Ottawa Divorce .com

Easier For Custodial Parents To Move With Their Children

A recent Court of Appeal decision has made it easier for custodial parents to move away with their children.

In Bjornson v Creighton, [2002] O.J. No. 4364, the Ontario Court of Appeal allowed the custodial mother to move from Waterloo to Calgary with her 6-year-old son. This was despite the fact that the father was, according to the court, a loving parent who frequently sees his son and is active in his son’s upbringing.

While the court has not gone as far as automatically allowing custodial parents to move their children, the court has made it very difficult for these moves to be opposed. In the past, courts have rejected such moves on the grounds that it is in the best interests of children to have maximum contact with both parents. In this case, the court gave much less weight to this factor, and stressed the importance of preserving the child’s primary care-giving environment.

As well, the father was required to pay $23,000 of the mother’s legal costs, in addition to his own legal costs of $25,000.

Opposing a custodial parent’s move has always been difficult. This latest case has made it even more difficult and expensive than before.