It is beyond dispute that the Court’s contempt powers are meant to be used as a process of last resort, particularly in the area of family law. Nonetheless, warring couples continue to bring contempt applications for the most minor deviations from a court order. Chong v. Donnelly 2019 ONCA 799 is yet another example of a “mole hill turned into a mountain”. The contempt allegation centred on a provision in a court order that required…

This decision is not surprising, it is merely one of the many cases where an ex-husband paying spousal support voluntarily retires and then asks the court to terminate his spousal support obligation. In McPherson v. McPherson 2019 BCSC 933, the retiree was 60 years old and had 24 years of contributory service, thus earning an unreduced pension of $2,300 a month. His ex-wife’s share of the pension was $800 a month. The parties were married…

It doesn’t happen frequently, thank goodness, but once in a while an in-person litigant will turn the tables, and after attacking their ex-spouse through aggressive litigation tactics, turns their venom on their ex’s lawyer. That’s what happened in the latest chapter of Shih v. Shih 2019 BCSC 1681. Mr. Shih, a “frequent flyer” in the BC courts, described by the judge as having a “long history of several applications, case conferences, a 2-day settlement conference,…