Countersign Pet Custody Agreement Made Easy

Esign pet custody agreement

[Music] my name is Rebecca and this is machine and we're two of the family lawyers here at connect family law we were just talking about how it can be difficult to figure out who's going to keep the family pet the family dog or the family cat or any pet that's become important to both spouses many of our clients wonder what the law is in this area and I know machines you were looking into that leak recently yeah I actually had a case that dealt with this and so what I found was that the law basically treats pets like property and what that means is when it comes to property the law divides anything that was acquired during the relationship between the parties equally but it's safe to say that you can't really divide a pet in half so what are the factors that the courts look at so the courts usually consider you know who who bought the pet when was a pet acquired and who was a registered owner of the pet and they do acknowledge that pets are unique in a certain extent and so they will consider some factors that they normally don't consider under property division not often but they do do that and some of those factors include you know well who has a bond with that pet a greater bond and who took care of the pet after separation or who was responsible for the training and usually what they do then is they award the pet to one person or the other and the spouse who you know doesn't get the pet gets some type of compensation at the end of the day though again pets are divided under the property regime and they're not treated treated as you know a unique so so I just maybe add to that that if the pet was owned by one of the partners prior to the relationship or if it was gifted if it was a gift just to one of the partners then our law would see that as excluded property that wouldn't be shared and so that one person would would simply keep the animal unless for some reason the value of that animals increased while the relationships been been going then then they would potentially have to compensate for the other person but crassly the other person would have no rights to that pet if it was previously owned by one of the parties but what do you think about the way that the law deals with pets so I I mean I personally think that you know the law doesn't address the uniqueness of this situation and you know how do you really justify giving compensation to one one person and and you know the pet to another when you know as a third party you don't really know the bond you can't really quantify the bond of each individual and it's a very hard thing to do and and let's be realistic can any type of you know monetary value replace that pet you know and for some people it can't I mean some people maybe but usually it's the case of where it can't and I think that you know there needs to be recognition that pets are they're not inanimate objects like you know you know that the clothes are wearing or you know that the house that you live in but they actually you know they perceive things and they feel things and so the law needs to address the uniqueness and I don't think it does you know deciding that under of the property division regime is adequate so I mean I get what you're saying I get that people are attached to their animals I've seen clients being willing to give up a ton of the money that they should have gotten for the family home in negotiating being able to keep their pet but I do think we we need to remember that the law is a blunt tool that can't cater to every circumstance some people may be particularly attached to a piece of art or jewelry or a family heirloom and while I realize that pets are not the same as inanimate objects I don't think that we can expect the law to deal with very unique circumstances and situations like that if people want to make creative agreements about a pet if they want to decide to share the care of the pet or even to share the costs of the pet even if one person is going to keep the pet with them they're free to do so they can do that in a separate agreement or a mediated agreement and so in my mind this is just one of the many reasons why clients who are going through separation should consider trying to resolve things through a mediated or separation agreement instead of relying on on a stranger a judge to make decisions for your family with the law that has many limitations to it and because it's such a blunt tool like I get what you're saying and I and I definitely agree to a certain extent but I do want to comment in a couple of the points that Rebecca made here and firstly you you know you've noted that the law can't cater to each you know in every single circumstance and it's a blunt tool and while that's true I think that we come across these types of situations often enough where you know that the focal point is well what's going to happen to the pet right and I think that we there's enough of these examples and situations out there where the law should put some time or energy into determining you know something that's going to adequately address those circumstances and another comment you mean about agreements I mean I I'm we're all for parties you know in resolving things outside of court and it's you know fundamental and it's really important to and I think that it's something that the party should try to do and you're right people can creatively come up with ways to address you know the pet needs and their needs without some random third person right but at the end of the day I don't think that that necessarily means that the law shouldn't also address the uniqueness of the situation and create some defined factors that you know look at how pets should be divided well I mean we can banter this back and forth all day long we're lawyers right but for you animal lovers out there just so you know I do have two pets myself Shasta and coda on two dogs to Mercy picture of the shore so if you are in a situation where you're not really sure how to handle a disagreement about a pet we'd be happy to talk with you about this further and assist you in any way that we can [Music]