The Minister of Justice has announced she will reconsider the majority decision in M.M. v. United States of America, 2015 SCC 62 dismissing a mother’s appeal of committal and surrender orders extraditing her to face prosecution in the state of Georgia for interstate interference with the father’s sole custody order. The appellant’s three children ran away from their abusive father and were found in a battered women’s shelter in Quebec with their mother, who had been denied visitation and contact rights to the children by the Georgia court. The majority found that the former Minister had applied the correct legal principles (including giving serious consideration to the best interests of the children) and weighed them with the other relevant considerations in concluding that the appellant’s surrender would not be unjust or oppressive. The court was divided on several issues, including the application of the best interests test, which the majority discusses at paras. 141-168 and the minority from para. 260.

The appeal court considers a number of issues related to support of adult children in Winstanley v Winstanley, 2016 MBCA 17, including the relevancy of factors such as unilateral termination of the child/parent relationship and the reasonableness of the child’s education plan. Ultimately the court found that the motion judge erred in certain findings concerning the character of the grant portion of the child’s student loan, and granted the father’s appeal only to the extent of ordering that the post-secondary education fees to which he must contribute be reduced by $2,000 to take into account the non-repayable grant money.

In Morscheck v. Morscheck, 2016 MBQB 19, the court imputed minimum wage income to a wife who had taken no discernible steps towards economic self-sufficiency during the parties’ nine year separation and who failed to establish any evidence of her claimed disability. An increase in spousal support was ordered, however, given the court’s findings concerning her needs and the husband’s ability to pay.

Despite an earlier decision (affirmed on appeal) declining to charge the estate of a dying woman with payment of ongoing child support, the court found in McAuley v. Genaille, 2015 MBQB 197 that the child was a dependant in need under The Dependants Relief Act and ordered his mother’s estate to advance a monthly amount for his support to the father until age 18, conditional on repayment without interest from a bequest (providing it vests at age 21). The court also ordered the estate to pay a further sum of $50,000 to the Public Guardian, to compensate for the fact that an insurer had denied coverage under a policy meant to benefit the child.

Cottyn v. Anderson, 2016 MBQB 15 – the Master issued interim reasons in this convoluted family property reference ordering that the respondent’s wife be added as a party given her interest as a joint tenant in the real property subject to the accounting. As noted by the court, the respondent’s double life (with two women claiming to be his partner over the same, lengthy, period of time), was a living arrangement “outside the foresight” of the drafters of the current family law legislation. Faurschou v. Faurschou, 2016 MBQB 12 – the court considers the shareability of the husband’s interest in gifted and inherited shares in his parents’ farm corporation. Among other things, the court looks at whether a butterfly transaction done for tax purposes nullified the inheritance (it did not), and at the effect of comingling holding company funds in a bank account shared with the parties’ other company (the court found that the bank records were clear and there was no “hopeless intermingling” of funds). Kostas v. Vandermeulen, 2015 MBQB 212 – a self-represented applicant was unsuccessful in his bid to set aside a domestic violence protection order obtained by a former girlfriend. Although there was no evidence of physical harm, the court found the applicant’s behaviour constituted emotional and psychological abuse. Chopek v. McKenzie, 2015 MBQB 207 – the court granted a mother’s ISO application to retroactively vary the child support provisions of a 2014 consent variation order allowing the mother to move to BC with the child. By agreement, the father had been paying significantly less than Table support so that he would be able to visit the child in BC, but he had made no effort to see or contact the child since the move. The court found that “presumptively he should be paying the prescribed amount of Manitoba Table child support.” He was also ordered to provide annual financial disclosure.

In Force The Intimate Image Protection Act, S.M. 2015, c. 42, was proclaimed in force effective January 15, 2016. As noted in the explanatory note to Bill 38, it creates a new tort of non-consensual distribution of intimate images. This will allow a person whose intimate image was distributed without consent to sue the person who distributed the image. Parts of The Vital Statistics Amendment Act, S.M. 2014, c. 22 (concerning applications for change of sex designation certificates and applications to change sex designation on marriage registrations), were proclaimed and will come into force March 1, 2016. Bills The following family law related bills are currently before the legislature: Bill 8, The Employment Standards Code Amendment Act (Leave for Victims of Domestic Violence, Leave for Serious Injury or Illness and Extension of Compassionate Care Leave) was introduced November 25, 2015 and received second reading December 3, 2015. It amends The Employment Standards Code to allow employees who are victims of domestic violence to take up to 10 days of leave, as well as a continuous leave period of up to 17 weeks. The proposed legislation is described as innovative and groundbreaking in these blog posts: Victims of domestic violence could get paid leave in Manitoba - FindLaw Canada Manitoba Proposes Domestic Violence Leave - Slaw Bill 11, The Domestic Violence and Stalking Amendment Act, was introduced November 30, 2015 and passed second reading December 1, 2015. It proposes a number of changes to the process for obtaining protection orders and expands the definition of stalking to include use of the Internet to harass or threaten. The proposed changes make it easier for victims of domestic violence to obtain strong protection orders and make mandatory firearms bans part of all orders, according to the government news release. The law would also require the immediate referral of every protection order to federal officials, who would flag existing firearms licences and begin an investigation that would potentially revoke those licences. Bill 15, The Child and Family Services Amendment Act (Recognition of Customary Care of Indigenous Children), introduced December 2, 2015, amends The Child and Family Services Act to provide a legislative basis for supporting the provision of customary care to Indigenous children through agreements and living arrangements. The news release provides further details. Bill 16, The Children’s Advocate Act, expands the mandate of the Children’s Advocate to include providing advocacy services for children receiving or eligible to receive certain publicly funded services. It also gives the Children's Advocate broad discretion to review and investigate a serious injury or death of a child who was receiving certain services. For further information see the explanatory note and news release. Bill 33, The Family Law Reform Act (Putting Children First), introduced last spring, received second reading November 3, 2015. It proposes sweeping changes to Manitoba’s laws governing enforcement of child and spousal support, parentage, child custody and access. The Bill would repeal The Family Maintenance Act and replace it with two separate statutes: The Family Law Act, to address the rights and duties as between family members, and The Family Support Enforcement Act, which will govern support enforcement and the duties of the Maintenance Enforcement Program. The bill also proposes amendments to The Court of Queen’s Bench Act to lay the foundation for the summary, administrative family court process that forms part of the Simplified Family Justice pilot project. Highlights of the bill, detailed in the explanatory note, include: a comprehensive scheme to determine a child's legal parents, including where assisted reproduction has been used; new rules for relocation proposals; a right for children to seek their own child support; and new enforcement measures.

“Unfair” to exempt structured monies from child expense claims – this Law Times article discusses Phelps v Childs, 2015 ONSC 3482, an Ontario case considering whether annual payments from a structured settlement could be considered income for the purposes of calculating spousal support or s.7 expenses. The Vicious Spiral of Self-Representation in Family Law Cases – this Slaw post highlights the need for legislative reform to address the growing access to justice issues in the family law area. Online And Social Media Evidence In Family Law – the authors of this OBA article question whether the decision in R. v. Marshall, 2015 ONCA 518, has created a “duty to Google” and a companion duty to warn clients about the risks of making information available online; and, if so, what ramifications this will have for the professional obligations of family law lawyers. The Family Law Malpractice Claims Fact Sheet – the malpractice fact sheet discussed in this Slaw post provides a snapshot of Ontario claims and a summary of the most effective risk management tips.

The 2016 Annual Joint Family Law program, To Line 150 & Beyond, will be held March 4, 2016, at Fort Garry Place, Winnipeg. The program will focus on key issues associated with income imputation and determination, and will include presentations by noted speakers on retirement and the potpourri of non-recurring sources of income; farming income; self-employed income; interpreting financial statements; and the unemployed and underemployed. Tomorrow is the last day to take advantage of early bird registration.

New Rights, New Obligations: An Introduction to the Family Homes on Reserves and Matrimonial Interests or Rights Act – advanced registration is required to attend either of the two remaining sessions of this free program on the new Family Homes on Reserves and Matrimonial Interests or Rights Act. The programs will be held in Portage la Prairie (on February 26, 2016) and Brandon (on March 16, 2015). Presenters will cover both substantive information about the Family Homes on Reserves and Matrimonial Interests or Rights Act, as well as practical information you will need to know when making applications under the Act. Working with Domestic Violence Clients – learn practical strategies for working with clients who have experienced domestic violence at this half-day workshop to be held February 26, 2016 in Portage la Prairie, Manitoba. Self-Represented Litigants and the Family Law File – self-represented litigants present particular challenges in the family law context. Justice Michael Thomson and several experienced counsel will provide practical advice and tips for dealing with SRLs at this lunch program on April 20, 2016. Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction for Lawyers – Stress is an inevitable part of the practice of law and it can lead to anxiety and behaviours that are counter-productive. Learn how to target the mind-body impact of stress at this February 29, 2016 lunch meeting, to be held in the Law Society classroom.

For the Sake of the Children - Condensed Version for Lawyers – the MBA’s Family Law section is hosting this lunch hour program at the Law Society classroom on February 26, 2016. Kathy Balagus, from Family Conciliation Service, will summarize the contents of For the Sake of the Children, the mandatory attendance program for clients requesting custody, access or private guardianship.