How many months/ years are delays allowed?

S

Stillbreathing

New member
My STBX's lawyer has successfully cancelled 4 case conference dates and 6 motion court dates. I have been trying to get in front of a judge for over a year! My case has been seriously prejudiced because of this. How the hell do I get in front of a judge ? Can I file an emergency motion ? This is ridiculous.
 
what was the reason given, and accepted by the court? Was this an adjournment? I recall in earlier posts you had mentioned your ex was in-line with a substantial injury settlement in January.

You can file an emergency motion, however, if another date has been set you may not be successful.
 
We do not have any further scheduled court dates as the judge wanted to give him time to comply with certain court ordered assessments and disclosure. He has not complied. In the meantime my situation has become dire and I am the one seeking court dates to address the litany of horrific events which have transpired over the past year plus. He does not want me to get in front of a judge to tell them what's been going on. The two lawyers have been involved in a pissing contest with each other and mine has not been following my direction. I'm pulling my hair out. I have to either go self rep or legal aide. I'm thinking of self rep because then I can file an emergency motion without notice . This will most likely be adjourned but my purpose in doing so is to alert a judge to what's been going on and ask them to set a cc or motion date the other party is not allowed to adjourn!
 
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Reasons given that his lawyer was not available and not willing to send a representative. Gave no dates in the future that his lawyer was available though!
 
If you are in dire straights can you not proceed to an emergency motion and request interim support? If your current lawyer can't handle that then there is something seriously wrong with the lawyer. Make sure the SUBSTANTIAL interim support is enforceable by FRO.

My lawyer did this at the start of my litigation. The amount my ex had to pay per month definitely got his attention and expedited things. We were divorced 9 months later.
 
Can you actually file an emergency motion for support? My lawyer said the only emergency motion you can file is in a life and death situation for the safety of the children. I have to let my lawyer go but it's a scary thing to go self rep. I'm so jaded by the court system and the bias against the best interest of the children versus the financial best interest of all the other players.
 
Stillbreathing said:
Can you actually file an emergency motion for support?
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What kind of support? Child support? Spousal support?

See this posting on what constitutes an urgent situation:

http://www.ottawadivorce.com/forum/f20/dont-panic-what-defines-urgency-before-court-13291/

Stillbreathing said:
My lawyer said the only emergency motion you can file is in a life and death situation for the safety of the children.
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Generally this is the case. But, in the situation of support (child) if you are unable to find shelter, food and clothing for the children due to the absence of child support this could indeed be an emergency. This is shelter and food - basic essentials.

Stillbreathing said:
I have to let my lawyer go but it's a scary thing to go self rep.
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If you can afford counsel then I would say your income situation would possibly not be an "urgent" situation. I say this because one would expect you to get Legal Aid if you are in the situation of poverty and you would have a lawyer.

Stillbreathing said:
I'm so jaded by the court system and the bias against the best interest of the children versus the financial best interest of all the other players.
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Again, the court's first priority is the children and not the parents. As well, the court will establish basic essentials based on the income of both parents (depending on the situation) and try to keep things in perspective.

It is often more cost effective to retain a proper financial advisor when separating and divorcing versus retaining a lawyer. It is better for one's pocket book.

Good Luck!
Tayken
 
In some high-income marriages when one party cut's off the other party's ability to pay mortgage, pay lawyer (example) the court might recognize this as a power imbalance.

If there remains substantial matrimonial assets I am perplexed as to why your lawyer does not file an urgent motion for you to obtain money? Lawyer could get paid!
 
arabian said:
In some high-income marriages when one party cut's off the other party's ability to pay mortgage, pay lawyer (example) the court might recognize this as a power imbalance.

If there remains substantial matrimonial assets I am perplexed as to why your lawyer does not file an urgent motion for you to obtain money? Lawyer could get paid!
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Courts have been ordering costs against lawyers in Ontario who bring unnecessary "urgent" motions that are not "urgent". Many lawyers don't want to risk bringing an urgent motion and have to pay the costs. The case law is very "tisk tisk" to lawyers who use urgent motions wrong. So they avoid it.
 
Courts in Ontario should do a self-examination of all the useless case conferences they regularly reside at. More resources are wasted in this area.

If the woman can't pay her mortgage or her lawyer, and there is matrimonial money available to pay, then I would think that this constitutes an "urgent" matter. I would therefore encourage her to go forward.

She very well is unable to qualify for legal aid simply due to the previous year's income tax return. Besides, the woman shouldn't have to dismiss current counsel because her ex is financially able to out-manoeuvre her by endless adjournments.

I hope she goes to court for an urgent motion and receives substantial interim support.

I had to kick and scream a bit before this was done on my behalf. Once my lawyer got to court it took less than 10 minutes to put things in motion on an INTERIM basis.
 
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Stllbreathing - I will amend my remarks as I reviewed your previous threads and you do, indeed, have an Order for CS and SS. You never indicated whether or not you were registered with FRO?

If your matter is primarily one of collection then an Urgent motion would not likely be appropriate. Your issue would be with FRO and riding them as to why they have not succeeded in collection of arrears.

If you go to an Emergency Motion without having first taken the steps (register with FRO) you will end up having your motion dismissed with costs assessed against you.

1. Get registered with FRO if you are not currently registered
2. Pay your lawyer and either proceed to set another motion date or get another lawyer?

Best of luck.
 
I don't get spousal support. Have been fighting for it but still not ordered. CS is very very low as he has been hiding income and refuses to disclose his actual Income. Have to let my lawyer go as I have no way to pay him. Talked to somebody about legal aide and was told that they will only help with custody, access, CS and SS but not for the equalization I will have to hire another lawyer or self-rep. Yet at the same time, even though they are not willing to help me obtain a fair settlement, should I qualify they want me to sign documents releasing the funds from the sale of the house to them to pay back their fees. In other words they won't help me obtain a fair settlement but they will have their greedy hands in it to take it from me! I wonder if they would let me change the wording that if we go to trial and I win my legal fee costs that THEY must go after my ex for the fees instead of dipping into the money in trust from the house! Bet we all know what the answer would be!
 
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Oh and the CS is currently 3 months in arrears. We are registered with that useless government agency called FRO. He is chronically late and has paid none of the s7 expenses he agreed to pay. Have been on the phone today with the provincial Ombudsman who will get after FRO...I'll believe that when I see it...
 
And yes Arabian, he is now worth several million dollars. Some of that is settlement money and some is marital investments he absconded with. I have sole custody of all the kids and am being forced to apply for welfare due to all the delays. I don't think it is reasonable for the tax payers of Canada to have to pay to support my kids and I when he is a multi-millionaire and if I were allowed to access our funds and he wasn't out to destroy all my sources of income, I could manage well on my own without SS!!!!
 
Actually you probably would be in a better situation if you did go ahead and apply for welfare. Judges do not like taxpayer money being used when the payor can afford to pay. You at least would be guaranteed a timely deposit each and every month in your bank account, albeit small, to help with basics.

People with access to substantial cash (like my ex at the time of our separation) can drag things out in court for years on end. Your lawyers must sense that the money is either gone or unattainable or they would most assuredly be in there for the long haul. If there are tangible assets your lawyer would simply lien the property or get a motion so that you can be advanced a percentage of the marital assets until equalization.

Insofar as the Ombudsman... that's another lengthy situation. You can be looking at years and years.

Also consider that your ex might very well have blown through most of his money by now. You yourself stated that at one time you were going through $10,000.00/week in legal fees (and last year said that you had gone through your life savings of $200,000.00 in legal bills) to fight your ex.

You probably have to come to reality that you will get very little of what you originally expected. I hate to tell you this but without proof of bank accounts oozing with money in your ex's name you are in a not-so-good situation.

Legal aid is a good resource for people who have no money. By the sounds of things you have no cash flow but have assets (house). I believe that when you obtain Legal Aid you are assigned a set amount of hours. I do not believe that Legal Aid is just for child support or family court matters. (People who are incarcerated apply for Legal Aid). Of course you have to pay it back if you have an asset that is liquidated just as you would have to pay your own lawyer if he were to lien your property to continue to represent you.

Hope you manage to have some happiness and peace through the Christmas season.
 
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There is some proof of bank accounts and investments with huge amounts of money . There is also the house funds. My lawyer wanted to ask for 35,000 to be released to pay him. That way I will deplete the entire amount and there will be nothing left at equalization time. If I continue with a lawyer whether private or legal aide, I will have no money left at equalization time. If I go self rep there is a much higher chance there will be more than enough money left to buy a modest house.
One point in my favour is that should costs be awarded against me for anything, I don't care. I have nothing to pay any costs with. So that threat by a judge won't work with me. You can't get blood out of a stone.
 
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If there are millions of dollars in play here, I would be very surprised if lawyers don't take your case.... The first they ask is what are you worth....

In Quebec, it happens 100% of the time that there is interim spousal and child support. I can't imagine interim support payments are not the norm in ontario.
 
Stillbreathing said:
There is some proof of bank accounts and investments with huge amounts of money . There is also the house funds. My lawyer wanted to ask for 35,000 to be released to pay him. That way I will deplete the entire amount and there will be nothing left at equalization time. If I continue with a lawyer whether private or legal aide, I will have no money left at equalization time. If I go self rep there is a much higher chance there will be more than enough money left to buy a modest house.
One point in my favour is that should costs be awarded against me for anything, I don't care. I have nothing to pay any costs with. So that threat by a judge won't work with me. You can't get blood out of a stone.
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Actually you do have something to pay costs with - your home. Judges are very good at setting costs up on monthly payments.
 
I believe that would be a judge's discretionary item or something you would have to request. (Someone will correct me if I am wrong.) I believe that it would have to be specified in the Order. My ex was litigation-happy and took me to court 6 times after he was ordered to pay costs and despite strong protestations from my lawyer (Alberta Court of Queens Bench).

In Ontario:

Prohibition on Further Motions

(3) On making an order under subrule (1), the court may also make an order under rule 37.16 prohibiting the moving party from making further motions in a proceeding without leave. O. Reg. 43/14, s. 1. (Rules of Civil Procedure)

and

Contested Motion

57.03 (1) On the hearing of a contested motion, unless the court is satisfied that a different order would be more just, the court shall,

(a) fix the costs of the motion and order them to be paid within 30 days; or

(b) in an exceptional case, refer the costs of the motion for assessment under Rule 58 and order them to be paid within 30 days after assessment. O. Reg. 284/01, s. 16.

(2) Where a party fails to pay the costs of a motion as required under subrule (1), the court may dismiss or stay the party’s proceeding, strike out the party’s defence or make such other order as is just. R.R.O. 1990, Reg. 194, r. 57.03 (2) (Rules of Civil Procedure).
 
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