Important Case Law — Review of Spousal Support
Leskun v. Leskun, [2006] 1 S.C.R. 920,
http://www.canlii.org/en/ca/scc/doc/2006/2006scc25/2006scc25.html
In Leskun , the Supreme Court distinguished between reviewing spousal support and varying spousal support.
In the case that an order for spousal support allows the amount and/or entitlement of spousal support to be reviewed, unlike an application to vary spousal support, the Applicant payor is not required to prove that there has been a material change in circumstance. The Supreme Court of Canada stressed that review orders under section 15.2 of the Act are to be used in instances where, at the time the order is made, “one or both parties…may not, as yet, have the economic wherewithal even to commence recovering from the disadvantages arising from the marriage and its breakdown” (para. 36).
Effectively, review orders, according to Leskun, are for situations where, at the time the order is made, there is some sort of uncertainty with respect to the ability of one or both parties to recover economically from the marriage breakdown, and thus there is uncertainty with respect to whether spousal maintenance should be continued after a certain period of time, and if so, in what amount.