510
edits
Changes
→Changing orders under the Divorce Act
The same approach applies to applications to change parenting orders and contact orders under the new ''Divorce Act''.
When that preliminary test is met, the court will think about the parenting order or contact order that is in the best interests of the child as if the parenting order or contact order is being made for the first time. In Gordon v Goertz, the court also said that when:
<blockquote>[17] The threshold condition of a material change in circumstance satisfied, the court should consider the matter afresh without defaulting to the existing arrangement. The earlier conclusion that the custodial parent was the best person to have custody is no longer determinative, since the existence of material change presupposes that the terms of the earlier order might have been different had the change been known at the time. The judge on the variation application must consider the findings of fact made by the first judge as well as the evidence of changed circumstances to decide what custody arrangement now accords with the best interests of the child. The threshold of material change met, it is an error for the judge on a variation application simply to defer to the views of the judge who made the earlier order. The judge on the variation application must consider the matter anew, in the circumstances that presently exist.</blockquote>