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The court awarded $500 in costs against a respondent for improperly scheduling an Early Case Conference.
This endorsement addresses the misuse of the Early Case Conference (ECC) regime in family law proceedings.
The respondent improperly scheduled an ECC despite a previous conference and a scheduled motion, and failed to upload necessary documents.
The court reiterated the purpose and limitations of ECCs, emphasizing they are for straightforward matters and not for complex issues or disclosure.
Due to the respondent's conduct, which caused the applicant to incur unnecessary expense, the applicant was awarded nominal costs of $500, payable from the respondent's share of matrimonial home proceeds.
Motion granted to appoint litigation guardian for mentally incapable respondent and set aside default corollary relief judgment.
The moving party, the nephew of the respondent mother, brought a motion to be appointed as her litigation guardian and to set aside a default judgment granting a divorce and corollary relief to the applicant father.
The court found the mother was mentally incapable of representing herself due to schizophrenia and appointed the nephew as litigation guardian.
The court declined to set aside the divorce itself but set aside the corollary relief (custody, access, property) because the mother had a plausible explanation for her default, moved promptly once her nephew became involved, and had an arguable case on the merits.
