Virginia Workman

Following a family law trial, the court issued an endorsement to resolve issues raised in written submissions regarding the calculation of child support and costs.

The court determined the appropriate formula for calculating support when one child is entitled to 100 percent of the Guidelines amount and another to 25 percent.

The court dismissed the respondent's requests for further credits towards education expenses.

As the successful party whose offer to settle was close to the final judgment, the applicant was awarded partial indemnity costs fixed at $17,000.

The applicant father and respondent mother engaged in a high-conflict custody and access dispute over their five-year-old child.

The mother sought sole custody and decision-making, while the father sought expanded access and parallel parenting.

Following a 44-day trial and a section 30 assessment, the court granted the mother sole custody and primary residence, but significantly expanded the father's parenting time to include phased-in overnight visits.

The court ordered a divided parallel parenting regime for decision-making, granting the mother authority over education and routine medical care, and the father authority over routine dental care and final decision-making for major medical and dental issues.

The applicant father and respondent mother both brought motions for temporary orders regarding parenting time, custody, and child support.

The father sought a specific parenting schedule and permission to take the children on vacation, while the mother sought sole custody and an adjustment to child support.

The court found that the mother was unreasonably restricting the father's access and acting on extraneous considerations.

The court declined to make a custody order, implemented the father's proposed parenting schedule, permitted the vacation travel, and ordered the father to pay a small monthly amount for section 7 expenses while dismissing the mother's request to vary base child support.