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There had been a growing trend, in Ontario, in household and divorce law, more than the last few years, for family members courts to order joint custody of youngsters. The hope, by some, was that the parenting abilities of the parties could be enhanced with awards of joint custody. The current Ontario Court of Appeal choice of Kaplanis v. Kaplanis, has tried to put this trend into perspective.

In this decision, the parties had been married in 1998 and separated in January 2002. The parties had a daughter who was born in October 2001. At trial, the father requested joint custody and the mother opposed the application, stating that the parties could not communicate with no screaming at every single other. The trial judge granted the parties joint custody and the mother appealed the order. The appeal court set aside the order of joint custody and the mother was granted sole custody.

The Appeal Court held that, for an award of joint custody to be granted, there must be some evidence that demonstrates, that regardless of the parents personal strong conflict with each other, the parties can and have cooperated and communicated appropriately with one an additional. In this case there was evidence to the contrary, there was no specialist evidence to assist the trial judge establish how a joint custody order would advance the childs emotional and psychological needs and the child was also young to communicate her own wishes.

Roughly the very same time this case was decided, the Ontario Court of Appeal also ruled on the case of Ladisa v. Ladisa, exactly where the appeal court upheld the trial judges order of joint custody. In this case the trial judge had the benefit of hearing the evidence of the Childrens Lawyer who presented the childrens wishes and who advised joint custody. It was held that the trial judge had heard evidence from third parties with respect to cooperation and appropriate communication in between the parties. The trial judge also looked at the history of co-parenting in the course of the marriage and that in spite of their intense conflict, the parties could and had effectively communicated with every other and placed the interests of their young children ahead their own, when needed.

To summarize, in Ontario joint custody circumstances, it would appear that the courts will now be searching more closely for evidence from third party and professional witnesses, which can demonstrate that the parties can and have cooperated and communicated appropriately and have been able to put aside their personal differences and conflict, for the benefit of the young children. The lack of historical cooperation and proper communication in between the parties will drastically limit the success of a joint custody application. The assumption by some, that the granting of joint custody will boost the parenting abilities of the parties, will not be a adequate reason on its own to grant joint custody, in the absence of existing very good cooperation and communication among the parties. immigration lawyer kansas child custody attorney manhattan ks immigration lawyer manhattan ks