MADISON, Wisconsin: So you're breaking up. She gets the apartment, you get the car. He gets the laptop and the game console, she gets the couch and the TiVo.
But.. who's getting the pet dog or cat? Wisconsin State Senator Carol Roessler and Representative Sheryl Albers may have the answer. A new bill has been introduced wherein divorcing couples and courts are given a basis for handling custody battles over pets. According to the Seattle Times, among other things the bill lets couples specify visitation rights and the right to move the animal out of state. If the couple cannot come up with an amicable set-up, this new bill's solution is simple: the judge can either pick a spouse or ship the pet off to a local humane society or shelter.
Once the pet has been transferred to a shelter, whichever spouse gets there first 'owns' the pet. And if they wait too long, Fido, Kitty or even that little goldfish could be adopted by someone else or, depending on the shelter's policies, even euthanized.
Traditionally, courts classify pets under 'property', so whoever can establish ownership gets custody. "People might have an emotional tie to a family antique. But a dog is not a desk," bill co-author Sen. Roessler said.
The bill's lead author, Rep. Albers, has more personal reasons for pursuing this bill. She is drawing on her own experience - a 'messy' divorce back in 2003. She and her husband, Steven, fought over the family's Labrador, Sammi. Their children wanted to keep the dog but neither parent really wanted to take care of it full-time. Sammi, who was already old and incontinent at that time, ended up splitting its time between Rep. Albers and her husband, just like their children. Sammi died at 17 years of age, to the couple's 'relief.'
So, why all the trouble? The answer is rather simple. While the court treats pets as property, the reality is that pet owners don't own their pets, they build an emotional relationship with them. Blogger and attorney Debbie Schlussel calls pets "the new people." She points out the 'pet worship' culture propagated by Hollywood celebrities and lifestyle magazines. To quote a vet in People magazine, "that line between animal and person is getting cloudy."
eHOW.com shares some tips on how to gain custody of your pet in the event of divorce:
- 1. Understand that the court sees your pet as just another possession to be divided.
- 2. If the pet was yours prior to the marriage or if you were the primary caretaker during the marriage, your chances of custody are better.
- 3. Tell you lawyer how important your pet is to you and make sure that your lawyer considers it as a priority.
- 4. If you have children, the pet is more likely to be awarded to where the children are.
- 5. Try communicating with your spouse and see if an amicable set-up can be arranged.
- 6. Do not separate pets if you have two or more of the same species. This can cause depression and anxiety for the pets.
- 7. If your pet is valuable for financial or business reasons (eg. show-dog or -cat), the court will look at the pet as your valuable asset.
- 8. Show the court that you are the best person to care for the pet. This includes having enough time to spend with Fido or Kitty and also having enough space in your home to accommodate your pet. You can even have your vet testify to your ability as a good pet owner.
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And cloudy could even be an understatement considering how some pets are now richer than most people could ever dream to be. Even non-millionaire pets are living THE life. Pet stress treatments, pet hotels, doggy beers and even testicular implants for neutered dogs - it can't get any more emotional than that. In fact, according to American Pet Products Manufacturers Association (APPMA), Americans will spend $40.8 billion on their pets this years, with only $9.8 billion alloted to veterinarian care.
According to the Los Angeles Times, pet custody cases have increased a 'hundredfold' since 1990. Unfortunately, not all efforts to gain custody of the pet are noble. Sometimes, pets become pawns in the divorce process, even a tool to emotionally hurt the spouse. Thomas Glowacki, a Madison divorce attorney for more than 30 years, told the LA Times of cases where pets become victims of a spouse's anger towards their estranged partner. A bitter wife who won the custody of her husband's dog had it euthanized when the divorce was finalized. Another case was that of the German Shepherd who was splitting time between the husband and the wife. The dog had digestion problems and the husband would feed the dog fatty sausages just before returning the pet to his ex-wife.
Just like children, separation and divorce have adverse effects on the poor pets caught in a human dog fight. Psychology professor John Wright told the Atlanta Journal Constitution "Dogs and cats are sensitive to these changes. They can get depressed or angry."
Executive director Jeff Roberts of PAWS Atlanta said that most orphaned canines and felines suffer stress-related woes. Cats obsessively lick their fur, while dogs sometimes become aggressive and even give up house training.
But despite this sad reality, pet custody battles continue to rage on. In 2004, the Pittsburgh Tribune Review reported a high-profile case of a couple in San Diego who fought over their pointer-greyhound mix for two years during their divorce. Dr. Stanley and Linda Perkins spent more than $150, 000 in legal fees. The wife even showed the court footage entitled 'Day in the Life of Gigi' showing Linda and the dog spending time together. In the end, Linda was awarded custody of their dog, Gigi.
Over on the Hollywood side of the fence, Anne Heche and estranged husband Coley Lafoon are also fighting over the custody of their cat. Another ex-couple, famous burlesque dancer Dita Von Teese and musician Marilyn Manson are also said to be in a quandary as to who gets custody of their cats. The issue of pet custody even pops up on the silver screen. In the movie Legally Blonde, Paulette Bonafonte (played by Jennifer Coolidge) is awarded 'full canine property ownership.' And way back in 1995, Rene Russo and Dustin Hoffman also faced the issue of pet custody in their film, Outbreak.
On one hand, pet custody battles are a sad reality. Pets are caught in between human feuds and inadvertently suffer its adverse consequences. The desire to be with the pet, no matter how good the intentions are, oftentimes does the pet more harm than good. Hopefully new, more enlightened laws will take more account of the welfare of the pet and not treat it as mere 'property'.
This is crazy. We have adult people who care more about the custody of their pets othr than ensuring the future of their kids after dvorce. I'm all for loving ur pets but there should be a priority. We are promoting a culture of over-glorifying pets.
just like children, pets also suffer in failed marriages. i've personally experienced a friends' dog who had severe separation anxiety after its' owners broke up. the dog showed signs of depression. it wouldn't eat and looked really sad. later on the dog got sick and died all because it probably missed the couple's love and affection so much and it couldn't adjust quickly enough. it's just sad that in the end, nobody really wins.
I hate to think of pets as just "property". my kitties are my babies and i would absolutely die if they were just taken away from me! Pets too have feelings and are capable of having emotions! they are not just some property wherein your bond with that thing goes only as far as monetary! with the onset of giving too much to pets, doesn't the law see the value of pets to thier human friends?
Pets are not property! They are living beings! They are so sad when their owner leaves the house and extremely excited when they return! Why not just award the pet to the closest family member instead of bringing the pet through emotional turmoil?
i agree with the comment posted by leroy. children should always be our priority but our pets have also become a part of the family. it's hard enough to go through a divorce. what more if you lose either your kids or your pets in the process.
call me old fashioned but i really don't believe in divorce. that's the reason why before anyone gets married, you should be really sure that you want to spend the rest of your life with this person because if you don't, then your children and pets will only suffer in the end.
well they are seeing it alryt.. thats why we have all these legal battles about pet custody.. if ya ask me its rather silly to have to go that far when you can come up with an amicable settlement.. money spent on these stuff could be saved up for the kids future and other more important matters..
I hope that before everything else, the custody of children are fixed and settled. It would suck if a child's custody and a pet's custody are simultaneously being debated on.
Yes pets arent just property but we have to draw the line somewhere. And fighting over them in custody battle is crossing that line. Im a big pet person but I wouldnt go that far, pet owners should learn to separate a relationship with pet ownership..
Face the facts. divorce happens in the seemingly perfect couples. but pets, even if they are part of the family, should not be at par with the children. in the first place, there should not be a battle on the custody of pets. For pete's sake! these are pets! custody of which can be settled in a more mature manner rather than taken to court. another unnecessary expense on both parties.
I am a huge pet lover. I love them all - horses, dogs, cats, name it! But I would not go as far as debating over their custody. They are not children and should not be at the same league with them. Ownership of pets can be settled in a civilized manner. It's just too crazy to bring this matter to court!
Think about it, a canine law will just reinforce a culture of exaggerated pet ownership. The creation of a canine law in itself is quite frankly a waste of time, many laws that will benefit people are ignored and creating a law for something that can be easily settled is a display of human stupidity.
I am appalled any one would consider them property. If you lose one it hurts just like a family member. It is not only wrong it is immoral. Please put a stop to it. I work as an adjuster and our company handled some of the pet food recall and to hear the other adjusters refer to them as property and not loved ones was unbearable. We are considered the smarter race but we all could learn so much from the love a dog.
i think there should be a law defining pet custody and other pet related matters, something like an animal law which will also include provision on animal rights and making it punishable to violate them and maybe even limit what you can give to animals..
what if the pet doesn't want to stay with either of the two? what happens then? lol
but ya know its also a possibility that the pet doesnt want to be with either spouse.. for example the dog doesnt want to be in a completely new environment. and its really stressful to have to constantly move around.
...And we are supposed to be the smartest species out there? With this, i don't think so. If people will just make a law out of every dispute, then there will be more and more meaningless laws out there. Like for example, a law on who should take out the garbage or something like that.
hasn't somebody already drawn up an animals bill of rights? cases like those reported only get reported because some people forget to act intelligently,like getting back at one's spouse. Problem with these kind of disputes is that laws are crafted instead of people just acting intelligently. Next thing is that they'll be crafting laws giving animal rights.