Divorce can be a difficult time in life. Debts are divided, time with the children is split and assets - including many precious keepsakes - are distributed. But one often emotional issue can be a factor in the divorce as well: Who gets the family dog or cat? Many of us have emotional attachments to the family’s four-legged companion, often as strong as with our children! How does the law treat the family pet in the event of a divorce?
It is important to remove one misconception: The family pet is not treated like a child. There is no such thing as ‘custody’ of a pet, nor shared decision-making between spouses, and certainly no monthly obligation similar to child support. Under Florida law pets are treated as personal property, similar to a table or a retirement account. The same is true for horses, cattle, chickens and other animals in the marital estate. And, like all personal property in a divorce case, the family pet is subject to the law that controls the division of all marital assets and debts - the Florida Equitable Distribution Statute, Chapter 61.075, F.S.
This statue requires judges to perform four tasks when deciding how to divide the marital assets: Identify the marital assets, classify them as marital or non-marital, value the assets, and then distribute the value of the between the parties. Family pets are included in the marital assets, so the judge has to see if the pet was acquired during the marriage and what is the current value of the animal when the divorce case began.
Finally, the judge must decide which spouse gets the family pet.
Do we need to think about the children and their relationship to the pet? This is a difficult question where the spouses are fighting over who should have the pet. Often, the parents will say that the pet is extremely important to the children and since the children will spend the most time with one parent or the other, that should ‘tips the scales’ in favor of one spouse or the other having possession of the pet. This is not conclusive, however.
So, what is the best solution to this often emotional question? The husband and wife, father and mother, should put the best interest of the children first and foremost. Timesharing schedules for the children may serve as a good template for sharing the pet as well. The pet can travel to the parent having timesharing with the children. The children will be happier, the companion pet will be happier, and this may be a good way to open a path to settling other issues in the case as well.