In what circumstances will the court refuse to award costs in a custody case involving an evenly matched couple?

British Columbia, Canada


The following excerpt is from Fulton v. Fulton, 2002 BCSC 1194 (CanLII):

In paragraph 4 he states: It would be inappropriate, in my view, to treat a custody case with, for the most part, evenly matched parents, as though it was a typical case in which one side prevails at the expense of the other. While it is correct that the father was more successful in the sense that the primary residence of the child is now with him, that results flowed slowly from my findings respecting the best interests of the child. No caring parent should be discouraged by the prospect of costs being awarded against him or her from asking the court to conduct such an inquiry. It is particularly significant here that both parents were equally well-suited to raise the child. His Lordship went on to agree with the comments of Catliff J., of this court, in Brouwer v. Brouwer, [1996] B.C.J. No. 120 in which Catliff J., after noting that only the best interests of the child were at stake in a custody contest, and it was the child who was the only prospective winner, refused to award costs absent some conduct in the litigation worthy of rebuke.

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