“Rule 24 (1) of the Family Law Rules creates a presumption that a successful party is entitled to the costs of a motion, enforcement, case or appeal. This presumption applies equally to custody and access issues. See Mattina supra at paragraph 12.
As such, “success” is the starting point in determining a costs award. See Sims-Howarth v. Bilcliffe, 2000 ONSC 22584 at paragraph 1.
In assessing the success of a party, the court looks to the positions taken by the parties at trial, see Berta v. Berta, 2015 ONCA 918 at paragraph 102 as well as to the offers to settle exchanged by the parties as compared with the terms of the final order see Lawson v. Lawson 2008 CanLII 23496 (ON SC), [2008] O.J. No. 1978 and Smith-Howarth v. Bilcliff supra at paragraph 9.
Where there are a number of issues before the court, it can have regards to the dominant issue at trial see Firth v. Allerton, [2013] O.J. No 3992 and Mondino v. Mondino, 2014 ONSC 1102. Success may also be determined on an issue by issue basis. However, not all issues bear equal weight in determining success. See Jackson v. Mayerle, 2016 ONSC 1556.”