaining to commonsense discipline of children and dealing with anger among other things.
The parties shall each produce reports from their respective counsellors detailing the progress in their counselling. These reports shall be submitted to my attention at my chambers in Barrie by July 15, 2013 and shall be shared with the other party.
Both parties shall sign any consent to release of information as required by the Willow Centre or the therapist for either party within 24 hours of the request being made.
The father shall make the children available to meet with me immediately after my oral presentation of these Reasons and order to the parents so that I can present to them my disposition and the process this order sets up.
Pursuant to section 36 of the Children’s Law Reform Act of Ontario, the police and other law enforcement agencies in this Province shall enforce the terms of this order and do all things that may be reasonably done to locate and apprehend either A.S.N. and/or A.V.N. and return them to the person or agency responsible as set out in this order , and for that purpose, to enter and search any place at any time of the day or night , where he or she has reasonable or probable grounds to believe that the child may be, with such assistance and such force as is reasonable in the circumstances.
Neither party shall take the children out of the province without the written consent of the other or further order of this court.
Child Support
Effective this date, the Applicant shall pay to the Respondent child support for A.V.N. and A.S.N. in the sum of $1,287 per month based on the Applicant’s 2011 annual income of $90,500.
The parties shall share equally A.V.N.’s expenses under section 7 of the Child Support Guidelines, such expenses to include A.V.N.’s private school to June 2013, textbook and school field-trip expenses, extracurricular activities, uninsured medical and dental including but not limited to, orthodontic expenses. The parties shall share equally section 7 expenses for A.S.N.
Each of the parties shall pay 50% of the children’s individual, therapeutic, and counselling expenses, including reunification therapy between the applicant and the children, which expenses shall be enforced by the Director of the Family Responsibility Office as child support.
For as long as child support is to be paid, each of the parties must provide updated income disclosure to the other party each year, within 30 days of the anniversary of this order in accordance with section 24.1 of the Child Support Guidelines. This order to be enforced by the said Director and amounts owing shall be paid to the director who shall pay them to the person to whom they are owed.
Retroactive Support and Section 7 Costs
The respondent shall pay to the applicant an amount to be determined on account of arrears of child support to September 2011, following submissions directed in clause 34.
The respondent shall pay to the applicant an amount to be determined on account of arrears of his contribution to the children’s section 7 expenses to October 2012, following submissions directed in clause 34.
The respondent shall pay to the applicant forthwith 50% of Dr. Horowitz’s fee for preparation and attendance at the trial of this proceeding.
The respondent shall pay to W.C.S. the sum of $12, 386.90 representing his share of the children’s outstanding tuition costs for the years 2010-11 to 2012-13.
The respondent shall pay to the applicant the sum of $7, 315. 46 on account of outstanding costs orders previously made in this proceeding.
Property
The Teachers’ Pension Plan shall transfer the sum of $92,763.54 from the applicant’s pension plan to the respondent’s pension plan pursuant to section 10.1(3) of the Family Law Act, RSO 1990, ch. F.3 as am., and section 67.3 (2) of the Pension Benefits Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. P.8, the completion of such transfer to be deferred until the costs order is made following review of this order.
The sum of $15,000 from the proceeds of the sale of the former matrimonial home at 27 Grubin Ave. in Stouffville, held in trust by the parties’ real estate lawyer Mr. Eric Button of Button Armstrong and Ness LLP, shall be paid to the Willow centre as a retainer against the cost of ongoing counselling.
The remaining proceeds of the sale of the said former matrimonial home, after payment pursuant to clauses 25 to 29 of this order from the respondent’s share, shall be equally divided between the parties. The costs order of Mulligan J. of $10,000 against the respondent, since paid, shall be taken from the respondent’s 50% share. The remaining shares of each shall be paid to each of the applicant and the respondent accordingly.
Neither party owes to the other an equalization payment and the parties’ claims for an equalization of their respective net family property is hereby dismissed.
In addition to the amounts, if any, owing and not yet determined in clauses 20 and 21, the children’s RESP remains to be dealt with as I do not have any agreement by the parties as yet to how it is to be held in future. I will receive written submissions within 30 days on the undetermined issues, the applicant’s submissions to be provided to the respondent’s counsel and to me within 15 days.
Costs will be reserved until the review of this order before July 31, 2013. The date and time for the review of this order will be set on January 24 following my presentation of these reasons to the parties and their counsel. It shall commence during the week of July 22, 2013. I reserve the right to bring the review forward if I receive evidence that progress is not being made as expected or that either party acts contrary to the terms of this order. I hope that each party can see fit to support this order but, whatever their view of it, I expect that they shall abide by all of its terms.
[3] Regarding clause 6A of the order as amended, the respondent asked that access or personal time with A.V.N. be as equal as possible. For the period until review of this order, I do not see fit to add such a limitation on Dr. Collins’s ability to direct access times. This has, I believe, to do with A.V.N. having three weekends in a row with her mother. As I pointed out in my Reasons, the applicant had not seen A.V.N. at all between September 2011 and November 2012, partly due to the no contact order in her bail terms relating to charges since dismissed. It seems to me that the applicant should have as much time as possible, and as Dr. Collins sees as beneficial, to both mother and daughter. I will revisit this request on the review of the order if it is still a concern. It should not be now.
HOWDEN J.
Released: January 25, 2013