Can a judge other than the one who heard the divorce proceedings determine the issues of maintenance and s. 8 claim following a registrar’s report?
British Columbia, Canada
The following excerpt is from Webster v. Webster, 1979 CanLII 744 (BC CA):
With respect, a close reading of that judgment does not seem to foreclose the possibility of some judge other than the one who heard the divorce deciding the issues of maintenance and a s. 8 claim following a registrar’s report. The ratio of Jacoby v. Jacoby seems to be that a trial judge should not determine entitlement to maintenance until the registrar has reported back to him after an inquiry. The main reason for this is because the registrar may discover substantial undisclosed assets that were not previously revealed to the trial judge. For instance, the registrar may ascertain the wife is so well off she is not in need of any maintenance. And so any previous order declaring entitlement would create a dilemma. To get around the impasse our Court of Appeal held that a trial judge should say nothing with respect to entitlement until after receiving the registrar’s report.
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