Court considers terms of custody order

K.M.M. v. D.R.M. | 2017 BCSC 1464 | British Columbia Supreme Court

Custody and access -- Terms of custody order -- General principles

Parties were married for 21 years and they had two children -- Parties shared parenting of son, but daughter lived with mother and she wanted no contact with father -- Parties attended family forward reunification program -- Father applied for order that daughter attend residential program -- Application dismissed -- Father was kind and loving, there were no safety concerns -- Father was understandably distressed at situation -- There was no evidence that mother was alienating daughter from father, she was not unwilling to facilitate parenting time between daughter and father, and evidence showed that mother had made considerable efforts to reunite father and daughter without success -- Number of counsellors had tried to assist in reunification between father and daughter with little or no success -- Daughter was intelligent young woman and she had made it clear she did not want to see father at this time -- There was no objective reason as to why daughter did not want to see father -- There was insufficient information that order forcing daughter to attend residential program would be successful, given that years of counselling had not solved problem between father and daughter -- There was ample evidence that daughter would resist going to program -- Forcing daughter to attend program did not protect daughter’s psychological and emotional safety, security and well-being -- While not ideal, in circumstances it was in daughter’s best interests to take wait and see approach, and she was not ordered to attend residential program.