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An Ontario man has effectively been barred from his matrimonial home after a family law judge found that he was not taking the risks that COVID-19 posed to his children seriously enough.

The case, heard March 31 by Justice Adriana Doyle of the family division of the Ottawa Superior Court of Justice, involved a couple that separated in August 2018 and subsequently implemented a parenting arrangement known as “nesting,” in which the adults rotated in and out of the house on an alternate-week basis, while the three children maintained their residence without disruption.

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Following the development of the COVID-19 pandemic, however, the parties suspended the nesting arrangement and both parents remained in the home with the children, aged 11, 13 and 17.

Two of the children suffer from asthma. The mother is on long-term disability, having been diagnosed with myriad health issues including lupus, Sjorgren’s syndrome, fibromyalgia and asthma. Given her compromised immune system, on March 27, the mother’s physician directed her to “self-isolate as much as possible” and “to avoid possible virus exposure and avoid contact with other people” and “not to leave her home unless absolutely necessary.”