I became exhausted after all the years of ineffectual attempts to have my case heard by a judge, I began to breakdown.
Lawyer #3 exposed hidden income and told me that my experience amounted to a Travesty of Justice.
During these years I emailed and phoned the mediator to try to find a way out of this Agreement.
As per the Judge's recommendation, I consulted and hired two lawyers at a cost of $10,000 in the hope that one of them could see a way through this Agreement and help me get out of it.
Lawyer # 3 and I had one court appearance. I was hopeful.
Negotiations for support. Ex-partner misrepresented his income on his 2003 Affidavit, and I was induced to sign a Waiver forgoing spousal support in exchange for $10,000.
Having spent many thousands of dollars on ineffective lawyers, I attempted self-representation. Ex-partner's lawyer thwarted my attempts by threatening to charge me with Contempt of Court.
My attempt to enforce child support payments with The Family Responsibility Office, the government branch responsible for recovering support.
A Mediation/Arbitration Agreement resulted from these sessions, drafted by ex-partner's lawyer, giving her complete control over the contents. Despite my lawyer's claim that he had made improvements to the Agreement, I would soon learn that it was biased toward ex-partner and I would become trapped by it for years.
I filed a complaint with the Canadian Judicial Council against the lawyer who had become a Judge. Another road to nowhere. The CJC could not help since the lawyer I was complaining about had not been a Judge at the time of my allegation against her. Therefore, the CJC had no jurisdiction regarding behaviour which had occurred while she was a lawyer.
I filed a complaint for obstruction of justice against ex-partner's lawyer since she had prevented me from obtaining a new Court Order when I attempted to self-represent. In the months between the time I made my complaint to the LSO and received its reply, ex-partner's lawyer had been appointed to the Superior Court of Justice. She is now a Judge, so no longer under the jurisdiction of the LSO. My file has been closed.
In 2016 having lost my job, my home, and my financial solvency, I moved out of the province to save my own life.
New arrears in child support had accrued since 2008 to approximtely $67,000 so I tried going to court again, this time with lawyer #6.
On-going mandated mediation at a cost of $2,000 per hour soon proved useless since ex-partner refused to comply with the Agreement at all.
Our case was swiftly diverted out of court and into mediation by ex-partner's lawyer. My lawyer (lawyer #3) followed her recommendation despite my protests against mediation.
Ex-partner violated two Court Orders by not providing me with yearly income information as required. Without updated income information, I was unaware that he had begun to receive trust income just after I was induced to sign the waiver forgoing spousal support in 2003.
The early years. Settling into our new apartment and our new life, just the three of us.
Women in Crisis finds us a government subsidized apartment in a housing co-op.
Lawyer # 1 files an Emergency Motion for the baby's return. It took ten days for the court date to arrive. Every day I phoned ex-partner and begged him to return the baby to me. He refused.