December 13, 2019 – Striking Pleadings At a Conference?

“The express purpose of the Family Law Rules is to ensure fairness, save time and expense, and give appropriate resources to the case (while allocating resources to other cases), in order to manage the case, control the process, ensure timelines are kept, and orders are enforced. As clearly stipulated in subrules 1(7.1)(8) and (8.1), an order, including an order to strike pleadings, can be made at any time in the process, including the settlement conference, to promote these overarching purposes. In this way, any order that promotes the overall objectives of the rules may be made at any time, including at a settlement conference.”

Burke v. Poitras, 2018 ONCA 1025 (CanLII) at 7.