My client was a matron in her forties of wan and dispirited mien. Her husband had left her and their three teenage sons. The husband graciously conveyed the substantial house in east Oakville to her but balked at paying her support. She was left to manage on her modest salary as a sales clerk at a shoe store.

I brought an action for support on her behalf and the husband pleaded that his financial plight was so stressing that he could not pay. His business had been dependent on a single customer whose business he lost when financial control of the customer's company changed hands. He then purchased a small light industrial property on Speers Road in Oakville and tried to rebuild his business.

At the examination for discovery, I questioned him about the financial statement which he produced. It showed losses for the previous two years and I didn't see much chance to squeeze any money out of the business. Before passing to the next asset, I casually asked whether the company still owned the property, because I knew that property values were rising in the area. He turned to his counsel, Fred Leitch, Q.C. and said, "He wasn't supposed to ask that question," to which Fred replied, "I warned you that he might. You have to answer it." It turned out that he had just sold the property at a handsome profit.

It also turned out that he had made another tidy profit from the sale of a house which he had purchased since the separation. With all of these spoils he had purchased a larger sailing boat and taken on a younger mate. I also heard from reliable sources that he was about to sail out of Oakville harbour for the Spanish Main and that he had vowed that he was not going to work his ass off so his former wife could sit around on hers.

Prior to his departure, the case came on for trial and a suitable order for continuing maintenance was made and for several months, the buccaneer kept up all the payments. However, I feared that once he set sail from Oakville and reached the Spanish Main, he would no longer continue to pay the support. With this apprehension I brought an application for an injunction to stop him from sailing away into the wild blue yonder. I appeared before the County Court Judge and argued that the buccaneer shouldn't be allowed to get away with this. All of us would like to do it and if he could get away, then we should all be able to. I had not yet heard of anticipatory remedies nor had the judge and he declined to grant an order for injunction because, as of the date, the husband was not in default.

Sure enough, once the husband was out of the jurisdiction, the support payments stopped. I learned later that he had set up in the yacht charter business on an island, I think it was Tortola, that historic den of pirates. I offered my services to the client to go there that winter assuring her that I could get an order to pin to the mast of his yacht. To my disappointment she declined to pay my air fare or fee and I never got to go to the Spanish Main.

Exert from Rambling Tales of a Country Lawyer (1990)
By Peter K. McWilliams