“Legislation, jurisprudence and the practice of family law have evolved over the last decades in an attempt to eradicate allegations of marital misconduct unrelated to financial consequences. Fault grounds for divorce are rarely used, having been replaced, in practice, with separation grounds. This approach recognizes that family litigation has the potential to leave families worse at the end of the case than they were at the beginning. It recognizes that resolution is the preferred outcome. Inflammatory allegations impede resolution.
The statements about the husband’s conduct are inflammatory. They are – in my view – there to provide a springboard to question the husband about his extra-marital conduct, not about his net family property. As Blair J.A. said in Serra v. Serra, 2009 ONCA 105(CanLII), 93 O.R. (3d) 161, at para. 58, it is the financial consequence of the conduct that is relevant, not the conduct itself. Extended questioning of the husband’s conduct (as described in paragraph 30) that is unrelated to financial consequences would be inflammatory, a nuisance and a waste of time.”