Fighting for Pet Custody in Court

Fighting for Pet Custody in Court

Divorce is not pretty. We’ve all heard the heart-wrenching stories of custody battles over children, but less commonly talked about are the fights over who will keep the family pet. More and more couples are ending up in court, battling over their pets. According to the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, 27% of the lawyers they surveyed noticed an uptick in the numbers of couples fighting over pet custody in the previous five years. Dogs seemed to ignite the most conflict, as 88% of the court cases involved pups. Cats trailed far behind at 5%; horses were involved in 1% of the cases; and the “other” category, including snakes and more, made up 6%. 

There are many laws that safeguard our children and ensure they get the best care and support in custody decisions. However, protections for pets are non-existent. In divorce agreements, pets are considered to be personal property or a possession, like fine china or a couch, and, typically, the pet ownership would go to the spouse who initially paid for their animal companion. Recently, Alaska, California and Illinois passed legislation to ensure that pets are treated differently than property, and that their well-being gets taken into consideration during the custody battle.