Order for parental visit at Turkish resort unusual and concerning

By Tony Poland, LegalMatters Staff • A recent family court judgment ordering a Canadian mother to take her daughter to Turkey for a month so the child can visit her Russian father leaves questions and concerns, says Toronto family lawyer A. Julia P. Tremain.

Last month, Justice Julie Audet granted a wealthy father’s request to have in-person parenting time with his two-year-old daughter at a world-class resort. The order was accompanied by “stringent conditions.” 

However, Tremain, a partner with Waddell Phillips Professional Corporation, says she is concerned about what would happen if the child is abducted. As well, the mother has alleged that she fled the relationship because he had been physically abusive.

“It certainly raises questions about what might happen,” she tells LegalMattersCanada.ca. “It is very concerning as the mother must spend an entire month within walking distance of someone she is alleging abused her. That is hugely problematic.

‘Not sure what remedy the mother would have’

“It’s a very thorough judgment and the conditions are very detailed,” Tremain adds. “The judge made the consequences clear, but if that child was taken to another country, especially one with no extradition treaty with Canada, I am not sure what remedy the mother would have at that point. 

She says it is a unique situation.

“It’s a very unusual judgment. I do not know that I have never seen one quite like that. There are times where children don’t see a parent for a significant period of time and these orders come up,” says Tremain, who was not involved with the case and comments generally. “But rarely do judges make this kind of order. I suppose it’s because the father has the financial wherewithal to afford a luxury resort in Turkey. Most people don’t have the resources to even suggest a plan like this.”

The estranged couple met in New York where she was working as an international model, court was told. They lived together for six years in South Africa, Germany, Turkey and, most recently Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Court heard their child was born in Munich, Germany in 2018. They were living in Dubai when the mother and daughter fled surreptitiously last December without the father’s consent and went to Ottawa, the mother’s birthplace. 

The woman alleges her former partner “was abusive towards her, including financially and emotionally, and that on the day she left Dubai with the child, the father had brutally beaten her, dragging her along a dirt road in a remote resort outside of Dubai following an altercation between her and the father’s adult daughter.” The man has denied the allegations.

The father applied to Ontario court to have the child returned to Dubai, arguing she was wrongfully removed and is being wrongfully detained in Canada, pursuant to s. 40 of the Children’s Law Reform Act, R.S.O. 1990.

Father entitled to in-person parenting time

The trial was set for last March but adjourned to June. The court granted another delay until October on the condition that the father receives in-person parenting time.

“By that time, he hadn’t seen his daughter since December 2020,” says Tremain “That is a long time., especially at that age because it is almost half of the child’s life. I can understand the judge thinking it was important for her to see her father.”

The mother proposed a plan to allow supervised visitation in Ottawa.

“The mother states that the father has limitless financial means, that he has countless international connections and she is frightened that, if allowed to have unsupervised access with (the child) in Ontario, let alone anywhere else in the world, the father will abduct (her) and she will never see her again,” Audet writes in her judgment.

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However, the man told court he has been unable to secure a visa to visit Canada, and wanted to meet in Turkey.

“I just wonder if there were other options that could have been explored,” Tremain says. “Why couldn’t they wait to see if he received a visa in Canada? Traveling to the United States is an option. Something other than going to Turkey.”

The court notes that the mother has “exhausted all her financial resources, and her parents have exhausted all of their credit.”

“The mother states that the father is a billionaire, as demonstrated by the lavish lifestyle that she had access to while living with him,” writes Audet. “She points to the army of lawyers and experts that he amassed to prosecute the most aggressive legal battle in this proceeding. She says that the father has endless financial resources and endless power and that he has proven at every step of the way that he will stop at nothing, and take the most extreme positions, all to punish her for leaving him.”

Plan would see father paying all the travel expenses

In the end, the court settled on a plan that will see the international businessman pay all expenses for his estranged wife, a family member to accompany her, and his daughter. 

The man must surrender $200,000 as security for the child’s safe return to Canada. Prior to the child’s departure to the resort, he must also deposit all of his valid passports and any of his child’s travel documents that may be in his possession with the Canadian embassy in Turkey.

As well, the father is restricted from applying for citizenship documents, birth certificates, social insurance cards or any travel-related documents for the child unless under Audet’s order.

But while the court tried to anticipate every contingency, Tremain says she understands why the mother would have grave concerns with the arrangement. 

“One concern would be that if he did manage to flee with the child, he’d give up some money, there would be orders that would come into place but perhaps he would be okay with that,” she says. “I also didn’t get any indication that the court gave much consideration to the extradition treaties between Canada, the UAE, or Russia, where the father is from. If he did abscond with the child, the problem is what remedy would the mother have? If he’s in a country that does not have an extradition treaty with Canada, she may never see her child again.

“There is a huge financial imbalance here. He’s got a lot of assets and it appears she doesn’t,” Tremain adds. 

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