Tharmini Kuhathasan

The respondent husband brought a motion to suspend enforcement of spousal support arrears and stay ongoing support obligations under a final order, citing a material change in circumstances due to job loss and significantly reduced income.

The court applied the Berta test, requiring a strong prima facie case, clear hardship, urgency, and clean hands.

The court found the husband met these criteria, noting his involuntary unemployment, reduced income, and the Family Responsibility Office's enforcement actions causing hardship.

The motion was granted, staying the Support Deduction Order and FRO enforcement of arrears, but an interim monthly payment of $1,500 was ordered from November 1, 2021.

The parties were directed to attend TBST Court to establish a timeline for the Motion to Change.

Following a motion for interim spousal support and disbursements, the parties were unable to agree on costs.

The applicant sought full-indemnity costs of $57,457.39, alleging bad faith by the respondent for failing to provide timely financial disclosure.

The court found the applicant was the more successful party and that the respondent exhibited an element of bad faith regarding financial disclosure.

The court awarded the applicant costs on a substantial indemnity basis, fixed at $46,000.

The applicant wife brought a motion for interim spousal support and interim disbursements.

The parties were in a six-year marriage and the respondent husband is a high-income earner residing in Germany with significant wealth.

The court applied the Spousal Support Advisory Guidelines for high-income earners, imputing an annual investment income of over $4 million to the respondent based on a 12.3% rate of return.

The court ordered the respondent to pay a lump-sum of $326,315 in uncharacterized interim spousal support and $186,000 in interim disbursements, noting the latter had already been satisfied by a prior without-prejudice payment.

The applicant father brought an urgent motion for primary parenting of the parties' adult child with autism, following an altercation at a parenting changeover where the respondent mother was charged with assault with a weapon and subsequently withheld the child.

The mother sought an adjournment to review materials after recently retaining counsel.

The court granted the adjournment but ordered the immediate return of the child to the father, establishing an interim-interim schedule of two weeks with the father and one week with the mother to minimize conflict and changeovers.