At first instance, the Plaintiff was awarded child support arrears in the sum of $4,540. The Plaintiff appealed, arguing that the arrears award should have included RESP entitlements and total $24,073. However, the Plaintiff had not applied for permission to Appeal, contrary to Rule 14.5(1)(g) which requires permission for “any decision in a matter where the controversy in the appeal can be estimated in money and does not exceed the sum of $25,000 exclusive of costs.”

As the parties were prepared to argue the Appeal, the Court heard submissions prior to deciding whether to grant permission to Appeal notwithstanding the lack of a prior Application. The Respondent argued that the allocation of RESP monies had not yet been determined by Application to the Court of Queen’s Bench. The Court agreed. As such, the Court found that this was not the proper case to allow a belated Application to seek permission to Appeal, and dismissed the Appeal for lack of jurisdiction.