MacLean Law’s Calgary Family Trial Appellate Lawyers noted a recent dismissal of a leave to appeal application to the Supreme Court of Canada from an Alberta Court of Appeal’s dismissal of an interim child custody appeal by a mother denied contact to her children for coaching them to make false allegations of sexual abuse.
Calgary Family Trial Appellate Lawyers 403-444-5503
Our Calgary Family Trial Appellate Lawyers know it is important to keep a family case on track to reduce costs and stress to Calgary family law litigants. Booking trial dates and trying to ensure they proceed on time is the best practice. Our firm has been involved in some of the most famous child custody appeal cases in Canada. Click here to meet with us at our Calgary Family Law office.
Lorne N. Maclean, QC founder of our highly ranked Calgary family trial appellate lawyers team was successful Counsel in the SCC in Young v. Young the leading custody case on the principle of “maximum contact by a child to both parents”.
Interim appeals often require leave of the Court to permit such appeals and this “leave” is only granted in exceptional cases.
Our Calgary Family Trial Appellate Lawyers handle high conflict and high stakes Calgary family law disputes that proceed to the Alberta Court of Appeal and even to the Supreme Court of Canada (“SCC”).
Calgary Family Trial Appellate Lawyers 403-444-5503
The Alberta Court of Appeal dismissed the mother’s appeal of an interim child custody order after they reviewed the case’s tortuous procedural history. The mother was on her 7th lawyer at the time of the interim order appealed from that suspended her contact with the two children and the case was in its 6th year since commencement.
The Parties separated in 2008 after seven years of marriage and they had two children aged 12 and 14. The action extended over several years without proceeding to trial where the father obtained primary care, the mother’s time with the children then became supervised and finally the mother’s time with the children was suspended.
Here is how the high conflict Calgary child custody case was handled by the case management judge and what the Alberta Court of Appeal decided on the mother’s interim appeal:
5 The case management judge has been case managing the action for about two years. He is familiar with the underlying issues and facts, including several expert psychologist reports addressing the family situation. This was not a brief appearance in morning chambers; it was a three-hour hearing. The essence of the mother’s appeal is that the case management judge misapprehended the evidence when he concluded that she had manipulated the children into making false allegations of sexual abuse by their father. We are satisfied that there was ample evidence on this record upon which the case management judge could conclude that the mother had coached the children.
8 The standard of appellate review of interim parenting orders is deferential. Despite the very able submissions by the mother’s counsel to the contrary, the case management judge did not misdirect himself on the law or misapprehend the evidence; nor did he proceed arbitrarily. This court’s interference with interim orders is only warranted in exceptional circumstances: Quraishi v. Merah, 2016 ABCA 116 (Alta. C.A.); Hickey v. Hickey, [1999] 2 S.C.R. 518, 240 N.R. 312 (S.C.C.).
9 The appeal is dismissed.
10 It has been three years since the matter was set down for trial. The parties should be putting their efforts toward obtaining trial dates or seeking other resolutions.
