JFCY intervened in the appeal of CMM v. DGC which deals with the question of whether a minor applying to court for child support against their parent(s) should be required to have a litigation guardian. This case is very important to JFCY, as we regularly represents minors suing for support, and the large majority of these young people would have not have access to a litigation guardian.
The Court held that there is no basis for the general proposition that a child must have a litigation guardian in order to pursue her claim for child support from her parent(s) (para 27). In their findings, the Court noted that, “there is a legitimate concern that the requirement that a child must always have a litigation guardian in such matters may effectively disenfranchise many children from the very relief that the Family Law Act accords to them” (para 24).
The result is that the 16 year-old who started an application for support against her father in Superior Court (when she was a 14 year-old) is allowed to continue without a litigation guardian and is able to directly instruct her counsel of choice. Decision citation: CMM v DGC 2015 ONSC 2447
