What is the test for a court to enforce a settlement between the parties respecting custody and access?

39 In Colter v. Colter 38 O.R. (2d) 220, the court was called upon to deal with a matter which involved agreements between the parties respecting custody and access. At page 224 of that decision, the court said: The wife in her argument clearly states most forcefully that this court, as parens patriae of children generally before it or affected by their orders, should not abrogate that duty and responsibility simply by a blind acceptance of a settlement between spouses. To this generally, I think all must agree. However, I do perceive that there must be practically, a presumption that in all but exceptional cases, the parents themselves, as parents, must be presumed to be acting in the best interests of their children as they, the parents, perceive it. Accordingly, I would have to conclude that except in the clearest of cases, in considering this presumption in favour of the authority of the parents, that if a court is not to enforce an agreement between spouses, then a court must be clearly in possession of those relevant and pertinent and pressing facts which require the court to intervene between the parents to preserve the children's welfare.