CASE: Family Law Act – Child Relocation – Supreme Court of BC Decision

The Supreme Court of British Columbia has handed down a favourable decision for our client, preventing the relocation of his children from Aldergrove, BC to Stonewall, MB.

Reasonable and Workable Arrangements – BC Family Law Act

Judge Saunders explained that “any relocation case must be focused on the “best interests” of the child.” He went on to add that, where parenting time is substantially unequal, such cases normally have also considered the factors of “good faith” and “reasonable and workable arrangements” set out in s. 69(4)(a) of the Family Law Act. However, Judge Saunders reasoned that examining the latter two factors was only necessary where the considerations are “evenly balanced” between allowing and disallowing the relocation. Therefore, if the best interests of the child is very one-sided, the court may focus solely on the best interests issue and need not assess the factors of good faith and the proposed parenting time arrangements.

S. 211 Views of the Child Report 

Evidence submitted through the s. 211 Views of the Child Report, prepared by Mr. Robert Finlay – where the children confirmed a preference not to move and close relationships with both our client and his family – was seen to support our client’s evidence. Factors for our client to overcome included the facts that the mother had the bulk of parenting time, and that he had engaged in some family violence toward the mother and in some poor anger management towards the mother and stepfather. The court ultimately decided however that our client’s strong relationship with his children, especially his son where hockey was a central bonding factor, and the children’s very close relationships with their extended family outweighed the other factors. Relocation of the children to another province would have adversely affected their current relationships with their father and family members, thus relocation was not in the best interests of the children.

Supplements to this case

Read the judgement in its entirety https://www.canlii.org/en/bc/bcsc/doc/2019/2019bcsc75/2019bcsc75.html

Download the PDF
Judge Saunders, re D.T.F. v. K.S., 01-24