Supreme Court

Judge:

The Honourable Justice James L. Chipman

Heard:

June 9-13, 2014, in Kentville, Nova Scotia

Written Decision:

July 15, 2014

Subject:

Divorce Proceeding

Summary:

Husband and wife lived common law for two years and then married.  They separated after nine years of marriage.  There was one child of the union, a son, born January 10, 2006.  Divorce granted along with Partial Corollary Relief Order (with respect to 2014 summer parenting and the Matrionial home) at the end of a five day trial.  Husband an environmental technologist who recently left his full time job in Newfoundland and Labrador to move to Nova Scotia to become a full time student at Acadia University nearby where his (estranged) wife and son moved in 2011.  Wife a psychiatrist with the Annapolis Valley District Health Authority.

Issues:

(1)        Date of Separation

(2)        Custody (along with the child’s living arrangements and decision-making arrangement for him)

(3)        Property Division

(4)        Imputation of Income

(5)        Child Support (retroactive and prospective)

(6)        Spousal Support (retroactive and prospective)

Result:

Date of Separation determined to be August 31, 2011, shortly following the relocation of the wife and son from Newfoundland and Labrador to Nova Scotia.

Primary custody and living arrangement along with decision making authority with respect to the son determined to be with the mother.

Property division, for the most part, determined on a fifty-fifty basis.

Imputation of Income determined for both parties.

Retroactive and prospective child support found owing by the father to the mother.

Retroactive and prospective spousal support found owing by the wife to the husband.