S.P. v. C.H. et al., 2008 SKQB 190

• Judge: Dufour, J.
• Court: Court of Queen's Bench of Saskatchewan (Canada)
• Case Date: April 30, 2008
• Jurisdiction: Saskatchewan
• Citations: 2008 SKQB 190;(2008), 316 Sask.R. 311 (FD)

S.P. v. C.H. (2008), 316 Sask.R. 311 (FD)

MLB headnote and full text

Temp. Cite: [2008] Sask.R. TBEd. MY.058

S.P. and N.P. (petitioners) v. C.H. and D.S. (respondents)

(2008 F.L.D. No. 16; 2008 SKQB 190)

Indexed As: S.P. v. C.H. et al.

Saskatchewan Court of Queen's Bench

Family Law Division

Judicial Centre of Saskatoon

Dufour, J.

April 30, 2008.

Summary:

Paternal grandparents sought specified access to their granddaughter. The child's parents opposed the application. The grandmother and mother had a hostile relationship.

The Saskatchewan Court of Queen's Bench, Family Law Division, adjourned the application and ordered that the parties attend at a High Conflict Case Conference Session and Mediation. The court declined to award the grandparents interim access prior to the case conference session and during the mediation period.

Editor's Note: Certain names in the following case have been initialized or the case otherwise edited to prevent the disclosure of identities where required by law, publication ban, Maritime Law Book's editorial policy or otherwise.

Family Law - Topic 2001.4

Custody and access - Access - Access to grandchildren - Paternal grandparents sought specified access to their granddaughter (age two) - The child's parents opposed the application - They currently lived apart - The grandmother and mother had a hostile relationship - The mother had stolen some money from the grandmother - The grandmother had made a complaint to the Department of Community Resources that resulted in the child being removed from the mother's care and placed in the grandparents' care for one month - The grandmother had also attempted to have the mother arrested by police for a failure to appear for a court date - The grandparents had only seen the child for four hours of court-ordered access in the last nine months - The Saskatchewan Court of Queen's Bench, Family Law Division, adjourned the application and ordered that the parties attend at a High Conflict Case Conference Session and Mediation - The court declined to award the grandparents interim access prior to and during the mediation period as they were not persons of sufficient interest - Further, given the conflict between the grandmother and mother, an order for access at this time would not be in the child's best interests.

Family Law - Topic 2001.4

Custody and access - Access - Access to grandchildren - Paternal grandparents sought specified access to their granddaughter (age two) under s. 6(1) of the Children's Law Act - The child's parents opposed the application - The grandmother and mother had a hostile relationship - The grandparents had only seen the child for four hours of court-ordered access in the last nine months - The Saskatchewan Court of Queen's Bench, Family Law Division, adjourned the application and ordered that the parties attend at a High Conflict Case Conference Session and Mediation - The court declined to award the grandparents interim access - The court stated that it was apparent that the grandmother wished to develop a relationship with the child, but intention was not the test in the first step of the analysis - The court could not find that she was a person of sufficient interest merely because she wanted to be a person of sufficient interest - Section 6 was intended to allow access for those who had an existing relationship with the child, not those who wished to create a relationship - There was no presumption that access with a grandparent was in the grandchild's best interests - The onus was on the grandparents to establish that their access would be in the child's best interest - The test was relationship specific - See paragraphs 26 and 29.

Cases Noticed:

G.M.K. v. C.L.H. (2006), 281 Sask.R. 65; 2006 SKQB 251 (Fam. Div.), refd to. [para. 19].

Tucker v. Lester et al. (2002), 220 Sask.R. 309; 2002 SKQB 225 (Fam. Div.), refd to. [para. 32].

Statutes Noticed:

Children's Law Act, S.S. 1997, c. C-8.2, sect. 6(1) [para. 18].

Counsel:

V.G. Watson, for the petitioners;

M.J. Helms, for the respondent, C.H.;

D.S. respondent, on his own behalf.

This application was heard before Dufour, J., of the Saskatchewan Court of Queen's Bench, Family Law Division, Judicial Centre of Saskatoon, who released the following fiat on April 30, 2008.