S. Gibb

The applicant wife alleged that her former husband and his family (the third-party respondents) engaged in a complex civil conspiracy to hide his income and assets through corporate restructuring and family trusts, thereby defeating her claims for child and spousal support.

The third-party respondents brought a motion for summary judgment to dismiss the conspiracy claims, while the applicant brought a cross-motion for partial summary judgment.

The husband also brought a motion to retroactively reduce his interim support obligations, arguing his income had materially decreased.

The Superior Court of Justice granted the third-party respondents' motion, dismissing the conspiracy claims, finding that the corporate transactions were undertaken for legitimate tax and estate planning purposes, not to harm the applicant.

The court also granted the husband's motion to vary support, significantly reducing his child and spousal support obligations retroactively to January 1, 2017, based on a material change in his income.

The respondent father brought a motion to continue an order suspending the applicant mother's access to the children and restraining her from communicating with them.

The court found that the mother had engaged in a prolonged campaign of emotional abuse, manipulation, and denigration of the father, which had destabilized the children.

Since the suspension of access, the children had thrived in the father's care.

The court held that it was in the children's best interests to continue the access suspension and restraining orders, with a provision for limited, supervised communication in the future.