Pets are treated in a divorce like any other property. If the parties can’t agree, the court must first determine whether the pet is community property or separate. If the pet is separate property, then the judge has to confirm that in the decree. If, on the other hand, the pet is community property, then the judge can award the pet just as he or she would award real estate or automobiles.

Because most pets do not have a significant monetary value, then it is easy for the court to determine who gets the pet. If the pet is a valuable, award-winning competition animal, then the value of the pet needs to be considered when valuing all of the property to be divided. I once handled a case where there were a lot of goats involved. The regular goats were valued at around $50 a piece, but the registered ones were several thousands; obviously, this makes a big impact on the total division.

Although the pet is not a “child” if the parties agree on handling pet issues, then you can have a decree with specific language similar to an order involving children. For example, each party might have “visitation” with the pet. Or one party can be the one to pay for certain expenses of the pet such as food or veterinary bills (Pet support?). 

One tactic that might be used could be to provide that the pet will accompany the children to the possession of each parent. In other words, Fido goes with the kids to mom’s or dad’s during that parent’s time for possession of the child. One side benefit of that is that it gives the non-possessing parent the opportunity to make plans without considering (or boarding) the pet. A long as it is not illegal or against public policy, the judge will most likely sign off on any agreement by the parties, even if the judge would not have provided for it in a contested case.

Unfortunately, there is occasionally the need to protect people from family violence. The threat of violence can be to a spouse a child or even a pet. Now, the legislature has provided that judges can include a family pet in a protective order and that is becoming more common.

People also occasionally include their pets in estate planning. Not only can you provide for who gets the pet upon your death, but you can go much further. A few people even create “pet trusts” so that someone has the financial wherewithal to care for a pet. These trusts can be complicated by the fact that the person who is financially responsible for the pet is not necessarily the person who cares for the pet.