SUPREME COURT OF NOVA SCOTIA
(FAMILY DIVISION)
Citation: Johnson v. Ross-Johnson, 2009 NSSC 210
Date: 20090703
Docket: 1201-059476
Registry: Halifax
Between:
Christopher Johnson
Applicant/Petitioner
v.
Heidi Ross-Johnson
Respondent
LIBRARY HEADING
Judge: The Honourable Justice Moira C. Legere Sers
Heard: June 10 and 11, 2009 in Halifax, Nova Scotia
Counsel: Brian Bailey, counsel for the Applicant/Petitioner
David Grant, counsel for the Respondent
Subject: Custody Variation (Section 17 of the Divorce Act)
Application to include 2 children of a previous relationship under existing child support order
Summary: Divorce granted September 2006. Parents have one child. Father lives in the United States, mother in Canada. Mother has 2 children of previous relationship. Mother consistently and deliberately sabotaged any attempts by father to maintain healthy contact with his son, despite court order and repeated direction.
Issue: Mother deliberate denial and obstruction of contact between father and son. Does father stand in loco parentis to the mother's children from previous marriage?
Result: Mother past behaviour of physically abusive and currently significant emotional abuse involving child in efforts to destroy his affection for his father and distort his view of his father. Father capable of parenting and providing for child. Father granted custody with duty to facilitate healthy contact with mother.
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