Tara Julia Engel

This decision addresses a motion to change parenting and support orders concerning an 11-year-old child.

The court found a material change in circumstances, including significant parental conflict and family violence, warranting a change from joint custody to sole decision-making and primary residence with the mother.

The father’s conduct, including withholding the child, social media harassment, and failure to comply with court orders, was found harmful to the child.

The court ordered supervised parenting time for the father, restricted his social media activity, and granted police enforcement of parenting orders.

Child support arrears were calculated with income imputed to the father due to non-disclosure.

The court issued a costs endorsement following a three-day trial where the paternal grandmother's claim for contact with the child and the mother's claim for a restraining order against the paternal grandmother were both dismissed.

Both parties sought costs against each other, with the paternal grandmother seeking $9,627 and the mother seeking over $70,000.

The court applied the principles of reasonableness and proportionality, considering offers to settle and the parties' financial circumstances.

The mother was deemed the successful party on the dominant issue of contact, while the paternal grandmother was successful on the secondary issue of the restraining order.

The court ordered the paternal grandmother to pay the mother $12,000 in costs, payable in monthly installments, taking into account the paternal grandmother's modest financial circumstances and her reasonable offer to settle.

The paternal grandmother (applicant) sought a contact order with her 6-year-old grand-daughter.

The mother (respondent N.J.) opposed this and sought a restraining order against the paternal grandmother.

The father (respondent T.S.) was in default.

The court applied the two-part test for grandparent contact, determining that a positive relationship did not exist at the time contact was terminated, and the mother's decision to deny contact was not arbitrary.

This was based on significant safety concerns in the paternal grandmother's home and community, her problematic parenting history, and a clear power imbalance and lack of trust between the parties.

The court dismissed both the paternal grandmother's claim for contact and the mother's claim for a restraining order, finding no sufficient grounds for the latter.