The Applicant, Ms. Popp, sought to relocate with her child to Illinois, a move opposed by the Respondent, Mr. Zack. The Alberta Court of King’s Bench denied the Ms. Popp's relocation request, citing, among other things, a shared parenting arrangement that had been in place since 2019.

Ms. Popp applied pursuant to Rule 14.47(b)(ii) to restore her Appeal, which was struck when she failed to file the required documents within the required time limit. When Ms. Popp later failed to take the necessary steps to have her application to restore the Appeal heard within three months of it being struck, her Appeal was deemed abandoned pursuant to Rule 14.65
(an Appeal from such a decision is classified as a “fast track appeal” because of its child centred nature).

Crighton J.A. analyzed the Applicant's failure to comply with procedural requirements and the reasons provided for these failures, which were mainly personal in nature, such as various health issues and financial concerns. It was found that “[w]hile procedure will rarely override the best interests of children”, it was the continuation of this prolonged litigation that most profoundly impacted the child as it sought to disturb the parenting regime the parties had followed for the last five years. The Court concluded that allowing this Appeal to proceed after repeated failures to meet the required deadlines, undermined both certainty and finality; as such, Ms. Popp’s Application was dismissed.