Does a motion judge have considered the best interests of the parties in the context of a finding of contempt over access to children?
Ontario, Canada
The following excerpt is from Chong v. Donnelly, 2019 ONCA 799 (CanLII):
Nor does it appear that the motion judge considered the best interests of the children, which this court has stated is the “paramount consideration” when the issue raised in the contempt motion concerns access to children: Ruffolo v. David, 2019 ONCA 385, 25 R.F.L. (8th) 144, at para. 19. As this court stated in Ruffolo, it is in the best interests of the children to encourage professional assistance as an alternative to making a finding of contempt too readily. Indeed, here, the motion judge herself encouraged the parties to continue working with a family mediator.
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