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Your Pet in a Separation or Divorce

Your Dear Pet and Family Law 

Deciding who will keep which pet can be an issue in a divorce

You've had a long and hard day. As soon as you walk in the door, there's your dog there to great you and so happy to see you. It's like therapy.

But when two people separate, they will have to negotiate who gets certain property in the division or equalization of their assets. If they can’t agree, a court will decide. 

The question comes up, Who gets the dog? If there’s more than one, Who gets which dog? And so on for whatever beloved pet or animal that we have had during the relationship.

We have such a strong emotional connection with our pets. This is one more stressful aspect to layer on to the other aspects of separation and divorce that people have to deal with.

The emotional support that one gets from their pet may be a major coping mechanism to see them through the divorce.


Legal Status of Animals in Ontario

In the eyes of the law, pets are personal property.

There are laws that govern how we are to treat pets or how many we are permitted to have. But the main question a court asks is, who owns the pet?

One way a court would look at this question is by asking, Who bought the pet? Where's the receipt?

The second way a court might approach this is with a very broad set of questions, such as, Did one person bring the pet into the relationship? Did the two people make a cohabitation agreement or a pre-nuptial marriage contract regarding the pets? Who paid the veterinarian bills? Who cared for the pet? Who walked it?


A Case of Two Dogs

In a motion decision in 2021, Coats v Dickson, the separating couple owned two black Labrador retrievers: Jazz and Jetta. Not surprisingly, the couple couldn’t agree on who would take which dog. The Court took the very broad approach to addressing ownership. 

It acknowledged the therapeutic effect on the parties of having a dog. It noted that each party had more or less equal part in looking after the animal. On a broad analysis it concluded that both dogs were jointly owned. So, it awarded each party one dog each. (Read more about motions.)



What Can You Do?

As two people are separating, they can include who gets the pets in their separation agreement, but this assumes that they can agree in a time of their lives when they have many other negative emotions toward each other and various things have happened that are destructive to parties ability to agree. 

Another way is to think ahead by making a cohabitation agreement (for people who are living common law), or make a marriage contract (pre- or post-wedding) for those who are getting married, specifying who has ownership and care of the pet and who would keep it in the event of a break up. (Read more about marriage contracts.)



Resources

Find a family law lawyer to discuss this topic

London (Middlesex) Courthouse

St. Thomas (Elgin) Courthouse

Sarnia (Lambton) Courthouse

Woodstock (Oxford) Courthouse



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Location: London, ON, Canada

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