Jeff Melanson and Eleanor McCain in New York on May 1, 2014.
A judge has ordered heiress Eleanor McCain to help her estranged husband pay his lawyers in the acrimonious legal battle to annul their brief marriage.
"It is clear that he cannot afford to pay his legal fees," Justice Carolyn Horkins of the Ontario Superior Court wrote in a decision released Thursday that ordered Ms. McCain to pay $125,000 in interim costs to the high-profile arts administrator Jeff Melanson.
Justice Horkins said the $125,000 advance eventually should be either credited against any claim Mr. Melanson would get from his $5-million marriage contract with Ms. McCain, or reimbursed if the court finds that he is not entitled to that sum.
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The judge also said both parties had to reach a settlement by the end of the year.
Mr. Melanson had argued in his applications that his former wife, who had at least five lawyers representing her, had "embarked on a vindictive path" against him by dragging out costly court procedures.
"Active management is required to ensure that this case proceeds in a just and timely manner," Justice Horkins wrote.
She rejected the arguments by Ms. McCain's lawyers that Mr. Melanson didn't deserve to have his legal costs covered because he "went on a spending spree" since the court case began, travelling extensively, including to California, Yukon and British Columbia.
The judge noted that Mr. Melanson had to resign from his position as CEO of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra because of the publicity surrounding his marital dispute, and as a result had to sell his condo for $1-million, for a $110,000 profit, and tap into his line of credit.
"There is no doubt the respondent is unemployed," the decision said. "In my view, it was reasonable, given the respondent's nature of employment for him to travel and actively look for employment across North America and to attend at speaking and board commitments."
The travel portion of his credit-card expenses decreased from $92,858 in 2015 to $53,232 last year, court heard.
Ms. McCain, a professional singer and daughter of the late billionaire Wallace McCain, and Mr. Melanson, who has worked at the National Ballet School and the Banff Centre before his post at the TSO, married in the spring of 2014.
After nine months, the couple split in January, 2015. That spring, Ms. McCain applied for an annulment, in an application that alleged that Mr. Melanson was a philanderer with a history of harassment, behind-the-scenes abuses and administrative problems.
"She seeks to blacken my reputation and ruin me financially," Mr. Melanson replied in a court filing. He hired as his lawyer Harold Niman, who had represented the ex-wives in the divorces of Ms. McCain's brothers Michael and Scott.
Ms. McCain unsuccessfully tried to get Mr. Niman disqualified. Mr. Melanson said the move forced him to spend $144,000 for a lawyer to represent Mr. Niman.
Arguments in the case show that when the two married, Ms. McCain had a net worth of more than $365-million, with a yearly income of $4.25-million in tax-free capital dividends.
At the time, in 2013, Mr. Melanson had a $400,000 annual income but was in debt and had a negative net worth.
They signed a marriage agreement where Ms. McCain agreed to pay Mr. Melanson a lump sum of $5-million if their union broke down.
The court heard that Mr. Melanson has incorporated a consulting company but has not earned any income from it. The publicity surrounding his court case has made him a less attractive candidate for jobs, he said.
According to Justice Horkins's decision, Mr. Melanson has $205 in his chequing account and a zero balance in his savings account, his only significant asset being his registered retirement savings plan.
He had already paid his lawyer $44,814 but still owed Mr. Niman about $20,000.
Tu Thanh Ha