A British Columbia man was forced by a court to pay monthly child support to his ex’s three children, even though their biological father allegedly tried to burn him by dousing him with lighter fluid early in their relationship.
British Columbia real estate agent John Dacry McLeod will have to pay $4,362 per month in child support, as well as a retroactive amount of $130,000, to support the three children of his ex with whom he allegedly had a “relationship.” volatile and recurring” for more than seven years, ruled the Supreme Court in its decision reported Monday by the “Vancouver Sun”.
Except that at the start of their relationship, the father of the three children, whose identity was not revealed in the court document, allegedly attacked him before pouring lighter fluid on him, with “the apparent intention to set it on fire,” we can read.
But that was not enough to slow down the court’s decision, which had to decide whether the relationship between the man and his former partner, Laurissa Anne Code, amounted to a “marriage-like” arrangement or not. , indicated the English media.
Indeed, if this is the case, alimony can be paid for the three children, now aged 18, 15 and 12, since the stepparents can be held responsible for the children according to the law, specified the “Vancouver Sun”.
If it was clear to the court that the couple would have shared their daily life in a manner similar to a marital relationship between 2017 and 2020, the two lovebirds separated between spring 2016 and November 2017.
“The question is whether the relationship has been sufficiently interrupted in the meantime so that we can rightly speak of separation,” the court document said, according to the English-speaking media, adding that they would have continued to have “regularly” intimate relationships.
According to colleagues, who reportedly testified in court, “everyone knew they were a couple, they lived together, came to the office together, took family vacations together,” noted the “Vancouver Sun.”
“There is not sufficient evidence of a definitive nature to constitute a separation,” judge Nathan Smith ruled in the court document, forcing the ex-stepfather to pay the significant amount for the three children. .