Dogs are a man’s best friend, and often a woman’s best friend too, and those pet relationships can take on an even greater emotional significance during a divorce. Keeping a faithful family dog might be high on the list of desires for either spouse during a divorce, leading to disputes and even one spouse using the pet as leverage against the other in making demands. A 2014 report by the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers (AAML) found that more than a quarter of family law attorneys noticed an increase in disputes over pets in divorces over the years. Which leads to the question of how exactly pets are treated in a divorce: are they like children, subject to custody and visitation rulings, or are they simply considered property?
Pets Are Considered Property, Subject to Property Division Rules
While you may think of your dog or cat as a child, there are complex custody rules relating to children in California and elsewhere, and the law simply does not treat pets, no matter how cherished, as children subject to custody rulings.
Instead, courts view pets as property and they are subject to the same rules relating to division of property between spouses that would apply to any other type of property such as furniture or jewelry. If one spouse acquired the pet prior to the marriage, or if it was given as a gift to one spouse specifically, then the pet will be considered that spouse’s “separate property” and thus will remain that spouse’s property after the divorce.
But when the pet was acquired during the marriage, a California court will likely presume that the pet is “community property” and thus subject to the collective 50/50 split of community property between the spouses. Now before you get images of King Solomon offering to split the family dog in two, what this means is that one spouse will get the pet, and it will be considered part of that spouse’s half of the marital property to be retained following a divorce.
Things to Keep in Mind With Pets and Divorce
As mentioned above, one’s emotional connection to a pet might run high during a divorce, but it is important to keep those emotional issues in check and not let them overtake the practical concerns of making sure you are treated fairly in the divorce.
What this means is that you should avoid letting the other spouse take advantage of your connection with the pet by making extravagant demands, such as offering to let you keep the family cat in exchange for the family vehicle. An experienced family law attorney on your side will not suffer such maneuverings and can fight back for you.
If the spouses cannot agree on who receives what in a divorce, a judge will make that decision and could be persuaded by evidence of who cared for the pet in awarding ownership. Also, note that, while you and your ex-spouse are of course free to set up your own “visitation” arrangement to spend time with the family pet, understand that, unlike a court-ordered visitation schedule for children, a family court will most likely not enforce an agreement regarding pet visitation.
For any questions on divorce law in California, contact the Law Office of Kelley Finan today to schedule a consultation to discuss your circumstances.