For couples without children, their pet often fills a similar role. They think of the pet as a member of the family. Some couples will also get a pet first, such as a dog or a cat, as a way to prepare for the future responsibility of having children.
When these couples go through a divorce, then, deciding what happens to the pet can sometimes become a point of contention. Both people may still want to be involved with the pet, take care of it and live with it, even after the marriage ends. They may even believe that they need to set up some sort of parenting plan or a pet custody plan. But is that really what happens?
Pets are property
Legally speaking, your pet is just a piece of personal property that you own. It is not a member of the family. There are no custody rights to consider, and the court is not going to set up a parenting plan the way that it would for children.
What this means is that some couples can come up with a plan to share the pet on their own. If they both agree to this plan, there is nothing stopping them from doing so.
But if they are in conflict and they go to the court, the court will simply send the pet through property division with all of the other assets that the couple has purchased. If the couple paid a few thousand dollars for a specific breed of dog, for example, one person may be given the pet while the other is given home furnishings with a similar value. They may not see this as a satisfactory resolution, but because the financial values are similar, it does satisfy property division laws.
If you and your spouse are going through a divorce and you are running into these types of complications, it is very important to understand all of your legal rights and the steps you can take to seek a resolution.