Story Archive

Won the Battle, Lost the War

“How did this happen?” demanded Ontario (Canada) Superior Court Justice Alex Pazaratz. The judge was upset at a divorced Toronto couple who spent $500,000 (US$383,000) in legal fees in a child custody fight. Judge Pazaratz noted that before the case started, the father had begged his ex-wife by email to just “be reasonable” and let him see their daughter, rather than spend $40,000 or $50,000 on lawyers “only to have a judge tell us something we could arrange ourselves.” She apparently ignored that suggestion, instead “poisoning” the girl against her father, and “manipulating and falsifying evidence” against him, the judge said, leading to a 36-day trial. “No matter what costs order I make, the financial ruin cannot be undone,” Pazaratz lamented when it was over. “They’ll never recover. Their eight-year-old daughter’s future has been squandered.” He gave full custody to the father, and ordered the mother to pay $192,000 of his legal costs. “Nasty doesn’t work,” the judge concluded. “Withholding the child doesn’t work. Sarcastic emails don’t work. Bad-mouthing the other parent doesn’t work.” (RC/Toronto Sun) ...You know what works? Putting the kids first.