BACKGROUND

The mother filed an Application seeking parenting orders, child support for the parties’ two teenage children, and a Restraining Order. The father disputed all the mother's claims and sought sole decision-making responsibility in his Answer. The mother served and filed her Reply, which included extensive Exhibit evidence such as screenshots of text exchanges, e-transfers, court documents from other proceedings, receipts, and photographs of the children.

THE LAW AND ANALYSIS

Subrule 1 (8.2) of the Family Law Rules permits the court to strike out all or part of any document that may delay or make it difficult to have a fair trial or that is inflammatory, a waste of time, a nuisance or an abuse of the court process. This applies to Applications, Answers, and Replies, as established in Frick v Frick (2016 ONCA 799) [Frick].

In Frick, the court sets out that in a Form 8 Application, the party is required to set out the details of the orders sought and the important facts supporting their claims. The form does not require that all the material facts relied on be set out because a party will often not know, at that time, all the facts supporting a claim.

Similarly, the Form 10A Reply sets out that the party should provide the following information:

a) The claims in the other party's Answer/Claim they agree to.

b) The claims they do not agree to.

c) The important facts supporting their position.

The Form 8 Application, the Form 10 Answer/Claim and the Form 10A Reply do not include provisions for a party to file evidence. The court in this case noted: “The Application, Answer/Claim and Reply define the issues in the case and they inform the other party of the case they need to meet. They are not vehicles to provide evidence to the court [emphasis added].”

In this case, the court found that the mother’s Reply improperly included extensive evidence, violating subrule 1(8.2). Because the evidence was so intertwined with the document, it could not be easily removed. As a result, the court struck the entire Reply and allowed the mother to refile it in proper form.

This decision reinforces a key principle: Applications, Answers/Claims, and Replies must not contain evidence.