Consent Orders Matter: A $60,000 Lesson in What Happens When You Don't Follow One

Think Carefully Before You Sign Your Consent Order:  Because you have to follow it.

When you negotiate a settlement during a divorce, you may compromise on property, support, parenting or other issues because you want certainty and an end to the litigation. But once that settlement becomes a court order, you cannot simply decide later that you understood the agreement differently or that certain terms no longer work for you.

Dawoud v. Baddar, 2026 ONSC 947 is a good example. (copy and paste in Canlii.org to locate)

The parties had four young children and a contentious separation. The mother alleged family violence. The father denied those allegations, was criminally charged, and the charges were ultimately withdrawn after he entered into a peace bond. He said the charges also resulted in the loss of his employment. The court did not determine the truth of those allegations in this motion.

The parties eventually settled their case with lawyers representing both sides. Their final consent order dealt with parenting, relocation, support and property. The mother was allowed to take her own and the children's personal possessions from the matrimonial home. The father was to keep the remaining household contents, including fixtures, furniture, kitchen appliances, televisions and computers.

Photo by Wang Sheeran on Unsplash

The father paid the mother $60,000 under the settlement.

When the mother moved out, however, the father alleged that she removed far more than the order permitted. She disputed his version of events and said some of the items had been purchased by her family. She also admitted taking a number of things, including a toaster, a television, a bed, a vacuum and a knife set.

The judge found that the consent order was clear. If the mother believed that items purchased by her family were supposed to go with her, that issue should have been negotiated before the settlement became an order. She could not unilaterally decide afterward what she was entitled to take.

Some of the items were particularly significant because they were fixtures, including closet shelving and built-in components. Those were specifically covered by the order.

The father claimed $111,000. He received $60,000.

The father claimed approximately $111,000 for replacement costs, repairs and lost rental income. The judge did not accept the entire claim. Some alleged damage was considered ordinary wear and tear, some estimates were unsupported, and the judge found that the father had an obligation to mitigate his rental losses.

Rather than conduct an item-by-item trial over every piece of furniture, the judge assessed the loss based on the evidence and awarded $60,000.

Justice Nicholson characterized the amount primarily as compensatory damages. Alternatively, he said it could be characterized as a fine or penalty under Rule 1(8) of the Family Law Rules.

The judge described the award as a “hefty penalty” and found that the mother's breach had been wilful and significant.

What about child support?

This part of the decision is important because it is easy to assume that the judge found the father was not paying child support.

He didn't.

The mother raised the father's alleged non-payment of child support, but her cross-motion was not properly scheduled and the judge did not have the necessary financial material before him. He therefore expressly said he could not determine the child support issue.

That allegation remains separate from the mother's breach of the consent order.

The judge also said that the $60,000 judgment could not be set off against child support because child support is the right of the children.

The bigger lesson for women going through divorce

The most useful part of this case isn't the $60,000. It is what the case illustrates about negotiating a consent order in the first place.

When you're exhausted from a high-conflict divorce, it can be tempting to agree to something simply because you want the litigation to end. You may think an unclear detail can be worked out later, or that both sides understand what was really intended. But if there is disagreement about what property belongs to whom, what can be removed from the home, or what a particular clause means, those issues need to be resolved as part of the negotiation. And if the settlement itself doesn't feel fair, that is the time to address it.

Once the agreement becomes a court order, the question changes from “What did we mean?” to “What does the order actually require?”

That is particularly important in a high-conflict divorce, where something that seems minor at the time can become another reason to return to court. The mother may have believed that certain household items were hers to take. The father clearly believed the consent order said otherwise. The judge ultimately agreed with the father's interpretation.

And the consequence was significant.

What this case does demonstrate is that bad behaviour can matter, and sometimes it matters a lot.

The court was not prepared to excuse what it found was a deliberate breach of a final order simply because the parties had a contentious history. The settlement had been negotiated, the parties had legal representation, and the agreement had become a court order. The mother was expected to comply with it.

The $60,000 judgment is therefore a striking reminder that the end of a negotiation is not necessarily the end of the legal consequences. What you agree to matters. What the order actually says matters. And what you do after the order is made can matter too.

Lesson learned.  A tough, expensive lesson.