Getting Serious About Pet Custody

I get calls on this subject every month. I'm glad to see Wisconsin attempting to address the issue of pet custody. Wisconsin legislators have introduced a bill to govern how divorcing couples and the courts should handle pet custody battles. The measure would let couples specify, among other things, physical custody, visitation and the right to move pets out of state. This is a big step forward. Traditionally, courts have considered pets as property, so the issue was who owned the pet without regard to emotional attachment or who might be the better caregiver.

The law's author, representative Sheryl Albers said her husband and his ex-wife bitterly fought over who should care for the family's Labrador, Sammi. The kids wanted to keep Sammi, but neither parent wanted the dog full time. According to Albers and court documents, a judge ordered that Sammi should split her time between mom and dad just like the other three children. The experience convinced her that the law needed to change.

Source for Post: latimes.com

Comments

[Danielle Chonody]

This post is very relevent for me - a friend at work has a daughter who is getting divorced and has two young boys. The boys had a dog and were very attached to him but the father who is living separately was able to come and take the dog away from the kids claiming that he was the owner of the dog. In a family situation how could this situation have been prevented under the new law?

[Laurie Kadair Redman]

The great thing about a law like this is that it allows a judge to consider the whole family situation when deciding where the pet should live. Without a law like this, the pet is treated as "property" and so ownership is the most important issue. So, in your friend's case, the judge could take into account the attachment the boys have to their dog.