www.canadianlawyermag.com 43
that suing an ex's family is no longer out
of bounds if they help their child evade
support obligations. In this case, the
ex-wife sued her former husband's parents,
a family corporation, and several trusts
and their trustees, alleging her former
husband's family and the various entities
had conspired to defeat her family law
claims and conceal the husband's income
and assets.
In another groundbreaking ruling, Justice
Renu Mandhane of the Ontario Superior
Court of Justice recently ordered a husband
to pay his former wife damages of $150,000
because of the physical and psychological
abuse over their 17-year marriage.
"Standardized methods of calculating
support and division of assets don't consider
extreme examples of marital breakdown,
including family violence," says Toronto
family law lawyer Valarie Matthews with
McCarthy Hansen & Co. LLP.
There is no obligation for other provin-
cial court systems to use the Ontario deci-
"Just because we have legislation
that deals with family breakdown, it
doesn't mean it covers all the circumstances
that arise" Laurie Pawlitza, Torkin Manes LLP
