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Costs when the court file is closed due to inactivity

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  • Costs when the court file is closed due to inactivity

    Originally posted by Tayken View Post
    That is an odd state to be in. The courts review and order continuance in matters. How your file got lost is really a rare situation. I would recommend you go to the court house and see if a judge ordered for the file to be closed. Most court houses have a public computer with a printer where you can look up and print out the status of your file.

    The court file triage process generally doesn't leave matters like this behind when getting done. But, there may be a clerical error that knocked this one off the visible list of applications to the court.

    After 3 years, it would be near impossible for the Applicant to resurrect the matter if nothing has been filed and no remedy has been sought by either party. On return to the application more than likely the judge would make everyone re-file as there have been no doubt material changes in circumstance since the last action taken on the file.
    Thought it was more appropriate to start own thread.

    This is very useful information because I thought the ex could come back at any time and start haunting me again. When she filed the motion about 5 years ago her intention was just to suck more money out of me which I gave on consent just to avoid legal fees. Once the SS ended she lost interest in the case as well as in exercising her access rights but left me with huge debts which I incurred to pay the legal bills.

    If the court has closed the file due to inactivity, can I claim costs from the other party?

    Thanks.

  • #2
    Originally posted by singledad99 View Post
    Thought it was more appropriate to start own thread.

    This is very useful information because I thought the ex could come back at any time and start haunting me again. When she filed the motion about 5 years ago her intention was just to suck more money out of me which I gave on consent just to avoid legal fees. Once the SS ended she lost interest in the case as well as in exercising her access rights but left me with huge debts which I incurred to pay the legal bills.

    If the court has closed the file due to inactivity, can I claim costs from the other party?

    Thanks.
    There very well be no way to recoup costs of the court file has been closed. It is the responsibility, to the best of my knowledge, for both the Applicant and the Respondent to leverage the Family Law Rules to insure matters progress.

    If the file is closed because neither party took the next step then neither party "withrdew" from the file and costs may not be ordered.

    You had just as much responsibility as the respondent to the matter to bring forward a conference or motion to move matters along. The court file, in my opinion, would be only closed if neither party were in contact with the court for a prolonged period of time.

    Ultimately, if the file is "closed" and the Applicant wants to bring forward something to the court they would (a) have to do it on a new application, (b) identify a "material change in circumstance" on a prima facia basis for the court to consider re-opening the matter and (c) won't be able to rely upon evidence and materials in a closed continuing record that is as old as you state.

    Again, check to see with the court house if the case is closed prior to worrying about all of this.

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