What constitutes “substantial success” in a family law case?

It is often difficult to assess which party has achieved substantial success in a family law case. In Fotheringham v. Fotheringham, 2001 BCSC 1321, Bouck J. held that “[s]ubstantial success is measured objectively taking into account all the matters in dispute, their weight or importance to the parties and the parties’ relative success or failure with respect to those matters.” He set out a “rule of thumb”, that substantial success occurs when a party succeeds on 75% of the matters in dispute, considered globally.